around the world yacht race newcastle

Clipper in Newcastle

The nsw city of newcastle was a welcome sight for 200 clipper race sailors as their first taste of land for 2024..

08 January 2024

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The City of Newcastle is stop number six for the 2023-2024 Clipper Around the World Race.

Newcastle locals turned out in force to greet over 200 sailors as they arrived after spending Christmas and New Year at sea.

Racing in eleven identical yachts, the sailors are competing in Leg 4 of the 2023-2024 Clipper Around the World Race, and set sail from the West Australian port of Fremantle on the 19th December 2023 bound for the East Coast of Australia.

First held in 1996, the Clipper Around the World Race is an international yacht racing event that brings together non-professional sailors from all over the world to circumnavigate the globe.

After undertaking rigorous training, the competitors set off on the 40,000 nautical mile (74,080km) race which is split into eight legs, visiting fourteen ports on six different continents.

The award-winning Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club is the host for a stopover on leg 4, the Australian Coast to Coast leg which takes in Fremantle (WA), Newcastle (NSW), and Airlie Beach (QLD) before heading to China.

Leaving Fremantle, the fleet set off on a 2900 nautical mile journey rounding the southern tip of Tasmania, before a tactical battle up the coast including Christmas and New Year wrapped in wet weather gear as the summer storms made life interesting.

Over 54 nationalities are represented in the fleet with 13 Australians amongst them, and they were all very pleased to reach Newcastle.

Laura Ayres, Managing Director of Clipper Ventures, is based in Gosport in the UK but was onsite in Newcastle to greet the sailors as they arrived.

“Newcastle is ideal as a stopover port for the race. A great midway point between Fremantle and the Whitsundays, and excellent facilities” she said. “We have received lots of community support, and a level of professional backup that makes the city an ideal hub for ocean racing.”

George Coldham, a 29-year-old software consultant from the Northwest of England, is a competitor doing the full circumnavigation on the yacht UNICEF.

“I live two miles from the wettest town in England so somehow spending 11 months on a boat seems almost normal” he said laughing.

Coldham is looking forward to having some time to relax. “Stopovers in places like Newcastle in summer make it worthwhile though. Everyone at the club has been very welcoming and helpful with information about local activities.

“We have around three days of boat maintenance, but then our time is our own. I have already been in touch with the local rowing and swimming clubs, and then I’m off for a trail run at Blackbutt Reserve.”

Local Newcastle sailor Bronwen Crosby will be taking it all in as she will be joining the Zhuhai entry for the Whitsundays to Vietnam-China leg.

Bronwen learnt to sail at the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club’s sail training academy and inspired by Lisa Blair, another Australian sailor who has competed in the event, set her sights on the offshore adventure. “After reading Lisa’s book telling her story of becoming the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica, I made up my mind to join the Clipper Race. I can’t wait to get onboard!”

Declan Clausen, Deputy Lord Mayor City of Newcastle, was an honoured guest at the celebration to congratulate the placegetters, presenting them with their pennants and welcoming all the sailors of the Clipper Around the World Race to the city.

The Deputy Lord Mayor also praised the organisation that was needed to be the host city saying that he “wanted to acknowledge the amazing partnership that has been formed between the City of Newcastle and the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club.”

Congratulating the competitors and the Clipper Around the World Race organisers, the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club Commodore Barry Kelly said at the celebration “Few people can talk about sailing around the world. Something drove you to the sport of sailing. There is nothing like it.”

The full results of the Newcastle leg:

34:27:23 CV31 Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam 43:51:00 CV20 Dare To Lead 55:23:42 CV22 Bekezela 59:45:13 CV28 UNICEF 60:42:36 CV25 Zhuhai 72:24:51 CV27 Qingdao 72:40:18 CV23 Perseverance 74:04:47 CV21 Our Isles and Oceans 79:03:50 CV29 PSP Logistics 85:31:32 CV26 Yacht Club Punta del Este 86:06:18 CV30 Washington, DC

The fleet will be docked in NCYC until 10 January, with the weekend of 6 & 7 January providing the opportunity for the public to come down and visit the boats, meet the crew and see what life is like on board a Clipper 70 racing around the world.

About the Clipper Round the World Race

The Clipper Race is one of the biggest challenges of the natural world and an endurance test like no other. With no previous sailing experience necessary, before signing up for the intensive training program, it’s a record-breaking 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on a 70-foot ocean racing yacht.

The brainchild of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world, the first Clipper Race took place in 1996.

Since then, almost 6,000 Race Crew from all walks of life and more than 60 nations have trained and raced in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race; the only race in the world where the organisers supply a fleet of identical racing yachts (eleven), each with a fully qualified skipper and first mate to safely guide the crew.

clipperroundtheworld.com

About Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club

The Club was incorporated on the 19 April 1994, and since then, has grown to be a nationally recognised name in both sailing and sailing development. NCYC has gone through various phases of development, beginning with the completion of four marina arms, boatyard, and commercial centre.

The second phase of development saw the completion of two more marina arms, and the completion of the Clubhouse in 2008. In 2021, the Club completed stage three, doubling the capacity of its Clubhouse.

As far as Australian yacht clubs go, NCYC’s history is relatively short, yet still boasts as one of the newest yacht clubs in Australia, and certainly the newest with significant club and marina assets.

ncyc.net.au

Odyssey begins

Newcastle send-off

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Newcastle Arrivals – 3 January

03 January 2024

With the sun shining onto a glistening harbour at Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club (NCYC), it’s another day of Clipper Race arrivals here in Australia.

With Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam and Dare To Lead already berthed and enjoying all Newcastle has to offer, overnight the remaining boats battled it out for the last of the podium spots on Race 5: Sta-Lok Endurance Test, a race that has us all glued to the Race Viewer, especially over the past 30 hours!

It’s a trio of top spots for Zhuhai

Sailing across the Finish Line at 22:04:40 UTC (09:04:40 LT), its Zhuhai who clinched third place on Race 5: Sta-Lok Endurance Test.

The team has raced hard to keep the hotly contested podium place, with an ongoing battle with the front of the pack since the teams set off from Fremantle 16 days ago. The team was sitting in the top three from rounding Cape Leeuwin and has been bouncing around the top of the standings since, even slipping into first place earlier in the race.

However, nothing if not consistent, Zhuhai’ s results includes a second-place finish in Cape Town, third into Fremantle, and after a jostle with Bekezela and UNICEF another strong third place finish for the team today.

Speaking on arrival at the NCYC, Zhuhai Skipper James Finney said: “I’m feeling relieved! That was much closer than I would have liked. We had a bit of a wobble about midway through, we’d sailed so well coming out of Fremantle, it was just rounding the bottom of Tasmania we got completely wrong, it turned out! Then we had to fight super hard. We were within two miles of UNICEF and then Bekezela came flying in out of nowhere, so it was very tense last night. I’m super proud of the team, they did so well. They’ve shown so much resilience and done so well.”

Chee Wah-Lum, a round the world crew member from Malaysia added: “It’s amazing to come in third! We ripped our kite and had holes in our Yankee, but we still came in third! We celebrated New Year too with sparklers and party hats, it was a beautiful night.”

Congratulating the team, Host Port and Team Partner Jiuzhou Group Holdings said: "Well done and Happy New Year!

"It’s a special sailing trip. We hope you enjoyed Christmas and New Year's Day all together. The race was not so long but there were both strong winds and wind holes during this leg. We believe that you had an unforgettable memory. Hope you will have a wonderful stay and rest in Newcastle.

"We will always be together with you, and believe that our Zhuhai team will choose the right course in the right time.

"Good luck to you all in 2024, and looking forward to meeting you in Zhuhai soon."

The teams third place on Race 5 and nine race points will bump Zhuhai up the leader board into third place.

Bekezela sails into Newie in fourth

Next to arrive in sunny Newcastle was fourth-placed Bekezela . The team crossed the Finish Line at 23:13:07 UTC, after a real battle toward the end of the race, just missing out on the podium.

Bekezela Race Skipper, David Hartshorn said: “ Zhuhai got us by an hour and five minutes! It would have been nice to get a podium. The strategy was good, the crew worked really well, but I made two poor decisions which cost us the podium, but we learned a lot. Next time! We are consistent, one fifth place and two fourth places, and consistency is what wins races so we’re all good.

Image: Bekezela arrives in Newie

“We knew where UNICEF was because we could see the yacht on AIS. But we had no idea where Zhuhai was. They had a nice angle and a better boat speed, so they did it.

“Our First Mate, Maisie has now crossed every line of longitude on a Clipper Race yacht, so that should not be underestimated, and before she turns 21 too.”

Maisie said: “So on this race I have officially circumnavigated around the world, which is really, really cool. We did this on Christmas Eve which was special. This week I am looking forward to some sun, a cold beer and it is my 21st birthday on Sunday which is exciting!

“It’s been an interesting race, we were actually leading for a bit at the beginning, but then we headed down south and we knew we were slower than the other boats going downwind, so we knew we’d probably drop back a little bit. We then dropped behind UNICEF just as we came around Tasmania. But then we took 50 miles out of them in 200 miles which is really impressive!”

Richard Wonders, who grew up in Newcastle, got to experience the pride of sailing into his hometown. On arrival into port he said: “I’d forgotten how beautiful Newcastle was! It looked absolutely magnificent from the sea and the river. It’s fantastic to be back! I only live in Sydney now, which is just a couple of hours away.”

Richard is also sailing alongside one of his best friends Tim Turpin, sharing the experience together on board Bekezela . Tim said: “It was fantastic, I got to surf massive waves down near the Southern Ocean. My dream was to go 20-25 knots helming the boat, I got to 19.4 knots, that’s pretty cool and I am very happy with that! It was amazing, but I am totally exhausted!”

UNICEF places fifth in Race 5

Placing fifth, it was UNICEF that arrived next to a dock full of supporters and fellow crew from other teams cheering them in.

Dan Bodey, UNICEF Race Skipper said on arrival: “It’s great to be here in Newcastle, we are super happy to have arrived today. It’s been a lovely day, with some really nice sailing. The conditions on this race were really quite varied. We had upwind, wind holes and then some really nice downwind with the spinnaker up. When we were south of Tasmania we had a really big storm come through with 50+ knots of wind which was some of the biggest conditions that some of the crew have ever seen, so it was an incredible 24 hours. Then we had the obligatory near-Race Finish wind hole, and also an upwind beat to finish off.

“It was a really tight 36 hours with Bekezela and Zhuhai , with lots of different tactics involved. We were in third, then back in fifth and then unfortunately our tactics didn’t pay off this time but next race we are confident we’ll be coming in first.”

With the fleet now having covered almost half of the circumnavigation, Dan reflects on how far his team has come: “The crew is developing really nicely and it’s a pleasure to see. I think especially on this race the round the worlders and leggers really shone through in their skills and ability to coach the newer crew, which is amazing.”

First Mate Laura Hampton added: “It was a good race for us. We didn’t quite get the finish we wanted, we almost had a third place but Bekezela and Zhuhai did really well and sailed over us. Big ups to them but hopefully we’ll get it next time.

“Around Tasmania was pretty gnarly, it lived up to all expectations. We had 60 knots of wind, and we were doing 20 knots surfing down waves, so it was quite exciting. We had some super nice wind and just sent it!”

UNICEF Crew member Sue Melly added: “It was fantastic! A great race at the end but we didn’t catch them! It was great to be in sight of two other boats though. We just kept pushing and pushing until the end.”

The next batch of boats are due to dock in Newcastle from Thursday morning (local time) onwards. Follow the action on our social channels and of course, on the Race Viewer.

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Almost half the ‘Clipper Round the World’ fleet has now sailed into Newcastle Harbour, as part of the latest leg of the marathon ocean race.

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Clipper Round the World Yacht Race to stopover in Newcastle in 11 month sailing challenge

For the first time in its history the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is set to arrive in Newcastle early next year.

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The harbour will be the event's first stopover of the Australian Coast-to-Coast leg in 2024 and the fleet are expected to arrive at the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club (NCYC) between January 1 and 4.

NCYC CEO Paul O'Rourke said the club had put bids in previously to be a stop but hadn't been successful until now.

"We're very excited and some of our members have done this race in the past," he said.

He said the visit will be a chance for the crew and their supporters to celebrate the New Year in Newcastle.

"There will be a lot of people come off the boats so it will be a tangible economic event for Newcastle," he said.

"We are delighted to host the Clipper Race stopover as it will help showcase both the sport of sailing to our city, and our beautiful harbour city to the world."

"It will profile Newcastle as a deep water port."

The Clipper Race sees adventurers aged between 22 and 69 years-old, from diverse backgrounds from doctors to teachers and tattoo artists, take on an 11 month sailing challenge.

The crew members have the choice to participate in different legs or the entire 40,000 nautical miles of the world's oceans on board a 70ft yacht.

Departing from Portsmouth, UK on September 3, the fleet will head to Puerto Sherry in Spain, Punta del Este in Uruguay, Cape Town, South Africa and across to Australia, where the teams will visit Fremantle, Newcastle and Airlie Beach, Whitsundays, racing between each destination.

Docking into the NCYC will allow the crews to rest and relax after facing the conditions of the 'Roaring Forties' known for its strong winds and huge rolling swells from Fremantle to Newcastle.

"Strong depressions will give tremendous winds and big seas which in turn will create some fantastic downwind surfing conditions for the Clipper 70 Race yachts and their crews," Clipper Race director Mark Light said.

"Once around Tasmania, the fleet will head north and battle with the notorious Bass Strait, forever wary of the weather phenomenon known as the 'Southerly Buster' which is prevalent in these parts, as they head towards the port of Newcastle," he said.

"After a challenging race the crew will be ready to enjoy the amazing beaches, bars and great hospitality that the Newcastle stopover will offer."

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Alanna Tomazin

Alanna is a journalist at the Newcastle Herald with a focus on education. She takes pride in regional journalism which she believes is crucial to informing our towns and cities. Have a story? Email her at [email protected]

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Eleven strong clipper race fleet say farewell to city of newcastle.

The 1pm gun from Newcastle’s Fort Scratchely was a fitting farewell signal to over 200 sailors on eleven identical yachts as they set off on their sprint to the Whitsundays in the second race of the Australian leg in the Clipper Around the World Race.

The Clipper Around the World Race is an eleven-month circumnavigation with non-professional sailors across 55 nationalities represented in the fleet.

Planning for the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club and the City of Newcastle to host a stopover for the 2023-2024 Clipper Around the World Race was triggered by a phone call just eight months ago.

The award-winning Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club had previously expressed an interest with the event organisers in hosting a stopover, and then the clubs CEO, Paul O’Rourke, received a phone call that started a process cementing Newcastle’s status as an international sailing destination.

“The initial phone call showed that we had a lot of common ground with Clipper Ventures who organise the Round the World Race. A passion for sailing, a connection with community, and an understanding of what makes such an international event successful for everyone” O’Rourke said. “Our management team, staff, members, and a host of enthusiastic volunteers stepped up to not just co-ordinate the sailing and administration side, but tourist activities as well. Working with City of Newcastle we had the sailors going surfing, outrigger canoeing, swimming, on winery tours, and more.”

The Lord Mayor of Newcastle Nuatali Nelmes said that the city had provided the perfect backdrop for one of the world’s highest profile sailing events during the 10-day stopover of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, which injected almost half a million dollars into the local economy.

“Utilising our beautiful harbour, and with support from City of Newcastle and the hospitality of the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club, we warmly welcomed more than 200 competitors from 55 countries across the globe to our shores following the arrival of the first vessel early on January 2,” Cr Nelmes said.

“Since then the race crews, support staff, their families and partners have enjoyed all our city has to offer, exploring the Wickham/Honeysuckle precinct, experiencing Newcastle’s restaurant and café culture and our wonderful local businesses. With almost 200,000 followers on social media, the race is yet another high-profile event helping to promote Newcastle to an international audience. We wish the fleet well as it heads to Airlie Beach for the next leg of the race and hope their experiences here will encourage them to return to our city in the future.”

The 950 nautical mile race from Newcastle to Airlie Beach in Queensland is more of a sprint than some of the legs in the circumnavigation and is expected to take six or seven days. Clipper Race Director Mark Light said that “this will be a fast and furious race with little chance to make up ground in the event of a poor tactical choice or sailing evolution that may not have gone completely to plan.”

Light was very pleased with the race start which required co-ordination with multiple organisations. “It really was a fantastic start in Newcastle Harbour. The start served up some beautiful conditions of an easterly breeze around 10 knots, making for close upwind racing on the start line, an exciting show for the crowds lining the foreshore, and spectating on the water.”

The first yacht to cross the line just off Newcastle’s Queens Wharf was PSP Logistics but unfortunately they had ‘jumped the gun’ and so incurred a two hour penalty. UNICEF was the first yacht with a clean start, closely followed by Qingdao, Zhuhai and Our Isles and Oceans.

About the Clipper Round the World Race

The Clipper Race is one of the biggest challenges of the natural world and an endurance test like no other. With no previous sailing experience necessary, before signing up for the intensive training programme, it’s a record-breaking 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on a 70-foot ocean racing yacht. The brainchild of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world, the first Clipper Race took place in 1996. Since then, almost 6,000 Race Crew from all walks of life and more than 60 nations have trained and raced in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race; the only race in the world where the organisers supply a fleet of identical racing yachts (eleven), each with a fully qualified skipper and first mate to safely guide the crew.

www.clipperroundtheworld.com

About Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club

The Club was incorporated on the 19th of April, 1994, and since then, has grown to be a nationally recognised name in both sailing and sailing development. NCYC has gone through various phases of development, beginning with the completion of four marina arms, boatyard, and commercial centre. The second phase of development saw the completion of two more marina arms, and the completion of the Clubhouse in 2008. In 2021, the Club completed stage three, doubling the capacity of its Clubhouse. As far as Australian yacht clubs go, NCYC’s history is relatively short, yet still boasts as one of the newest yacht clubs in Australia, and certainly the newest with significant club and marina assets.

www.ncyc.net.au

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2023-24 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race: Leg 4 from Fremantle to Newcastle, Australia

The 11 teams competing in the 2023-24 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race will embark on Leg 4 of their journey, starting from Fremantle, Australia. This leg will take them on a challenging 2,500nm course around the southern coast of Australia up to Newcastle, New South Wales, including tough weather conditions and the most southerly point of the entire circumnavigation.

The race's most southerly route presents a significant test for the teams, with unpredictable weather and tactical sailing, impacting their overall performance in the race.

• Leg 4 spans a 2,500nm course around the southern coast of Australia
• The fleet has an arrival window of January 1 to 4 in Newcastle, Australia
• 72 new crew members are joining the Clipper Race for Leg 4
• The 11 teams are preparing to commence Leg 4 from Fremantle, Australia
• The race is expected to pose a tough start with challenging weather conditions and tactical sailing
• Arrival window for the fleet in Newcastle, Australia is set from January 1 to 4

The teams will navigate the tough conditions and the most southerly point of the circumnavigation, sailing around the bottom of Tasmania and then across the Tasman Sea, before embarking on a tactical sail up to Newcastle against the East Australia Current.

The upcoming leg of the Clipper Race presents a challenging and pivotal point in the circumnavigation, testing the teams' skills and strategy in unpredictable weather conditions.

The summary of the linked article was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence technology from OpenAI

Scuttlebutt Sailing News • Editor

Most southerly route of the Clipper Race

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Published on September 14th, 2023 | by Editor

2023-24 Clipper Race to descend Atlantic

Published on September 14th, 2023 by Editor -->

The Clipper 2023-24 Round the World Yacht Race is set to depart on its second race for the fleet of eleven identical Tony Castro designed Clipper 70s. After the teams completed passage from Portsmouth, UK to Puerto Sherry, Spain , their next course to Punta del Este, Uruguay will begin September 15 with an expected arrival window of October 12-16.

Race details – Team list – Race route – Tracker – Facebook

About the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race: The Clipper Race was established in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world in 1968-69. His aim was to allow anyone, regardless of previous sailing experience, the chance to embrace the thrill of ocean racing; it is the only event of its kind for amateur sailors.

Held biennially, the Clipper 2023-24 Round the World Yacht Race got underway September 3 for the fleet of eleven identical Tony Castro designed Clipper 70s. This 13th edition has 24 crew aboard each yacht, coming from 63 different nationalities (105 sailors from the USA) for the 40,000 mile circumnavigation of the world.

The course is divided into 8 legs and 14 individual races, with some of the crew in for the entire circumnavigation while others will do individual legs. The team having the best cumulative score over the entire course will win the Clipper Race Trophy.

2023-24 edition will take the following route:

Leg 1 Race 1. Portsmouth, UK – Puerto Sherry, Spain – 3 Sept Race Start, arrive 9 Sept Race 2. Puerto Sherry, Spain – Punta del Este, Uruguay – 15 Sept Race Start, arrive 12-16 Oct

Leg 2 Race 3. Punta Del Este, Uruguay – Cape Town, South Africa – 22 Oct Race start, arrive 6-10 Nov

Leg 3 Race 4. Cape Town, South Africa – Fremantle, Australia – 16 Nov Race Start, arrive 8-13 Dec

Leg 4 Race 5. Fremantle, Australia – Newcastle, Australia – Race Start 19 Dec, Arrival 1-4 Jan 2024 Race 6. Newcastle- Airlie Beach, Australia – Race Start 10 Jan, Arrive 16-17 Jan

Leg 5 Race 7. Airlie Beach, Australia – Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam – Race Start 22 Jan, Arrive 16-21 Feb Race 8. Ha Long Bay– Zhuhai, China – Race Start 27 Feb, Arrive 2-3 March

Leg 6 Race 9. Zhuhai, China – Qingdao, China – Race Start 9 March- Arrive 18-19 March Race 10. Qingdao- Seattle, USA – Race Start 25 March, Arrive 19-24 April

Leg 7 Race 11. Seattle, USA – Panama Canal – Race Start 2 May, Arrive Panama 27 May-1 Jun Race 12. Panama-Washington, DC, USA – Race Start 5 June, Arrive 17-19 June

Leg 8 Race 13. Washington, DC, USA – Oban, Scotland – Race Start 25 June, Arrive 12-16 July Race 14. Oban – Portsmouth, UK – Race Start 21 July

Source: Clipper Round the World Yacht Race

Tags: Clipper Round the World Yacht Race

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Clipper Round the World Yacht Race set to visit trio of Australian stops in upcoming edition

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Best of the best to contest national yachting title in Newcastle

Australia’s fastest and foremost racing yachts will arrive in Newcastle early next month to contest one of the premier prizes in offshore yachting, the Australian Yachting Championships, from April 5-7.

Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club (NCYC) is hosting the prestigious event in conjunction with the national sailing body, Australian Sailing. It will be embedded into the fast-growing SailFest Newcastle Regatta which was relaunched in 2019 but has a proud heritage dating back to 1845.

Undoubtedly one of the signature events is a TP52 division with 11 entries. Included are Geoff Boettcher’s orange-hulled  Secret Men’s Business , due to be trucked from Adelaide for the series, and Marcus Blackmore’s newly built  Hooligan .

David Doherty’s  Matador , fresh from winning a closely fought Act 1 of the Pallas Capital Gold Cup for TP52s last weekend, will take strong form into the national championships, as will podium placegetters  KOA  (Andrew Kearnen) and  Quest  (Craig Neil).

Joining them will be at least 11 other entries striving for IRC-handicap honours in the Australian Yachting Championships, including Middle Harbour Yacht Club stablemates  Nine Dragons  (Bob Cox),  Soozal  (Keiran Mulcahy) and the Sydney 36  Stormaway  (J. Stenning and C. Gunn).

Nine Dragons  will square off with Mark Griffith’s  LCE Old School Racing  from Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, both being near-identical DK46 sisterships built in 2004. Duelling for home-town honours, meanwhile, will be reigning Adams 10 National Champion Tom Braidwood aboard the JPK 10.8  Saltwater Wine , and Joe De Kock on his Farr 40  KD1 .

Entries remain open for the IRC divisions and the PHS cruising class that is contested as part of SailFest Newcastle. Vessels from Queensland and Victoria are also expected to make the trek to Newcastle to compete in the Australian Yachting Championships.

Windward-leeward racing will be staged off Newcastle’s famous beaches and the passage racing will feature an in-harbour start at around 11.30am on Saturday, April 6, marked by a firing of Fort Scratchley’s 80-pound gun. It will give spectators on the harbour foreshore a front-row view.

NCYC CEO Paul O’Rourke says: “It’s fantastic to bring the sailing community together here in Newcastle. What make these events special is the camaraderie the sailors develop in the Club afterwards. We have always been able to deliver fantastic sailing along our coastline and generous hospitality after, and it’s great to be able to share that with a wider group of sailors this year.”

Saturday will also see the historic Cock of the Harbour race run by Port Hunter 16ft Sailing Skiff Club, with NCYC Sailing Manager Jack Buchan noting: “The 16ft Skiffs, catamarans and off-the-beach dinghies really bring the harbour to life as they vie for the honour of being the fastest sailing boats on the harbour. There is a colourful, chaotic beauty to the racing that’s fantastic to watch.”

Families can also get involved on Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7, from 9am to 12pm, as kids aged 6 to 12 can try sailing for free under the supervision of Australian Sailing qualified instructors from NCYC.

SailFest Newcastle Regatta is supported by the City of Newcastle and Transport for NSW. More information: sailfest.com.au

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