The 18ft Skif

These were radical boats in the 1970's- like nothing else in Europe at the time. They were all amateur built at home (one in a living room!). Most of the fittings had to be custom made, no commercial mast sections were suitable so they had to be extruded from 20 foot lengths of 3 inch diameter 14 gauge tube, sleeved and tapered where appropriate. Trolleys and trailers had to be specially made and to start with the sailmakers looked at the dimensions, saw a spinnaker suitable for a half-tonner and so made extremely thick corners - a steep learning curve.Altogether there were 13 UK boats built between 1972 and 1980. Sponsors were slow to take up this new form of advertising but eventually as well as those mentioned above, Rediffusion, Leigh Carpet Warehouse, Dingles and Ceiba Geigy came forward. The amount of sponsorship was minimal but better to have something rather than nothing on the sails. However, this conflicted with the RYA Rule 26 which at the time was enforced vigorously by the RYA and meant that the Skiffs had, effectively to have their own race and not mix with 'proper' boats. However, most clubs were very accommodating because of the attraction and interest aroused by the Skiffs.



However, the 18 ft skiff is not without is danger. The high speed makes it hard to handle and requires extremely fast reflexes and a broad awareness of your surroundings in order to anticipate changes. Major accidents can occur with inexperienced and experienced sailors alike.



The modern 18 ft skiff is currently one of the fastest monohulls on earth. Speeds of over 25 knots can be achieved. With its massive sailplan of far over 100 square meters (as much as you dare!) on the no. 1 rig and three crew members on trapeze it can outperform nearly every monohull on the water. It combines extreme speeds with an element of danger and is thought by many to be one of the biggest spectacles in sailing