A puffy 10-15 knot south-westerly breeze set the scene for a sparkling opening day of the 2026 Sail Port Stephens Commodores Cup Passage Series.
With 124 boats lining up for the spectacular downwind start off Nelson Bay breakwall, the big fleet was split into four manageable divisions. Division 1’s 28 entries featured an eclectic mix, from David Beck’s stately CNB 60 Journey to Peter Geddes’ well-known local flyer Road Runner, a Thompson 920.
But all tacticians attempted to maximise their boats’ tracks in the shifting breeze, around sandbars and on the tide-affected tight course inside Port Stephens’ magnificent natural harbour.
Grant Pocklington’s Bakewell White 36 Anarchy from Pittwater got away cleanly in the leading pack and adroitly managed the subsequent various sail transitions to clinch first day PHS honours in Division 1.
For Pocklington it was a case of tapping into a store of knowledge – sailing and fishing.
“I’ve been up here game fishing for the past 20 years,” Pocklington reveals. “I know the sandbanks and the currents, that helps a lot,” he admits.
“We’ve done a lot of work on the boat to get the rig right,” he adds, also acknowledging it had been a two-year journey to get the New Zealand designed and built grand prix racer into its podium form.
“This is one of the great sailing courses in the world,” Pocklington adds. “You have wind, you have tide, you have physical obstacles you need to get around. It’s very challenging, but fantastic.”
Local knowledge is a major factor with Julian Bell’s Beneteau 51st Project and Ian Humphries’ Botin & Carkeek 42 Dirty Deeds from the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club slotting into second and third places. Linehonours went comfortably to Marcus Blackmore’s RP52 Ammonite.
Division 2 saw a tight battle between two Sydney boats, Jenny Danks and Greg O’Neill’s King Tide and Lee Haswley’s Andiamo, with King Tide prevailing.
In Division 3, Sail Port Stephens veteran Peter Lewis and his crew aboard Ca Va, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 440, notched yet another win on their already impressive list. In a quirk that will take some repeating, Ca Va held out its bigger namesake CaVa, a Beneteau 50 from the Royal Motor Yacht Club.
“Today was just the perfect day out on Nelson Bay,” he relates. “After 19 years I never get sick of sailing here. We come together annually and see old friends and sail in one of Australia’s iconic destinations, in sunshine and surrounded by wildlife,” Lewis says. “How better to spend a week on your boat?”
The decent breeze proved to be the liking of Sweet Chariot, Sarah Breenan’s Dufour 365 Grand Large from the Gosford Sailing Club, while Namadgi 3 landed the first blow in the battle of the Bavarias in the non-spinnaker division.
After the day’s silverware was handed-out, the big Sail Port Stephens crowd was treated to a musical treat – a swinging performance by 80s Aussie rock icons GANGgajang.
With Tuesday’s forecast of an 8-knot breeze, crew are hoping for an instalment of the spectacular Round-the-Islands offshore passage racing that the regatta is renowned for.
Sail Port Stephens 2026 is supported by the NSW Government via its tourism agency Destination NSW, Port Stephens Council and subsidiary sponsors.
