Bird Island Race pre-start overview
by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia 14 Nov 2024 16:47 AEDT
16 November 2024
The fleet at the start of the 2023 ACSBWPS Bird Island Race (from left to right: Blue Planet, Jupiter, Antipodes, Smuggler and URM GROUP) © CYCA | Ashley Dart
The Bird Island Race, the fourth race in the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore (ACSBWPS), will commence on Saturday, 16 November at 1000hrs. Covering 83 nautical miles, this is the shortest race in the Pointscore but it promises no shortage of excitement.
Competitors will sail north from Sydney Harbour towards Norah Head before rounding Bird Island, a small offshore nature reserve located just three nautical miles from the NSW coast.
The fleet of 44 is enormously diverse and has plenty on offer to impress. The largest yachts in the fleet are the 100-footer Master Lock Comanche and 72-footer URM Group, while the smallest in the fleet will be the handful of J/99s which will all be racing double-handed.
The Double Handed fleet will feature 12 pairs taking on the race to Bird Island. From Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth, the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart Double Handed IRC winner, to the classic Maritimo Katwinchar, a Watney Circa 1904, the Double Handed fleet has plenty of punching power.
As we approach the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race (RSHYR), which is also the final race of the ACSBWPS, the appearance of international and pure-bred racing yachts becomes a common sight around the CYCA.
The international fleet for the Bird Island Race includes Antipodes, a Santa Cruz 72 from Hong Kong, Bacchanal, a newly built JPK 11.80 from the USA, in her maiden offshore race, and Caro, the Botin 52 from New Zealand who is a red-hot favourite for this year's RSHYR.
Also turning heads at the CYCA docks is Zeus, Michael Firmin's Infinity 52. Originally set to debut in last year's Pointscore, Zeus had to delay her entry after suffering a broken rig. Equipped with a transverse DSS foil, Zeus is designed for high performance, offering competitive efficiency with fewer sailors, thanks to the foil's ability to provide additional righting moment without the complexity of other foiling solutions.
The current top five competitors in this year's Pointscore, at its halfway mark, will all be racing. Smuggler, Whisper, URM Group, Blue Planet (DH) and KOA, currently ranked first through fifth respectively, will be looking to secure valuable points to bolster their chances of taking out the overall race and Pointscore victory. However, with the Rolex Sydney Hobart part of the pointscore and counting as a non-discardable race with the first placegetter receiving 0 points, the Pointscore is far from over.
With such a dynamic and diverse fleet and an exciting forecast (more over below), the Bird Island Race promises an exciting race as the ACSBWPS continues to unfold.
Bird Island Race Weather Forecast
While the forecast for this weekend's accuracy remains to be seen, it currently promises to be a fast race. With a building nor'easter forecast the fleet should have a relatively quick beat up the coast before enjoying a fast downwind return.
Forecast for Saturday, 16 November: Sydney and Central Coast
The forecast for Saturday, 16 November, calls for easterly winds between 15 to 20 knots, shifting to a northeasterly direction by the evening. Seas are expected to be around 1 metre, building to 1 to 1.5 metres south of Port Stephens later in the day. Expect partly cloudy skies throughout the day.
Track the fleet here.