Mark Hillis’s trailable Fareast 28 Chicken Lips hails from the NSW Riverina region where a lack of wide deep-water lakes means the crew has to travel from Wagga Wagga for their racing fix. “If we tipped that boat over in Wagga’s Lake Albert the mast would go through someone’s front window,” Hillis grins. “The lake…
By Jack O’Rourke Keeping NSW’s fastest-growing and most festive sailing regatta on course each year requires a special effort from a dedicated and passionate band of over 40 volunteers, who work in day in day out over the entire week. That passion is paying dividends, with Sail Port Stephens injecting an estimated $1.6 million into…
The lengths that some skippers go to for a few days racing at Sail Port Stephens has just been stretched by the Victorian 52-footer Prime Example. The yacht’s gearbox failed off Wilson’s Promontory during the delivery trip, forcing the crew to sail all the way to Middle Harbour Yacht Club in Sydney. The engine was…
Peter and Drew van Ryn’s 25 year-old Sea Hawk took out the Commodore’s Cup division one pointscore by four points in their first regatta since 2011 and division two went to the wire, Dave Griffin’s Alfresco the victor on a countback. The Commodores Cup is the traditional Sail Port Stephens opener and usually a very…
Among the gleaming white fibreglass boats racing en masse at the Commodores Cup, stage one of the two-part 10th anniversary Sai Port Stephens, is the classic timber boat Vittoria cutting a wide path through the gentle Nelson Bay chop. Built for the late and great Victorian yachtsman Lou Abrahams, the Sparkman & Stephens (S&S) 42…
Day two of the Commodore’s Cup at Sail Port Stephens yielded a new division one winner and though the Archambault 32 Esprit’s handicap slug after day one made a second victory much tougher, sailing couple Jane Bartels and Greg Wilkins romped in another division two win. Dennis Cooper’s Sydney 36cr Amante suits a windward/leeward track…
A huge fleet enjoyed a cracking start to the 10th anniversary Sail Port Stephens sailed on Nelson Bay in warm 15-20 knot SSE winds. Pantaenius Commodore’s Cup race one was a 15 nautical miler on a course better known as ‘the pub to pub’ race as it meanders close to a number of waterfront establishments….
A 20-knot sou’easter propelled a record fleet in record time from Newcastle to Port Stephens today, as the feeder race for – you guessed it – a record 2017 Sail Port Stephens regatta in Nelson Bay NSW. More than 40 yachts crowded the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club start line on an inky grey Harbour then…
Matrix will meet James Bond when the 2017 NSW IRC Championship gets underway at Sail Port Stephens on April 7, as new event sponsor Garmin continues to transform science fiction into sailing fact. Best known in the marine industry for its GPS chartplotters, fishfinder/sonar technology and radars, the electronics company is now infiltrating the high-performance…
It’s not just the ‘big’ kids who can play at Sail Port Stephens 2017. Our Junior One-Sail Regatta, sponsored by Port Stephens Strata, is on April 11-12 as a stand-alone event. Yes, it’s in the school holidays, and yes it avoids a clash with the CHS regatta at Belmont. It’s open to O’pen Bics, Sabots,…