Forty-nine yachts are entered for Saturday's Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, the 384 nautical mile season opener that kicks off the 2026/27 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore and sends the fleet from Sydney Harbour north to Main Beach on the Gold Coast.
At the pointy end sits defending Overall champion Sebastian Bohm on the JV TP52 Smuggler, chasing back-to-back wins after a 2025 campaign that also delivered the ACSBWPS Overall title. He is not short of company among the bigger boats. Sean Langman, Managing Director of race sponsor Noakes Group, lines up his Reichel Pugh GP42 Back 2 Black for the first time in this race, having found the boat "in pieces" in a UK shed in 2024 and rebuilt it for a season that already includes the Admiral's Cup, the Rolex Fastnet and the Rolex Sydney Hobart. Langman has raced at least 20 Sydney Gold Coasts and last won it outright in 2022 aboard Moneypenny.
Eight Double Handed entries add to the depth this year, from Rupert Henry and Greg O'Shea on the Lombard 34 Mistral, runner-up in 2024, to newcomers Francesca Leverkus and Lindsay Stead aboard the borrowed Yeah Baby Boatec Australia. Among them is a genuine Tasman story: Sharon Ferris-Choat, the Northland-raised, Bay of Islands-based skipper who crossed the Tasman solo in May and June to become the first monohull skipper home in the Solo Trans-Tasman Yacht Challenge, lines up her Verdier 40 Vixen Racing fully crewed this time, with seven others aboard.
The 54-tonne CNB76 Charlotte brings the race's heaviest star power: offshore legend Stacey Jackson, fresh from becoming part of the first all-women crew to complete a non-stop world circumnavigation, and two-time ISAF World Sailor of the Year Carolijn Brouwer join skipper James Whelan and members of the Vidor family aboard the yacht once owned by the late Ervin Vidor AM.
The broadcast gets a boost too, with Olympic silver medallist Olivia Price and veteran offshore sailor and five-time Sydney Hobart Line Honours winner Peter Shipway confirmed to lead race commentary. And in a first for this event, CYCA has partnered with Virtual Regatta, letting the game's three million-plus registered players race the same course in real time alongside the fleet, a link-up that has run for the Sydney Hobart for a decade.
Racing starts at Sydney Heads at 1300hrs on Saturday, with forecasters calling for a fresh westerly at the gun before conditions ease into lighter, shiftier sailing over the following days as a high pressure system builds.
Editor's take: it's the double handed depth that stands out ahead of the gun. Eight entries, from a class veteran chasing redemption to a maiden pairing sailing a lent boat, is a healthy sign for a discipline that keeps finding its way into the overall trophy rather than staying a side-category. Worth watching all the way to the results.
