'Gotta Love it 7' - four years old but still winning races!

Tucked away in a shed on the Central Coast of NSW, is a small group of guys who build what was once the wet-dream of every young sailor in the world. The 18ft Skiff. Gone are those days, replaced by hydrofoils, kiteboarding and pretty girls, but the 18ft Skiff class is certainly not dead! Down in Sydney there's still an active club, The Australian 18 footers League in Double Bay. The boards are evolving just as fast as the hydrofoilers too, now sporting huge square topped mainsails (even more so than back in the 90's!) high modulus rigs and various other go-fast mods. Most of them are built by a small group of builders on the Central Coast, out of Van Munster Boatbuilders. Right now they're putting the finishing touches on the hulls that might just win the Australian championships this summer. Maybe not though, because as part of the class rules, 18ft Skiff hulls are all built by one builder - Brett Van Munster. Frequently, hulls over 5 years old win races, with only subtle changes bring brought in over the year to increase strength. "We are conscious of trying to keep a stability in our product" says builder Brett Van Munster. "Everything which comes out of our factory is the same as what 'Gotta Love It 7' (the current champion) gets. Every boat has the same fuselage. It's a bit like a football salary cap. We're trying to give everyone the same opportunity from an equal base." So while these boats might not be flying silently over the chop, there's still something very, very cool about watching three blokes on trapeze bouncing along at 25 knots on Sydney Harbour. The 2015/2016 season kicks off on the 11th of October, and you can watch every race live online through the clubs website better still, watch it for real by jumping on board their very own spectator ferry.

Check out one of the newest hulls being made right now!