For a regatta heading into its 34th edition, the Australian Keelboat Regatta (AWKR) is showing no signs of slowing down. Twenty-seven entries have already come in from New Zealand, the Northern Territory, South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria, with sailors converging from across the country. Di Pearson from AWKR media writes.
Scheduled for the King's Birthday long weekend, 5 to 8 June 2026, and hosted by Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, the regatta continues to draw a wide range of participants, from first-timers and club racers through to hardened ocean campaigners with decades of offshore miles behind them.
Wendy Tuck is among the experienced hands returning. The NSW sailor will again take the helm of the Beneteau First 34.7 Spartan, and her standing in the sport is difficult to overstate. In 2017 she became the first woman to win an around-the-world race, claiming victory in the Clipper event aboard Sanya Serenity Coast, and she remains one of only two women ever to have achieved that distinction. With 18 Sydney Hobart starts alongside that record, her place in sailing's upper tier needs no further argument.
Her most recent high-profile outing was at the helm of MWF Kayle, the Making Waves Foundation vessel that took Invictus Australia athletes out on Sydney Harbour, with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan aboard as special guests. The occasion clearly left a mark. "I spoke more with Prince Harry. He was chatty and gracious. He got off the yacht with the Invictus people to say goodbye, but he came back aboard and said thank you to our crew. He shook each one's hands – and I got a hug!"
The Spartan crew for 2026 blends familiar faces with a couple of newcomers. Kathy Veel, one half of the first all-female double-handed crew in the Sydney Hobart, will be aboard, as will Sanne Rodenstein, who raced the Rolex Sydney Hobart on MWF last year.
Tuck is equally warm about the regatta itself. "I think it's one of the best organised and fun regattas around. It's a great event. It's a nice learning curve for the inexperienced and it's a competitive regatta for the experienced as well," she says. "It's great racing, there are loan boats and the Club makes it what it is. Dee as MC is awesome – so are the boat buoys. There are lots of goodies and we have a crew house. I enjoy it. We are lucky to get Spartan again and we've got to know the owners."
Adelaide doctor Janet Thornley returns to the AWKR with fresh perspective earned from completing the 80th Sydney Hobart last year on her own yacht, The XX Factor, with her husband Alan Dowler as the sole male aboard. Two of her South Australian crew from that Hobart campaign, Jodie-Anne Roberts and Brenda Cassidy, will race alongside her again at the AWKR. A third crewmate from that Hobart, Victorian Belinda Van Duivenvoorden, will sail on Salamander III, owned and skippered by AWKR co-chair Monica Jones.
That Sydney Hobart reset Thornley's sense of what difficult conditions actually mean. "It puts into perspective the weather that you get elsewhere is nothing compared to the Sydney Hobart. It makes you more resilient. It has given me a bit more confidence too – which has never been my strong point. I think it made me realise if I can do this, I can do anything."
No stranger to the event, Thornley is becoming a reliable fixture at the AWKR. "It's the atmosphere that brings me back. The good old barbecue after racing, sitting back and relaxing, talking to people and seeing people you haven't seen in ages. And the racing is great," she says. Most of her crew will arrive on the Thursday, with a training sail planned for the Friday. They step aboard an S80, Espresso, a boat Thornley has not sailed before. "I'm looking forward to sailing a different boat. And even though my own boat is wheel steering, I love tiller steering, which the S80 has." In preparation, the team has been racing locally, covering windward/leewards, round-the-buoys and short offshore events, with their most recent race the weekend before last.
Retired Melbourne doctor Rosie Colahan brings a wealth of ocean miles to the fleet. Her résumé includes the double-handed Melbourne Osaka race and multiple Sydney Hobarts, the first of which was the notorious 1998 edition aboard Jubilation, a Farr 11.6. "My first Hobart was the 1998 race on Jubilation and we were one of the finishers," she says, noting their 34th place from the 44 finishers in that fatal race.
Colahan raced at the AWKR for many years, with 2004 her first appearance and 2016 her last before other commitments intervened. She is glad to be back. "I was boatless for a few years, but now I have Encore, a Northshore 340 Mark 11, which I will sail at the AWKR. I have a couple of women coming with me who were on my boat for the Skills training for women in the KISS program in 2024." Her involvement with the KISS program runs deep, both on the water and on the committee, and the satisfaction she draws from it is plain. "The best thing for me is having girls who have been through KISS and now have the confidence to come and do regattas like the Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta. I love giving women the confidence to come and do a regatta like this."
Colahan's generosity with her knowledge extends to her medical role. At the 2007 Melbourne Osaka she competed as a crew member and simultaneously served as the on-call doctor for fellow competitors throughout the 5500 nautical mile race. In subsequent years she mentored others preparing for that same double-handed challenge. That broad experience underpins a simply stated philosophy: "In sailing, you can be a tacker or a granny, there is a role for everyone."
Mary Ann Harvey heads back to the AWKR with Clockwork, the Sydney 38 she co-owns with Andrew Lloyd, having added a fourth Sydney Hobart to her tally last year. The South Australian pair has been a near-constant presence at major sailing events around Australia over the past three years, earning a reputation as genuine ambassadors for the sport.
Away from the racing, the regatta's social programme is equally spirited. A crew spinnaker-packing competition brings out fierce competitive instincts, cheer squads included. Early breakfast is on offer, and a Saturday night dinner is available, though bookings must be made in advance through the official website.
