Sail Port Stephens 2013 - Going from strength to strength

by Sail Port Stephens Media on 6 Apr 2013 The sixth annual Sail Port Stephens race week starts on Monday week, April 15th, and Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson is forecasting the 2013 event will be another major success.

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He said today,´It looks like it is going to be another big regatta, with few days of entries still to go, we have well over 100 boats already with entries flowing in steadily. This event is going from strength to strength but there are still opportunities for extra entries as there are still a few berth spaces in The Anchorage and in the Soldiers Point Marina.

'One of the very pleasing aspects of this year’s event is there are even more boats sailing which are going to do both parts of the regatta, starting with the Commodores Cup and then racing Port Stephens Trophy so all the boats are going to go cruising on the first part of the week and are going to continue on into different divisions on the second part of the week, some with the same crews increasing their experience, other times with different crews coming in.

'The Grand Prix IRC is going to be quite strong. It’s missing some of the big boats because the TP52´s this year have got an event in Melbourne the week after so they have left their boats down there. But the competition is the 30 and 40 footers is going to be intense.

'It is very pleasing that the Elliott 7 Sports Boats Nationals will once again be held within Sail Port Stephens and it looks like they will have about 16 boats. That is a very strong fleet.

'The timing for the Junior off the beach regatta is good being in the NSW school holidays. It’s certainly a growing part of the regatta with a strong fleet and it adds another dimension to the regatta. Salamander Bay should be well filled up during the week and at the weekend.

'Overall I am looking forward to a good week of racing in Port Stephens. It is one of the best places to sail I think in Australia and certainly the offshore course is pretty spectacular and it is great inside the Bay. You have got the navigational hazards of sand banks and a bit of current.

Challenging courses, great sailing venue and a superb location. You can see why this event has become one of the key events on the Australian sailing calendar.

More news and regatta information at www.sailportstephens.com.au