Encouragingly for this year’s Club Marine Pittwater to Paradise Regatta is the level of interest from Queensland boat owners planning to cruise to Sydney then race back north as part of a competitive field.
Fifteen divisions, 233 boats and close to 2,000 sailors from Australia, New Zealand and around the world spent Hamilton Island Race Week in the Whitsundays dashing around tropical islands with only saltwater hitting the decks, until the final afternoon rainstorm offshore broke the sunny and dry winter spell.
Winds returned to light northerlies at Hamilton Island Race Week on day four of the six-day on-water program in the Whitsunday islands of North Queensland.
Another winter dazzler blessed the Hamilton Island Race Week fleet; sun, wind and whales to see out the first half of the annual Whitsunday series, August 18-25.
​​​​​​​Morning breeze on at Hamilton Island left some opting for an extra layday while those who did venture out in the sou’easterlies were paid handsomely with moderating conditions and another perfect pour of winter sunshine at Hamilton Island Race Week 2018.
An unhurried start gave way to a magic opening race around the Molle Islands group for most of the 233 yacht crews contesting Hamilton Island Race Week 2018.
Hamilton Island Race Week’s second largest fleet since inauguration has 233 boat crews itching to get off the dock and into forecast tradewinds, at least for the first three days of the annual Whitsunday series, August 18 - 25.
Whitsunday Sailing Club’s 30th Airlie Beach Race Week comes to a close this afternoon and the final day of racing is likely to be superb, according to Race Director Dennis Thompson, who says competitors will sail in the remnants of yesterday’s trade winds in a Bay Race.
A sports boat limped home under motor after breaking its rudder, while other boats broached in up to 25 knots wind with gusts, their crews finding it difficult to control their rides - all part and parcel of the forecast superb windy conditions that arrived in time for Day 4 of Airlie Beach Race Week Festival of Sailing.
Three days of racing at the 30th Anniversary Airlie Beach Race Week, three different types of conditions and today’s was champagne sailing, with light 7-9 knots around the course on Pioneer Bay for the entire fleet.
In a gripping finish to the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, Queensland supermaxi Black Jack match-raced and beat Wild Oats XI to the finish line by just under two minutes over a 384 nautical mile course.
The first battle in the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race went to Jim Cooney’s Comanche, the imposing black and red supermaxi narrowly leading the Oatley’s same-length Wild Oats XI to Sydney Heads on a mild winter day, closely followed by Peter Harburg’s Black Jack, another 100-footer.
History has been made as Australian Sailor Wendy Tuck becomes the first woman to ever win a round the world yacht race after clinching the overall victory in the Clipper 2017-18 Race.
Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race handicap fortunes look set to favour the mid-size boats in the 384 nautical mile run north to Southport, a light-wind start and first 24 hours then a 20-25 knot southerly change on Sunday to close-up the gap on the bigger bolters.
Two of Australia’s favourite yachting regattas, the prestigious Australian Yachting Championships and traditional Festival of Sails, have joined forces to create a week-long celebration of summer sailing in Victoria early next year.