The NSW ORC Championship opened the 2026 Pantaenius Australia Pittwater Regatta today – a day of light wind and a sloppy seaway under grey skies that caused race officials at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (RPAYC) to hoist the AP and then shorten the offshore courses – a difficult day on the water for officials and competitors alike.
Division 1’s original 27 nautical mile course was shortened by 10 miles and those that handled the conditions best were John Bacon’s Crazy Diamond, the Melges 32 finishing strongly to beat David Hamilton’s Farr 40, Seeking Alpha by a little over 5 minutes.
Such were the conditions that the top two finished streaks ahead of their contemporaries, including third placed LCE Old School, Mark Griffiths’ DK46, which was 17 minutes behind the winner when the handicaps were applied.
“It was dodgy to start with, we were lucky to get a race in,” said Bacon’s tactician, Darren Jones.
The AP went up initially, the midday start postponed, because the breeze was shifting south-east to south-west, and then race officials were made aware there was an easterly up the track.
“The call to AP was a good one, they got it right, but we still had 40 degree shifts,” Jones said.
“It was a pretty fair course that started in 7-8 knots and as we got up the course to top half, it dropped to 5-6 knots for the run back in. We were probably doing eight and a half to 11 knots boat speed on the run home, so it was quite pleasant.”
Shortening course was a good move, especially as it allowed some of the bigger boats at the back end of both divisions to finish in a reasonable time.
“I’d say it was almost a perfect day for a light displacement skinny boat like us,” Jones said. We potentially could have taken line honours – only the 50 footer (Daguet 2, the Mylius 50 owned by Rob Aldis and Peter Byford) beat us home (less than 2 minutes separated them).” Seeking Alpha finished about a minute behind us.”
Jones admitted, “We had the luxury of the breeze softening at top of the course. We were fast in those conditions compared to the bigger boats. We mowed them down quite quickly downwind – that’s when the boat comes into its own.”
The upwind leg went on for two hours in trying conditions, “John was steering and just kept the boat going. The crew praised him and it made my job as tactician a lot easier,” Jones ended.
Division 2 was originally to sail 21nms, but that course was shortened to 16. Last year’s Division 1 winner, Garry Gudmunson’s ID 35, Organised Chaos, took overall honours by nearly five minutes from Simon Grosser’s Young 88, Young at Heart – a past winner of this event. Third went to Neil Padden’s Beneteau First 40.7, Wailea, with a gap of 11 minutes from the winner.
The three-day ORC Championship, supported by Sydney Marine Brokerage, continues with inshore races tomorrow and concludes with Sunday’s offshore windward/leeward races on the Palm Beach Circle. Racing commences from 11.30am both days.
Tomorrow, the full contingent of 86 boats will be out racing on various courses in the ORC Championship, Pittwater Cup, incorporating the Performance 40 division for the first time, along with the ten-strong Super 40 division and the Grand Soleil Yachts Cup. And it’s the much anticipated 5-Heads Challenge, a 20nm race that will have the fleet weaving a course through Pittwater and Broken Bay.
Ashore, the party started with a barbecue, pop up bar and a DJ. From all accounts, due to the fun had last year, some of the crews from visiting boats have chosen to stay at Pittwater this time and enjoy the full entertainment experience over the three day event.
For full results and all information please visit: www.pittwaterregatta.au
By Di Pearson/RPAYC media
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