A lot to like

Sail Port Stephens

Sail Port Stephens could become the premier regatta week in NSW, says Roger McMillan.

There’s a lot to like about Sail Port Stephens. The program, the venue, the social activities, the amenities… This is destined to become one of Australia’s biggest regatta weeks.

The programming is very clever. Firstly, like most “regional” regatta weeks these days, there are feeder races to get the boats from the nearest cities to the regional town. Starting on Saturday morning, Sydney boats race from Pittwater to Newcastle. After an overnight stay in the Steel City, they are joined by all the Newcastle boats for the race to Port Stephens. These are both Category 4 offshore events.

The regatta itself is divided into two parts. From Monday to Wednesday, there is a Category 5 passage race each day around the beautiful offshore islands, for the Commodore’s Cup. This is relaxed cruising/racing and some boats enter just this part of the program.

Thursday is the lay day, then the “serious” racing begins and continues until Sunday. The big boats compete in the NSW IRC Championship, sailing windward/leewards offshore. The remainder of the racing boats and the two cruising divisions compete in a PHS series which includes inshore and offshore events. This year, they were joined by a fleet of SB3s which were sailing their national championship.

The numbers at this year’s regatta weren’t huge compared with other regional events like Port Lincoln, Geographe or Airlie Beach race weeks, which all attract around 100 boats. At Port Stephens, 35 started in the Commodore’s Cup, 21 in the IRC Championship, 12 in Performance Racing, 27 in Performance Cruising and 17 in the SB3 nationals.

Port Stephens has the capacity to handle at least 100 boats, and will probably attract many more as word spreads. There are three well-equipped marinas and lots of sheltered bays where temporary moorings could be placed to handle the overflow. Although the marinas are spread around the bay, a “boaties bus” ran at frequent intervals to take competitors to and from the social venues.

Social activities are a major feature of the regatta, with something happening every day. Highlights included the Yachties Ball, where the local mayor Bruce McKenzie and Mariner Boating’s Trevor Joyce showed off their dance steps, and the Gone Troppo night which featured some of the worst Hawaiian shirts ever dragged out of the rag bag.

However, as with most regattas, it is the venue that is the most important consideration when yacht owners decide whether to take part. Port Stephens has many more ticks than crosses in this measure.

Only 89 nm up the coast from Sydney, boats can be comfortably delivered to and from the regatta in 24 hours. Safe havens can be found at Pittwater and Newcastle in the unlikely event of bad weather at this time of year.

Once there, skippers and crew alike are stunned by the beauty of the Port and the surrounding islands. Secluded bays and rocky islands abound, making the passage races, in particular, very interesting. A favourite course for the PHS divisions involved various roundings of the islands at the mouth of the bay.

Courses were also sailed inside Port Stephens itself, which in area is bigger than Sydney Harbour. However, this is where the one “cross” is marked on the score card. Water inside the heads is very shallow and strong tides run in and out of the bay. Several boats “touched Australia” during the event but fortunately the bottom is sandy and the only harm was to the skippers’ egos. While many enjoyed the challenge of navigating the bay’s sand bars, drifting sideways in the current with no wind in the sails has been known to cause premature graying of helmsmen’s hair.

The lack of depth is the limiting factor for the regatta and may explain why only one TP52, Rob Hanna’s Melbourne-based Shogun, competed in the IRC Championship. The majority of entrants were around 40ft and drew no more than three metres.

This year’s event has been well covered on our mysailing.com.au website and anyone wishing to review the full results or get blow-by-blow descriptions of each day’s racing can do so at www.sailportstephens.com. Event winners are also listed in the box on page 17.

Suffice to say that this is an event that will grow rapidly and may even have to restrict entries within three to four years.

The venue is superb, the organisation is exemplary and support from the local community is high. Because it’s a tourist town, there is plenty of accommodation
for both boats and crews and no shortage of cafes, restaurants, bars and other venues for the inevitable socialising.

Held in the middle of April, Sail Port Stephens offers a great opportunity for crews to close their season on a high note.

Result

Commodore’s Cup

Division 1: 1. Secret Men’s Business 1 (Murray 42, Rob Curtis); 2. Edake (Farr 40, Jeff Carter); 3. Paca (Beneteau First 40, Phillipe Mengual).

Division 2: 1. Mainstay (Sydney 32, Brad Sewell); 2. Pub Talk (Farr 1106, Rob Harper); 3. Moet (Northshore 38, Keith Masters).

IRC NSW Championship

Division 1: 1. Shogun (TP52, Rob Hanna); 2. Bandit (Farr 40, Matt Allen and Warwick Rooklyn); 3. Edake (Farr 40, Jeff Carter)

Division 2: 1. Rumbo (Farr 30, Guy and Clark Holbert); 2. Raging Bull (Bull 9000, John Streeter); 3. Patrice Six (X-41, Tony Kirby)

Performance Racing

1. Team GUE (Melges 32, Chris Williams); 2. Thirlmere (Sydney 38, Sally Warneford); 3. Viva La Vita (Northshore 370, Tony Bates).

Performance Cruising

Division 1: 1. Margaret Rintoul V (German Frers 18.5, Graham Morton and Graham Buckeridge); 2. Dances with Waves (Beneteau 40.7, Jim Thomas); 3. Joie de Vie (Sun Odyssey 42, Peter Byford)

Division 2: 1. Nervous (Elliott 7, Matt Bonser); 2. She’s the One (NSX 38, Michael Kirby); 3. Mainstay (Sydney 32, Brad Sewell)

SB3

1. Club Marine White (Jono Shelley); 2. Club Marine Blue (Rod Jones); 3. Selden for Sailing (Jan Scholten)