Grant Wharington's Wild Thing 100 crossed the Gold Coast finish line in just over 33 hours to claim line honours in the 2025 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, though the handicap contest remained wide open at the time of writing. New Zealand followers had good reason to pay attention, with V5 finishing fourth overall fresh from victory at the New Caledonia Grouprama race, and a clutch of other Kiwi-connected boats still in contention on IRC. Shifting breeze, coastal currents, and the usual tactical traps gave this event full claim to its reputation as the essential warm-up for the Sydney Hobart.
Wild Thing 100 covered the 384-nautical mile course from Sydney Harbour to Southport's Main Beach in 1 day, 9 hours, and 15 minutes, averaging 12.3 knots. Skipper Wharington and co-owner Adrian Seiffert brought the maxi home at around 2200 hours on Saturday 27 July, a time that sat roughly ten hours outside the race record Wild Oats XI set in 2012.
Sebastian Bohm's Smuggler from New South Wales crossed next, finishing at 0714 hours the following morning to become the first TP52 home and take the provisional lead in IRC Overall. A well-judged offshore strategy kept Smuggler moving at a steady pace while others wrestled with inshore risks, and the boat headed both IRC Division 0 and IRC Division 1 at that stage.
Antipodes, V5, and Koa completed the next group of finishers in that order. Brian Petersen's canting-keel TP52 V5, sailing out of New Zealand, held her place in tight company throughout. Koa from New South Wales was still on approach on Monday morning, sitting 5.7 nautical miles short of the finish.
Provisional handicap standings at that point had Smuggler leading both IRC Overall and IRC Division 0, with New South Wales' Voltstar Yeah Baby (DH) heading IRC Division 1. GWM Pennant Hills, also from New South Wales, sat atop both IRC Division 2 and the Corinthian IRC category. Queensland's Balancing Act (DH) led the Double-Handed IRC division by a narrow margin, with New Zealand's Jupiter pressing hard in pursuit. New South Wales' Sumatra headed both PHS and Corinthian PHS. Those standings remained subject to change depending on remaining arrivals and the nature of the evening breeze.
The Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race is a 384-nautical mile offshore event organised by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and co-hosted by the Southport Yacht Club. It sits just behind the Rolex Sydney Hobart in prestige and opens the six-race Blue Water Pointscore series.
The race traces its origins to 1986, when the opening of the Gold Coast Seaway first gave deep-keeled yachts access to Southport Harbour. That inaugural edition drew 83 boats, with Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen firing the starting cannon and Jack Rooklyn's Apollo completing a rare double by claiming both line honours and the handicap prize. The decades since have added a gallery of legendary participants, including Brindabella, Wild Oats XI, Grundig, and Ichi Ban, with the event regularly shaping rivalries and influencing preparations for Hobart.
One of the most memorable tactical calls in the 2025 race came off Seal Rocks, where Bacchanal and Daguet 2 both drove through the East Australian Current to rejoin the offshore fleet. Navigators Alex Nolan on Bacchanal and Steve Taylor on Daguet 2 had planned the move with care, aiming to cut their exposure to the adverse current and find the stronger breeze available further out to sea.
“It was always the plan to be offshore around this area,” Nolan said. “We had a good shift and pressure and went for it.”
The decision paid off for Bacchanal, which climbed from ninth to second in IRC Division 2. Daguet 2 held a strong position among the leading inshore boats before completing its own shift out to the offshore corridor.
Smuggler had taken an altogether different path, committing to the wide offshore lane from early in the race and tracking 30 to 50 nautical miles off the New South Wales coast through the middle stages. By Sunday morning that approach had opened up a 15-nautical mile lead over the nearest competition.
New Zealand's presence across the fleet was considerable in 2025. V5 finished in the top five for line honours, and Jupiter was deep in the hunt for both IRC and Double-Handed honours. Other Kiwi-connected boats in the race included Bowline, Ciao Bella, Cinquante, and Jupiter, with many of them also targeting the 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart.
“The match-race between Balancing Act and Jupiter has been one of the best stories of this year’s race,” noted CYCA race management. Both J/99s were locked in a tactical duel to the finish for the Double-Handed IRC crown.
With GWM Pennant Hills, Jupiter, and Sumatra still racing toward their time limits as this was written, the handicap result remained unresolved. Forecasters were pointing to easing breeze through the evening, adding another layer of uncertainty to an already open finish.
The Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Race gives the fleet far more than a midwinter passage north. Crews use it to stress-test equipment, sharpen teamwork, and refine navigation ahead of December's run south to Hobart. The 2025 edition delivered on all of that: outright speed, sharp strategic decisions, genuine suspense in the standings, and a Kiwi contingent that gave New Zealand sailing fans plenty to follow.
