Sportsboats set for Sail Port Stephens 2013

by Sail Port Stephens Media on 30 Mar 2013 Sail Port Stephens is maturing as one of the key sailing events on the Australia’s sailing regatta calendar.

The sixth annual event will again run in the NSW School Holidays from 15th to 21st April.

This year the Elliott 7 sports boat class, one of the most popular high performance trailable racers, will be again sailing their Australian Championships as part of the event as it was in 2012.

Class President Neil Primrose explains 'The Elliott 7 Nationals will run on Friday 19th, Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st April. We are expecting to have our biggest National fleet for many years. Port Stephens is a very popular venue and in recent years we've been working hard to make charter and fly in options available.

'This year we have a strong West Australian crew flying in and we are hopeful the class designer, Greg Elliott, will be flying in from New Zealand and he too will have a local chartered boat.

'At this stage we have entries from NSW, QLD, ACT and WA, and a quick total looks like up to 16-18 boats. The racing will be once again run by Soldiers Point Sailing Club and we will be keeping the boats in this area, either at the marina or on the trailers at the boat ramp.

'For those that want to do some serious pre-national sailing, the Sail Port Stephens Commodore Cup regatta starts on 15th April with round the bay racing for three days.

'Being part of a major event such as Sail Port Stephens works very well for our sailors. There’s good race management, an interesting social program and Port Stephens provides us with great sailing conditions in sheltered waters, as well as fantastic holiday accommodation and facilities. It is an excellent location for us in terms of the geographic spread of the fleet in Australia and transport accessibility.

Last year Aaron Terrey skippered Shelden Deck Hardware and won six from six sailed on the Salamander Bay course.

'It was great to have won the 2012 championship with six wins out of six. Last year we had new sails, we had boat speed and we sailed cleanly. Can we do the same in 2013, it’s pretty unlikely.'

It’s been noted that Terrey's 2013 entry is called P Plater, it obviously is going to be tough for the rest of the fleet when he gets his full license.

Post event Terrey shared his rig set up with the rest of the fleet and it will be interesting to see if strong teams like Mike Green´s Evergreen, the 2011 Australian champion, can pull him back into the fleet.

Commodore Dom Grundy from the organising authority, the Corlette Point Sailing Club, said today ‘We see the fact that the Elliott class Australian Championships being sailed within the event, for the second year in a row, as part of the long term growth pattern.’

Visit the Sail Port Stephens website for the latest news on one of the best regattas in one of the most beautiful spots in Australia.

Online entry is now available here.