As so often happens in yacht racing, the story is denied a fitting finish due to a lack of wind when it’s needed most. And it was certainly the case at Sail Port Stephens today, with a predicted 10-knot sou’easter failing to materialise. Inshore and offshore, they sat, with no fairy tales coming true for…

The best laid schemes of mice, men and race committees often go awry, especially in the fluid environment of yacht racing, and Day 6 of Sail Port Stephens 2022 was one of those days. Plans were announced at the morning briefing to send the entire fleet offshore, a popular tradition of Sailebration Saturday, yet the…

Pessimists were predicting showers and light winds but the optimists and opportunists seized the day as the Pantaenius Sail Port Stephens Trophy Series and NSW Yachting Championships got off to a mostly bright and breezy start. The eight-strong TP52 fleet and IRC/ORC Division 2 yachts all headed offshore as per program, managing three windward-leeward races…

Queensland has Surfers Paradise, NSW has Sailors Paradise. It’s located just outside the headlands of Port Stephens, where a cluster of Hawaiian-style islands from the set of Jurassic Park create an idyllic racecourse for yachts competing in the Sail Port Stephens Commodores Cup. Today, with a sou-east breeze of 15 knots, it was about as…

They say history never repeats but a ‘lightening’ breeze can certainly strike twice, as 120 yachts competing in Sail Port Stephens’ Commodores Cup Race 2 discovered today. The start was delayed for over an hour as a morning westerly conceded to a southerly airstream under crisp blue skies. With temperatures reaching a balmy 25 degrees,…

Rarely has there been a parting as sweet as watching 120 yachts slide down a sparkling Port Stephens under spinnaker in Race 1 of the 2022 Bannisters Port Stephens Commodores Cup. Three days earlier it was blowing 40 knots from the south, whipping up seas rated ‘large and powerful’ by the Bureau boys and girls,…

As Australia commemorated Anzac Day, there were battles aplenty on the water in an action-packed finale to Sail Port Stephens 2021, which saw some surprise victors in a number of divisions. The two-year break due to last year’s COVID-enforced cancellation made the contests more willing than ever, yet when the spray settled the winners were…

Tomorrow we honour the Anzac legend and our selfless service men and women. Today, however, was all about remembering the legacy of Roger “Hicko” Hickman, Sail Port Stephens mentor and ambassador, with a Super Saturday ‘Sail-ebration’ involving around 180 boats, great and small. They were packed five deep off Nelson Bay breakwall, spinnakers radiating in…

The world would’ve watched in utter amazement today as 130 yachts lined up for the opening spell of a massive weekend of racing at Sail Port Stephens 2021. Spinnakers lined the entire bay, cheek and jowl, in a spectacle that turned the clock back to pre-COVID days, further mirrored by a simple post-race sausage sizzle…

The 2021 Sail Port Stephens regatta switched to island time today for Race 2 of the Commodores Cup, with the fleet heading seawards for a race course where Mother Nature lays the marks – or at least the landmarks. Starting off Nelson Bay breakwall, the yachts donned spinnakers for a sparkling run in nor’westerly winds…