Sharon Ferris-Choat finished the Solo Trans-Tasman Yacht Challenge eight weeks ago. Now she's back after just crossing the start line with a full crew aboard, skippering New Zealand-flagged Vixen Racing in the 2026 GCCM Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race, which starts today at 11am Queensland time from Surfers Paradise.
Ferris-Choat who skippers the Verdier 40, took monohull line honours in this year's Solo Trans-Tasman; she was the first woman to finish that race since 2014, and now the first woman to take division line honours. The Vixen Racing team came 15th overall, 1st home in the Class40’s, in the 2026 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race which they completed only 3 days ago.
Vixen Racing just after the start of the 2026 Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race | Photo: courtesy Southport Yacht Club (youtube)
Guy Chester was also on the Gold Coast Mackay start line. The Australian sailor, racing out of Townsville Sailing Club, took overall line honours in that same Solo Trans-Tasman race aboard his Crowther 40 trimaran, along with multihull honours. Both Chester and his tri, Ocean's Tribute, had spent the summer in New Zealand competing in its local races and regattas.
Ocean's Tribute at the start of the 2026 Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race. | Photo: courtesy Southport Yacht Club (youtube)
New Zealand has a second boat in the 25 strong fleet. Brian Petersen’s TP52 V5, comes into the race after finishing fifth in the 2026 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race. The crew described a close battle with the other TP52s throughout that race. Andy Kearnan’s Koa comes into this event after finishing second across the line in the 2026 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, followed by Lee Hawksley’s recently acquired Gusto and V5. A similar contest awaits on the passage to Mackay, with Koa and Gusto among the opposition. “V5 is ready to go, and with a glamour downwind forecast on offer, we’re expecting a fantastic battle with fellow TP52s” the team posted before the start. “It’s shaping up to be a fast and exciting race, and we can’t wait to get underway.”
Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing 100 heads the race for line honours, with Phil Harmer’s Wild Oats X another major contender.
Wild Thing 100 of the 2026 Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race. | Photo: courtesy Southport Yacht Club (youtube)
The fleet ranges from the 100 foot Wild Thing 100 to Annie Stevenson’s 30 foot Dehler 30 OD, Employment Hero Alliance. They face the same course and forecast, but are likely to sail very different races. Wild Thing 100 could finish before the strongest conditions arrive. Employment Hero Alliance may still be racing when winds north of Yeppoon approach the forecast 25 to 30 knots.
Other entries include Geoffrey Hill’s Santa Cruz 72 Antipodes and Glenn Burrell’s Reichel Pugh 42 Black Diamond. Andrew Lloyd has the Sydney 38 Clockwork, while Wayne Seaward brings the Oceanis 473 Cyan Moon.
Start of the Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race. | Photo: courtesy Southport Yacht Club (youtube)
The Bureau of Meteorology briefing ahead of the start had sailors expecting 15 to 20 knots offshore near the start, with the south to south-easterly wind building further through Thursday and Friday as a high pressure ridge firms up along the coast. Forecasters flagged the chance of a strong wind warning north of Yeppoon for Saturday, before conditions ease into Sunday and Monday for the later boats.
Seas will build the same way, from fairly flat at the start out to two and a half to three metres offshore by the weekend, with boats further inshore near the reef likely to see less than those out in open water.
Southport Yacht Club's livestream of the start is available on YouTube. The race tracker is available to view thoughout the race.
Race Update · Day 1 Summary
Fleet settles into overnight rhythm after clean start ff Surfers Paradise
The 2026 Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race got away cleanly at 11am on Thursday, with all 25 boats crossing the line under spinnaker off Surfers Paradise in 15 knots of southerly breeze, a metre of sea and clear winter skies.
Wild Thing 100 and Wild Oats X went straight to the front and have stayed locked together ever since, trading a narrow margin through the afternoon and into the evening without either boat managing to break clear. Koa has sat just behind that pair through the same period, close enough to be part of the conversation at the top of the fleet rather than chasing it.
The fleet hasn't escaped without cost. Indigo II was the first out, retiring just 21 minutes after the start when Stacey Jackson's crew lost their rudder and tore a spinnaker in the same incident. Black Diamond followed during the afternoon, with skipper and GCMYR Chairman Glenn Burrell forced to withdraw after sustaining equipment and sail damage. Both crews are safe, and both boats are back in port on the Gold Coast.
By nightfall the fleet had begun to spread out along the track, a group of four, Antipodes, Mistral, Vixen Racing and Ocean's Tribute, working north together in the chasing pack. With that spread underway, the tactical calls crews make overnight on sail choice and positioning are shaping up to matter as much as raw boat speed.
The southerly that's carried the fleet all day is forecast to hold fresh overnight, which should keep the leaders moving quickly while the rest of the fleet looks to hang onto pace and capitalise on any shift that comes through before daylight.
Go Boating NZ · based on Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race coverage
Race Update · Day 2 Summary
Wild Thing 100 leads the fleet as Gusto heads the TP52 group through the eef
Wild Thing 100 led the fleet north of K'gari at first light on Friday, running at 15 knots. Wild Oats X sat off to the east at 10 knots, with the rest of the fleet strung out behind as the day's routing choices through the reef started to take shape.
Wild Oats X went with the rhumb line as the fleet pushed into the southern Great Barrier Reef. Wild Thing 100 went wider, hunting stronger breeze offshore. Further back, Gusto moved clear of the TP52 group after rounding K'gari's northern tip, taking the lead among the class. Behind Gusto, Koa, Touche42, Kerb, and the Kiwi TP52 V5, sailed by Brian Petersen, were separated by only a handful of miles, each hunting a slightly different line for pressure.
By midday, pushing into Hervey Bay, Wild Thing 100 held a solid margin over Wild Oats X out front. Gusto had opened a clear gap on the rest of the TP52 group but remained well back of the two leaders on the water. V5 was still tucked in with Koa, Touche42 and Kerb just behind Gusto. The fleet was closing in on the halfway mark of the 520-nautical-mile race, with more than 180 nautical miles still standing between the leaders and Mackay.
By 4pm the whole fleet was past Sandy Cape, Fontana the last boat around K'gari. Wild Oats X and Wild Thing 100 had both ducked inshore of the rhumb line through the early afternoon, weighing the shorter inshore route against the stronger breeze further out, before Wild Thing 100 swung back onto the rhumb line with 108 nautical miles to run, putting Grant Wharington's crew on track for a finish just after midnight. Gusto pushed further northwest into an average wind speed of around 18 knots, while V5 held a steadier inshore line in an average of around 15 knots. Kerb passed Antipodes during the afternoon and moved up onto the tail of Koa, running alongside the catamaran Miyu.
Thirty-three hours after leaving the Gold Coast, Wild Thing 100 was threading the inside line through the Percy Islands at 15 knots as night fell, well placed for a finish just after midnight. Wild Oats X remained in pursuit but hadn't closed the gap. The rest of the fleet stayed strung out along the Queensland coast in steady offshore breeze.
Mackay Marina was preparing for the fleet's arrival, with the bulk of the boats due in through Sunday.
Go Boating NZ · based on Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race coverage
Race Update · Day 3 Summary
Wild Thing 100 takes line honours as V5 leads the Kiwi charge into Mackay
Grant Wharington's Wild Thing 100 crossed the line in Mackay at 0016hrs on Saturday, taking line honours in the 2026 Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race.
Wild Oats X came in a little over two hours later. Phil Harmer's crew took second. Koa and Gusto followed, crossing at 0900hrs and 0905hrs respectively.
Fifth across the line was Brian Petersen's TP52 V5, out of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, ahead of Touche42, Miyu and Antipodes. Sharon Ferris-Choat's Vixen Racing finished tenth, sailing 616 nautical miles, the greatest distance among finishers on the tracker so far, nearly eight weeks after Ferris-Choat took monohull line honours in the Solo Trans-Tasman.
Line honours is done, but the corrected-time result is still provisional. Mistral, skippered by Rupert Henry, leads the IRC standings despite finishing 11th across the line, just four minutes and 49 seconds ahead of Touche42 in second. Saltwater Wine and Balancing Act remain at sea, though their estimated corrected times don't currently put Mistral's lead under threat.
Four boats have retired from the race. Employment Hero Alliance, sailed double-handed by Annie Stevenson and Peter Winter, pulled out with sail and halyard damage and headed for Bundaberg, crew safe. Kerb retired after a broken rudder, having been running well up the IRC order at the time, crew also safe. Indigo II and Black Diamond also retired earlier in the race.
Mackay Marina has a busy weekend ahead, with the rest of the fleet still due in.
Go Boating NZ · based on Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race coverage
Bluebottle, the 1947 Dragon given to the Duke of Edinburgh, won at Cowes Week 2024 sailed by Graham and Julia Bailey in the event's 200th regatta year.
