2024 Ponant Sydney Noumea Yacht Race opens
by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia 30 Jun 2023 06:36 AEST
25 May 2024
Ponant Sydney Noumea Yacht Race © Andrea Francolini
The much-anticipated 1,064 nautical mile, Category 1 passage race from Sydney to Noumea returns next year after a six-year hiatus and will start on Sydney Harbour on Saturday, 25 May 2024.
The race is organised and conducted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), with the co-operation of Race Finishing Partner, Cercle Nautique Calédonien (CNC).
Competitors will compete in IRC and PHS handicap categories. Two-handed entrants will be competing for the first time.
The 2024 PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race once again serves as a feeder race for the 8th New Caledonia Groupama Race - a 654 nautical mile anti-clockwise circumnavigation of the main island.
In 2018, 22 teams competed in the 12th edition of the race, marking a break of 25 years since it had last been run.
Michael Martin's TP52 Frantic won Line Honours victory in a time of 4 days, 2 hours 23 minutes ahead of Marc and Louis Ryckman's GBP Yeah Baby and Sebastian Bohm's Rogers 46 Smuggler.
Smuggler was the Overall winner (IRC) with GBP Yeah Baby and Tony Kirby's Ker 46 Patrice rounding out the podium.
Smuggler also won PHS, with Ian Edwards' Dehler 46 Wings in second and Steve Capell's Swan 65 Eve third. Denis Doyle and Lynne Smith's Ariki Tai took out the Cruising division.
The world leader in luxury expeditions, PONANT continues its close association with the Club and race as Naming Rights Sponsor.
The only French-owned cruise line and the world leader in luxury expeditions, PONANT was created in 1988 by Jean Emmanuel Sauvée and a dozen officers of the French Merchant Navy. Today, PONANT is leading the way with a new style of luxury cruising through a unique concept of sea travel which combines exceptional itineraries and luxury hotel services, aboard luxurious smaller-scale ships.
CYCA Commodore Arthur Lane was delighted to announce the return of the race as "...one of the key offshore races and challenges in Australia's and the Pacific's blue water calendars".
"We look forward to our fleets once again racing east to the tropical beauty of New Caledonia and to the warm hospitality of our friends at the CNC."