By popular demand, the Australian Sports Boat Association (ASBA) is returning to Sail Port Stephens for an unprecedented third consecutive year to stage its 2019 national titles. And joining them for the first time is the VX One class for its NSW championship. Plans to run the ASBA nationals at Geelong’s Festival of Sails fell…
Marina berths have become rarer than hen’s teeth in the lead-up to Sail Port Stephens 2019, such is the demand from the keelboat brigade, yet there’s room aplenty for off-the-beach and trailable classes to be part of the action. Separate divisions and courses have been created for trailer sailers, 16-Foot Skiffs and junior dinghies, all…
With online entries and the Notice of Race now up and running for the 12th annual Sail Port Stephens regatta, an unforgettable sailing holiday experience awaits for everything from IRC, Super 12 and Farr 40 yachts to cruising boats, trailer sailers, 16-Foot skiffs and junior dinghies. Dates for 2019 are 8-14 April, which falls outside…
That’s all she wrote for Sail Port Stephens 2018. After six days of sublime sunshine and sailing, a wild westerly has put paid to any further racing across all divisions, leaving overnight results standing. The AP flag was hoisted at 9am, with race officer Denis Thompson declaring that the committee would reassess the weather hourly….
If you like your sailing fast and flat, with uninhabited islands and surfing beaches added for good measure, then Super Saturday of Sail Port Stephens 2018 was as good as it gets. Fanned by a warm breeze that built to over 20 knots, around 110 yachts across IRC, Super 12, Performance Racing and Performance cruising…
Fittingly for a fleet boasting Wild Oats X for the first time, the NSW IRC Championships at Sail Port Stephens enjoyed champagne sailing conditions on the offshore race course for three windward-leeward races on day 1. Race 1 had a challenging westerly delivering 30-degree shifts. Wild Oats X was a tad eager at the start,…
The Super 12 NSW Championship fleet opted for a pair of inshore passage races for their first hit-out at Sail Port Stephens, their numbers swollen to 17 by the late addition of Darryl Hodgkinson’s Carkeek 40 Victoire and Bob Steel’s Quest from the IRC ranks. Start 1 was spirited, with parentage aspersions cast as a…
Some 120 yachts are tugging at their mooring lines like thoroughbreds, and a race track commonly described as Australia’s best is perfectly groomed just in time for tomorrow’s start of Sail Port Stephens Part 2. With the cruisy Commodores Cup done and dusted, attention now turns to the serious silverware on offer for the Garmin…
On the third day, the wind gods summoned a cracking breeze for the Sail Port Stephens fleet contesting the Commodores Cup – a 6-knot northerly at the start, building to around 18 knots mid-race as a remnant and reminder of summers past. Course 9 was race officer Denis Thompson’s call, sending the largest-ever Cup fleet…
It was island time for day two of the Commodores Cup, as a 10-knot sou-easter allowed crews to get a taste of the blue waters and surfing beaches off Port Stephens. Starting off Nelson Bay breakwall, the popular Three Islands course took the 78-boat fleet on a scenic loop around Cabbage Tree, Boondelbah and Little…