The 2026 Three Hummock Island Yacht Race will give crews something most offshore races withhold: the freedom to choose their own course around the turning mark.
When the fleet starts from Tasmania's Tamar River on 6 November, competitors will sail west to Three Hummock Island and then decide whether to round it clockwise or anticlockwise. Either direction counts. The 211-nautical-mile course returns to a finish north of Hebe Reef.
Two ways around the Three Hummock Island Yacht Race course
The tactical question is genuine. Organisers note that tides and local knowledge will matter, and a crew arriving hours later than a rival may face different wind and tide conditions. Following another boat's choice offers no guarantee – the route that suits their yacht may not suit yours.
This is not a morning race. The racing division starts at 1400 local time, off Inspection Head at Beauty Point. From there, competitors leave the Tamar and work west along Tasmania’s northern coast. Three Hummock Island is the turning point. After completing the circuit, boats head back towards the Tamar entrance, finishing north of Hebe Reef.
A favourable sailing angle on the first side could look tempting. But there is still the rest of the island to round, followed by the passage home. For sailors watching from home, that gives the race an intriguing question. When the fleet reaches the island, will the crews agree?
Where is Three Hummock Island? Granite shores in Bass Strait
Picture southeastern Australia, with Victoria on the mainland and Tasmania below it. Between them lies Bass Strait.
Beauty Point sits on the Tamar River in northern Tasmania. The race heads towards the state’s northwest corner, where Three Hummock Island belongs to the Hunter Island Group. It lies northeast of neighbouring Hunter Island, approximately 26 kilometres from the Tasmanian mainland.
At roughly 70 square kilometres, the island offers plenty of coastline to work around. Its outline is approximately circular. Higher ground rises in the northeast and south, around a broad, low central plain.
North Hummock reaches 160 metres, Middle Hummock 100 metres and South Hummock 237 metres. Those three hills give the island its name and break up its otherwise lower profile.
Closer in, granite outcrops alternate with sandy beaches and dunes, backed by thick coastal vegetation. Eucalypt forest and scrub cover parts of the interior. East and West Telegraph beaches provide long sandy stretches on opposite sides of the island.
In clear daylight, crews have a rewarding scene to sail past: rocky points, pale beaches and hills above the coastal vegetation. Some may make their rounding after dark. For them, the view will have to wait for another visit.
The island has obvious cruising appeal. During the race, though, those bays and headlands form the backdrop to sail changes, trimming and navigation.
Bass Strait Cup launches: New interstate trophy raises the stakes
The 2026 Three Hummock Island Yacht Race has also gained major interstate prestige this year by becoming the concluding leg of the newly launched Bass Strait Cup. Created in a joint initiative between the Port Dalrymple Yacht Club and the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria, the new trophy combines the scores of the historic Melbourne to Devonport Race (starting 30 October) with the Three Hummock Island fixture. This partnership explains the high-profile crossing of Victorian contenders like White Spirit and Cadibarra, who are chasing the ultimate Bass Strait bragging rights.
Meet the 2026 Three Hummock Island Yacht Race fleet
Six yachts from Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia are entered to date, ranging from Nick McElwee's 10.50-metre Hick 35 Honey Pot to Scott Lovell's 15.50-metre Farr 51 Just Farr Love.
Lovell's Just Farr Love carries strong handicap credentials, having won overall PHS in the 2024 Sydney Hobart and finished second overall in 2025. The skipper grew up near Three Hummock Island, bringing local knowledge to the race. Victorian entry White Spirit, a Beneteau First 50 skippered by Cyrus Allen with Lillian Stewart, brings Melbourne Osaka Cup and Sydney Hobart experience. Paul Roberts's Victorian Jones 42 Cadibarra, launched in 2001, is also entered. Tasmanian timber yacht AdvantEdge, a 1994 Inglis 47, and South Australia's 2023 Buizen 48 pilothouse cruiser Penelope complete the fleet.
The race operates under Australian Sailing Category 2 requirements. A separate cruising division starts on 7 November with a 52-nautical-mile course to a virtual mark off Devonport, finishing north of Hebe Reef.
Port Dalrymple Yacht Club is hosting the third edition, with Project Maintenance Engineering as naming sponsor.
