Joining the UK 18ft Skiff Class. A newcomers perspective.

A steep learning curve but worth every minute!

For years we had watched the 18's on Sydney harbour, seen glamorous images of 18's racing on iconic Lake Garda and even admired pictures from closer to home in the UK. In 2025 we took the decision to move from watching to trying to tick racing an 18 off the bucket list!

It was to be honest hard to know where to start. We could see social media activity from some UK teams, class websites and event reports from 2024 but we had never seen an 18 in the flesh, far less sailed one.

Our first step was getting in touch with the UK class. After reaching out on Facebook and via the class contact page I was soon exchanging WhatsApp conversations with UK teams and quickly answered my myriad of questions and was excited to confirm the UK class is healthy and seeing a resurgence with some really enthusiastic teams based across the south coast and up into the midlands with UK training events/meet ups as well as UK events.

We got some good advice. Make sure if you want to race the boat that it is a current Murray design rather than the older B18, and that UK sail numbers are a bit mad and don't necessarily match age (we are still not sure why..)

Things escalated quickly and before we knew it we were talking to 2 different sellers about purchasing a boat. One a well sorted older boat, another a much more expensive newer boat. Suddenly a reality check. Was a sub £10k boat going to be an unreliable money pit, did we need to spend significantly more? What was it really going to cost to join the class both upfront cost and then running costs!

In the end we took the decision to test the water opting for an older boat we could put the training wheels on and work out if we could firstly sail an 18 and secondly enjoy it!

We collected the boat in spring 2025 and like kids with a new toy quickly dragged her up to our local club Weston Sailing Club where club members thought we must have won the lottery to be rolling up with such an iconic looking boat. The look on peoples faces when you tell them it cost less than an RS Aero remains priceless!

Rigging required a few queries to the old owner and the UK class WhatsApp group but overall they are pretty simple boats, just a few tips and tricks that make the rigging process easier. This is where we really gained from having a boat that had recently been on the UK circuit and was pretty well sorted. Soon it was time to hit the water.

I will write up another blog on our first sail but 1) We felt awesome sailing the coolest dinghy on the planet 3 stringing in 10 knots of breeze on the big rig! 2) Three people don't fit across the boat at once (new learning curve engaged, YouTube 18 Footer TV is a goldmine of info) 3) Getting the rudder on launching is a PITA (it improves with practice)

We managed to get out once every 2 or 3 weeks, attended a UK training event (accelerates the learning curve) and spent many hours bimbling in the dinghy park to tweak some systems and sort minor wear and tear but we were pleased to find the boat was pretty bomb proof and well sorted. One top tip, there is a reason you wont see a pristine 18ft skiff for long. 3 trapeze hooks, launching, recovery, capsizes, general falling around in the boat you will end up adding to the cosmetic damage pretty quickly so it is helpful if you plan to get into skiff sailing that one of the crew is handy on minor repairs and that as a team you like boat bimbling :)

Before we knew it time had come to head down to Plymouth to line up against the UK and European teams in one of the European events. Would we embarrass ourselves? Break the boat? Come away smiling?

We had a great event, the steep learning curve continued and by the end we were mixing it mid fleet and even managed a race win on the last day (okay the top 2 teams had gone home to make a head start back to Germany but we were still stoked). We got some amazing photos for the wall, some huge smiles and we are now totally hooked.

So did we buy the right boat in the end? Ultimately yes, we managed to take on the early learning curve, have a lot of fun and were happily racing competitively. Yes we weren't on the pace of the top German teams (who went on to win a race at the 2026 JJ's in Sydney) but the boat wasn't holding us back from enjoying the racing.

A few key take aways from the year

• The boats are more reliable than you would think, yes they need bimbling and you might get to know your local sailmaker for minor repairs but they have not been the money pit many fear. There are good spares available secondhand in the fleet and even the path to upgrades on sails with kit coming across from Australia each year for Garda and finding its way back to the UK.

• They are big powerful boats that demand a certain level of respect but pick your conditions and take time on the learning curve and they are approachable assuming part of the crew have experience in other high performance boats

• They are as much fun as you imagine and more. They represent a unique challenge not just in the boat itself but also the dynamics of three crew.

Any regrets? Yes one. We didnt get to go to Lake Garda in 2025, something we will correct in 2026 where we can expect 20 boats and that photo for the wall of sending it down the lake in the sun.. that alone makes the 18ft skiff one of the best bang for bucks boats on the planet!