18ft - Madness | The Ultimate Boat in the Ultimate Location 

18ft Sailing Superbly filmed! ❤🎉🙏thanks for sharing this! 🙏 I remember (1978-81) how thrilling, exhilarating and sometimes terrifying a ride on the wire can be! What a rush! And to think that all this FUN started on Sydney Harbour when Julian Bethwaite designed and built the golden yellow, Bradmill Stubbies 18 footer! How iconically Aussie! 🇦🇺👍🎉 With an open transom, a first (I believe) for this skiff class and an over-rotation wing mast it all emerged from late night dreams, heated design debates and a tiresome creative process of hand building the skiff, with restarts and makeovers and re-dos at a time of fierce competition amongst sailors and designers. I’d sailed as a kid on Sydney Harbour in Sabot, Laser and Tasers usually just as ballast, bailer or sheethand crew🤣 it was a world of fun but the way onto the water was paid for by long hours of sanding and varnishing the old plywood Sabot, learning to tie knots, mend sails, work with wire rigging and polish SS fittings 🤪👍absolutely worth it! Much later my nights were spent doing graphic arts and I’d just completed a lettering/ sign writing module when I was invited by JB to try my hand with the sail and name logo, Bradmill Stubbies. So does anyone remember the old thick Sticky Back vinyl, it was yuck to work into curves! At this stage I was drowning under templates and discarded attempts as the SB was so thick and using it on both sides, was bound to cause distortions of the sail. These giant templates were in parts a meter wide and difficult to manage alone. The hardest thing was getting the placement of the big ‘B’ right so that when the sail filled out into a curve the ‘B’ would stand up straight 🤪😅 The pressure was on now with the hull completed to get mast, rigging, the sails and spinnaker sorted to clinch the company sponsorship deal. The company had asked for Bradmill but I took a risk out of frustration and a joint decision was made to do the giant ‘B’ shapes and use Stubbies 😊😅 Well I was very pleased with my input and effort as when fully rigged on the water what an impact her sail made! Even if one ‘B’ was technically backwards! EVERYONE knew it was the Bradmill logo! And Stubbies could be read from any angle! No shadows of lettering on opposite sides of the sail made their logo more legible and impactful out on the harbour! It’s placement almost perfect 😂 With a small tight knit team of fellow sailors we did the hull signage amidst challenges to boat length measurements and rules changing in dynamic times. All of which, after the heavy wooden 18footers with up to 15 crewmen of the last century, really opened up boat designers to incorporating new boat building materials and equipment mechanisation, we now take for granted. As with any new boat venture, once christened in Sydney Harbour with a big sponsor Bradmill’s big ‘B’ took many a dive down wind, but she screamed past the then big monohull ferries and loved a race with the hydrofoils too😂 oh the broken experimental masts, the wings and trampolines oh so many things and crew all tried and tested to limits unknown! What a hoot😅 In a stiff Nor’easter from behind, at 10feet wide, she skipped like a golden saucer or stone across white crested waves until her bowsprit dug a little too deep into the oncoming rolling swell of the heads then that sudden inertia of going into the drink! The “Stubbies” big ‘B’ may not be considered by many in sailing echelons as a great success but for me, I saw how manifesting a big idea and sharing it with those close to you, who share your passion, can make what seems impossible a reality. The experience it lent to JB and his teams of supporters on huge and various learning curves during the process, all gained true grit and were inspired with greater more innovative ideas for boat building and envisioned the expansion of sailing as a multidisciplinary global team sport, which we all enjoy today! 🎉 🙏Thanks for the reminisce 😊

An absolutely incredible video showcasing an incredible boat! As a young person, just entering the skiff world in a 29er, this is what I aspire to. Not olympics, not foiling but community and teamwork in the fastest monohulls ever. Watching the hull skim across the waves downwind with the kite up is truly awe inspiring. This is the future!!! Absolutely epic!!!

What a fabulous video, the ultimate sailing machine in my opinion and I pray they never stick foils on them, as one of the comments made to that downhill run with the big kite on and bouncing along with the boat airborne half the time, exciting to say the least. At 81 now, I look back on my sailing in 12ft skiffs in NZ with nostalgia, and although having sailed keelboats and multihull over the years I still gravitate to the 18 footers (although never having sailed in one) and now living in the UK the highlight of my year is the 18ft series of racing on Sydney Harbour, especially the JJ’s, I sit on my couch and race with them every minute of each race, never getting wet of course, what better way to spend a few hours. Thanks once again for bringing joy to an old heart.

This is how you film sailing.........THANK YOU!!!!

Just another example of why sailing in Sydney has been without peer in so many ways. Flying across the harbour or Pittwater watching the deep blue water and glistening white foam racing past underneath me at 12 years old was something of a formative experience for me. It is better than memories as one can still live it and be inspired by it in everything one does.

Had to have a chuckle hearing how cooperative and good willed the crews were to each other given the history of the class where the occasional punch-up was not unknown. The class developed as a way of keeping rugby league players fit in the off-season and the early 18 foot skiffs would often have crews of 12 or more and it wasn't unknown that if a close competitor looked like beating you to the windward mark then deft use of a spinnaker pole could persuade them otherwise. It also wasn't unknown that if the wind dropped off several of the crew would be thrown overboard (near a shipping buoy of course) knowing that one of the ferry boats that followed the fleet would pick them up. The skiff fleets developed outside of the regular yachting fraternity and clubs but today are really mainstream. Fantastic filming by the way and very deft use of the drone.

I just stumbled across this movie while looking for something completely unrelated. I am a lifelong sailor of both keelboats and dinghies. I've never sailed a skiff, and I'm not sure my wrecked-up body could handle it anymore, but I wish I could one day. I haven't been able to sail for several years now due some personal stuff, but I am looking forward to being able to get out on the water again someday. There is a magic to sailing that only sailors can understand and this video so perfectly captures it the way mere words cannot. Beautifully done, and thank you for the motivation to keep after my dream of being on the water again.

Absolutely one of the best sailing videos, all the slow motion is vital on these super fast boats and it shows much more action.

An Aussie legend, 18 footers.

WOW! Wonderful movie! Thanks so much for sharing this spectacular experience. As a former Hobie 16 racer, immersing in this video brought back so many happy feelings and memories. You fully captured the excitement of sailing, these wonderful boats, and the spectacular scenery. Well done!

Such a great class of boat would love to appear in the class when I am older can’t wait another great video guy 🤙

I've watched the 18-footers on Sydney Harbour more times than I can remember, and sailed smaller trapeze Skiffs in my younger days. They are truly the most beautiful and impressive vessels. Thanks you for the amazing footage, you really did these incredible boats, and their crews, justice :)

Great stuff. . . I REALLY hope this generation of international 18 "skiffies" understand the complete history of the 18's. . . . .

Wow ! Great pictures, great framing, great video ! Good job

Love our videos. Very informative and your videography is second to none. Thank You

Great Vid Ollie, that shot under the wing was amazing!

Great Video!! Big Thanks Ollie!!

Un video stupendo. Una barca bella ed impossibile. Una musica di sottofondo fantastica. Buon vento...

True madness - but epic never the less!

Looking forward to this... nice little warm up before the 19-20 season kicks off down under!

GREAT flic!!

Wow loved the photography of these crazy sailors having a blast. Awesome work.

Superb! Well done

Awesome video. Want to sail 18's sooner than later. Not getting any younger. This looks just like Squamish and Howe Sound. Big winds, in flow, out flow. Have a Hobie 18. Generally sail by myself. Had some fun on 505's and 49er's. This just looks like so much dangerous fun.

Beautiful footage. Slowmo is an interesting way to present these fast machines and works really well. Congrats to the team that made it.

Lake Garda. Sailing heaven. I hope to be back at Campione some day soon. Missed it last year and probably this July too. Bummer.

Great!

Need beeps starting at 8 on the intro countdown, and lose the beeps on 2, 1. Nice Video, beautiful sailing 🤙

Wow.. this is how it should be, raw power. . man v wind.

great video

I love it, I just wish I could watch more discreetly. The interview to music volume levels are too skewed so I keep getting caught watching this and not working on my own edits haha

Magnífico video, what a fabulous and excelent video with ultraslow motion in hd. Story is about a band of brothers n sisters. Congratulations Best regards

Um grande sonho ter isto no Brasil, Rede Virtual do Conhecimento Náutico

And here's me thinking this footage was in NZ. By far the best racing boat, foiling doesn't come close in excitement

That’s so cool they are so lucky

this is so sick! i just bought a laser5000! i cant wait to get into skiff sailing

Great.

Fantastic video footage. Very talented. What Drone were you flying? Its inspirational.

Wow long live the skiff. How much sail can you bang on. Beautiful

What I like most are the people, I am losing every day more interest in these olympic, doping, cheating events... this is how sport should be

i see fast sailing, i likeit

Very skilfull filming. I assume you are using drones. Once you have sailed on trapeze it's a different sailing dimension especially skippering. But the 18s have always been the pinnacle for dinghy sailing. Magnificent

I don't think I'll get to sleep tonight....too much adrenaline pumping in my system!!!!

WOW

F18 rulez

What's the opening song? It really sets the tone and is beautiful like the landscapes

I don't think I've seen a bowsprit that long, looks like something from the 17-1800s.

great video but more of the madness would've been fun

Hey Ollie, when you put up the teaser for this, I tried to find the results. But my google fu was poor. Can you put a link to the results in the comments as I'd love to know how everyone went? Best skiff porn yet. Never stop man.

1:45 Foils don’t propel a boat son.

Drone attack 6:13.... dunt dunt... dunt dunt... dunt dunt dunt dunt dunt dunt dunt dunt...

All those anchors at the front are not doing a very good job at keeping the nose down...

Holy god you all need helmets ⛑

Way to unstable for me. Do it in a 70fter. that's a buzz.

And the cost of one of these fine boats is???

Just "popping a wheelie" all the time is just showboating. Just like the old days when Hobies were shown flying a hull at like 50- 60 degrees. Not how the boat was designed and not how it goes the best- not to mention- how long is your rig and everything going to last crashing back down every few seconds?...

Norway?? 🙄

never heark a yacht sound like a fekin old peoples disco , grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Music’s a bit much

This is how we should settle the Americas cup, instead of spending $$$$$$$$$$$$

Love to sailing too much talking for me