Club Marine claims 2026 SIXT Spring 18 footer title

A seventh placing in Race 6 was enough to give the Club Marine team of Emma Rankin, Cameron Walker and Daniel Watson victory in the 2026 SIXT Spring 18 footer Championship, which concluded on Sydney Harbour today.

Club Marine went into today’s race with a four points lead over Killer Coffee Co, skippered by Ryan Ewings, and in a brilliant race sailed in a 15-knot southerly wind Emma and her team withstood a number of challengers to defeat the Killer Coffee Co team by three points overall.

The Kitchen Maker, Jordan Girdis, sailed brilliantly to get close to Club Marine as the race progressed, but an unfortunate capsize approaching the Chowder Bay North mark on the final lap ended any hope the team had, although the crew managed to finish the race in 10th place to grab third place overall.

At the conclusion of the championship, Club Marine finished with a total of 33 points, followed by Killer Coffee Co (Ryan Ewings, Matt Stenta, Finn Rodowicz) on 36, The Kitchen Maker (Jordan Girdis, Josh Feldmann, Jacob Broom) on 41, Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell, Max Vos, Paddy Bannon) on 41.5, Rag & Famish Hotel (Ben Crafoord, Marc Chapon, Max Nearn) on 44 and defending champion Sixt (Jacob Marks, Alex Marinelli, Brandon Buyink) on 46 points.

Today’s race was definitely a highlight of the season to date and produced some wonderful sailing by some of Australia’s best young talent.

The new Thurlow Fisher Lawyers team of Joel Beashel, Shaun Connor and Trent Barnabas had to come from behind to grab the lead approaching the final rounding mark before going on to score a 53s victory from Sixt, which had led the race from shortly after the start more than one hour earlier.

Third place went to the current Australian champion Balmain team of Henry Larkings, Tom Grimes and Locky Pryor, which finished a further 17s behind Sixt.

Keagan York’s Shaw and Partners Financial Services came home in fourth place ahead of Rag & Famish Hotel, Killer Coffee Co, Club Marine, Smeg (Ash Rooklyn), Yandoo (John Winning Jr.) and The Kitchen Maker in tenth place.

Sixt’s crew had sailed brilliantly throughout the race, after grabbing the lead at the first weather mark of 3-buoys off Clark Island, and was constantly under pressure from a pack of 5-6 boats for most of the course.

Following an exciting spinnaker run from Clark Island to Chowder Bay North, Sixt set up a lead of 1m20s from Rag & Famish Hotel and Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (the three boats had the three youngest skippers in the fleet). Shaw and Partners was in fourth place followed by Balmain, Lazarus Capital Partners (Tom Cunich), Smeg then the four leading contenders for the overall championship – The Kitchen Maker, Club Marine, Vaikobi and Killer Coffee Co.

Sixt’s lead was still 1m15s at Shark Island but a ‘wine glass’ in her spinnaker on the run back to Athol Bay East was costly and the margin was back to just 20s over Thurlow Fisher Lawyers as the fleet set off on the second lap of the course.

At the next 3-buoys off Clark Island, Sixt marginally increased her lead over Thurlow Fisher Lawyers and Shaw and Partners, and was still 23s ahead of the pair after the next spinnaker run to Chowder Bay. Balmain was in fourth place, followed by The Kitchen Maker, Smeg, Rag & Famish Hotel, Club Marine, Lazarus, Killer Coffee Co and Ballard Property-Sothebys (Lachlan Steel).

Once again the Sixt crew revelled in the stronger breeze for the work across the harbour to Shark Island and her lead was again out to more than one minute. Now it was Balmain challenging ahead of Thurlow Fisher, Shaw and Partners and The Kitchen Maker.

Sixt maintained her advantage over an ever place-changing group over the next three legs of the course and was still 30s ahead of Thurlow Fisher Lawyers on the final lap at the Chowder mark.

The race was on in earnest as Sixt, Balmain and Thurlow Fisher rounded the Shark Island mark and set their spinnakers for the final run back to Athol Bay East.

Thurlow Fisher’s crew set their spinnaker a few seconds ahead of Sixt and after a brilliant battle by two great young skippers all the way across the harbour, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers went around the final mark 5s ahead of Sixt with Balmain just five more seconds back in third place.

The two challengers tried a variety of moves over the final beat to the finish off Clark Island but the Thurlow Fisher Lawyers crew were strong and increased the winning margin.

As the new teams begin to settle, next week’s NSW Championship promises to be one race not to miss.