Designed in 2006, the O’pen Skiff (formerly the O’pen Bic) is a modern, colourful, fun, fast and friendly junior training class. The boat is simple to rig, incredibly fun to sail and enables junior sailors to enjoy racing on current, high-performance equipment scaled down to suit their level of development.
The O’pen Skiff hull design is all about making junior sailing enjoyable. It’s a totally modern boat with an open transom self-bailing cockpit making moving around inside it easy. The overall design, especially the chine angle, is all about speed and responsiveness. It’s a shape that gives an excellent combination of performance and stability at all speeds, in all conditions, for all skill levels. Reaching and downwind, the O’pen Skiff is quickly up to full speed. Tacking upwind, the hull delivers great forward speed, course-holding and fine-tuned steering response. Standing still, the open self-bailing cockpit makes it safe, simple and ideal for beginners.
Two sail rig options are available, each adapted to its age and skill levels: a 4.5m2 monofilm version for Under 17 age group racing, and a 3.5m2 Dacron version for the Under 13s and complete beginners.
Where the class runs its own events, the formats are innovative with short races, the courses can change regularly and may include slaloms, freestyle sections and adventure races. In 2024 we introduced a marathon adventure race and a knock-out slalom series (with grandstand views) to the WA State Championships in addition to the regular course racing. The class also holds a regatta called the Unregatta which we are keen to establish in WA.
The focus in the class is on good sportsmanship with sailors encouraged to resolve protests on the water rather than in the committee room.
This modern dinghy teaches important sailing skills crucial to transitioning to other classes. O’pen Skiff sailors in WA have moved on to a wide variety of dinghy/skiff classes including ILCA, National 125, 29er, IQ Foil, Waszp, Windsurfer LT and RS Aero to name a few.
The class has produced many successful sailors across all disciplines of sail racing who compete at prestigious international events including the Olympic Games, Sail GP and the America’s Cup.
WA Sailing Season (October to April)
O’pen Skiffs are sailed across Western Australia in the Perth metro, outer metro, Peel and at regional WA clubs. The fleet is an invited class at regattas throughout the WA sailing season at the following events:
| Month |
Event |
Host Club |
| Sept/Oct school holidays |
Zhik Youth Sail WA |
Host club on rotation around WA |
| Last weekend on October |
Sail Freo |
Fremantle Sailing Club |
| November |
Goolugatup Sailing Carnival |
South of Perth Yacht Club |
| Late November/Early December |
International Classes Regatta (ICR) |
Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club |
| December |
WA Open Skiff State Championship |
Host club on rotation around Perth |
| Mid January |
Rumble in the Reach |
East Fremantle Yacht Club |
| Australia Day weekend |
Australia Day Regatta |
Geographe Bay Yacht Club |
| February |
Mini Series |
Royal Perth Yacht Club |
| Mid February |
HMAS Perth Memorial Regatta |
Nedlands Yacht Club |
| March long weekend |
Skiffs on GeoBay |
Geographe Bay Yacht Club |
| March long weekend |
In the Trees Regatta |
Walpole Yacht Club |
| March |
Three of a Kind |
Mounts Bay Sailing Club |
| Easter long weekend |
Easter Regatta |
Mandurah Offshore Fishing and Sailing Club |
The class also holds an Australian National Championship in mid-January each year, and a World Championship around July of each year.
Social Media
Facebook: @OpenSkiffWA
Instagram: @openskiff_aus_wa
