Congratulations must be given to the crew of 18ft skiff Yandoo for winning the 2025 JJ Giltinan trophy in commanding style.  The crew, which included two ex RQYS youth sailors Tom Needham and Lewis Brake along with Fang Warren, dominated most of the regatta with 6 bullets in the nine race series.  A couple of high scores in light shifty winds on Sydney Harbour along with a penalty however meant that the series was still open going into the last race with Finport Finance still within reach of the title.  It looked bad for Yandoo after the start when the team did not get off the line clean and had to sail their way back through the fleet from the high teens to finish 6th in the final race – enough to win the series from Finport.

Both Tom and Lewis (Lewie) came up through the ranks at the Squadron as youth sailors.  Tom, who is also the youngest ever helm to win the JJ’s, came up through the youth program and school sailing at RQ sailing moving through the ILCA’s before then achieving a position in the Australian Sailing Team (AST) campaigning a 49’er along with Joel Turner (who was also racing at the JJ’s) at the highest international level.  Tom has now moved on to higher things, being part of the Australian Youth Americas Cup team at Barcelona and now also works as a systems engineer for Sail GP.  Lewis Brake also came up through the youth program at the Squadron achieving national and international success in the 29’er (with Josh Franklin) moving into the Finns with the AST training alongside Olympian Jake Lilly.  He has now been a long time 18 ft forward hand on Yandoo with John Winning.  Both Tom and Lewis have been recipients of funding assistance through the Squadrons John Harrison Foundation as part of their Olympic campaigns.

It all just goes to show how far you can go in this sport and how the Squadron continues to support and produce high calibre sailors.