Australian Sports Boat Association launches Touring Trophy Series
by Australian Sports Boat Association 16 Jun 15:57 PDT
REO Speedwagon - Airlie Beach Race Week © Andrea Francolini / ABRW
The Australian Sports Boat Association (ASBA) has announced a dynamic new initiative to enhance participation and connectivity within the sports boat community - the ASBA Touring Trophy series.
This announcement follows the ASBA's recent AGM held on April 9, where members elected a new committee with a clear vision to grow the class and broaden national engagement. The 2025/2026 committee comprises:
- President - Jamie Berndt
- Vice President - Malcom Dean
- Queensland Representative - Andrew Wiklund
- NSW Representative - Paul O'Rourke
- SA/VIC Representative - Brian Partridge
The new leadership team brings experience, enthusiasm, and a strong focus on inclusivity and planning. Their aim is to make it easier for owners and crews to participate in key regattas across Australia by coordinating a well-structured calendar of events with ample notice, to support this new event calendar which has been created to best capture the movements of boats on the eastern regattas of Australia. "We have identified that there may be some WA, TAS and SA boats moving through the eastern states this sailing season and we want to provide the best possible calendar to suit their movements" as spoken at one of the committee meetings.
As a new committee, we are keen to grow participation in Sports Boats across all of Australia and as membership grows, we are more than happy to investigate the possibility of extending the calendar further to cater for events on the western and southern coasts.
We believe a well-planned calendar with plenty of notice will make it easier for owners and crew to schedule club sailing, with the classic regattas and ASBA title events.
"ASBA is a great class with exciting sailing, affordable boats, good spectator viewing, younger demographic and has mobility - which all gives the class a lot of potential" - incoming President Jamie Berndt said.
The Association is going to group a few events together to encourage interstate travel and support for events. This will be the foundation of the ASBA Touring Trophy's - recognising and rewarding those that commit to multiple events. The first will be the Northern Zone ASBA Touring Trophy with Airlie Beach Race week, the Queensland State Titles in Brisbane hosted by Wynnum Manly Sailing Club, and Sail Paradise, on the Gold Coast, scheduled within weeks of each other. It is hoped this will encourage NSW, VIC and SA boats to make the drive, leave the boat and then return a few weeks later for the next event.
"Airlie Beach Race Week will be the ideal launch event for this touring concept. It attracts a great fleet from far and wide with plenty of social activities to discuss the idea" - said Class President Jamie Berndt.
The second part ASBA Touring Trophy will be the Southern Zone with a combination of Sydney Harbour Regatta, NSW State titles at Lake Macquarie and Sail Port Stephens scheduled from 7 March to 25 April. There will be boat storage organised between the three events. Again, the hope is QLD, VIC and SA will make the trip for three great events.
"Importantly each event will be support by a great off water program - an essential ingredient of Sport Boat sailing" - Vice President Malcom Dean added.
The Touring Trophy results will be combined to award the inaugural Australian Touring trophy at the last event, Sail Port Stephens but each event will contain per event prizes supplied by the ASBA.
Results will consist on both CBH and ASBA LTP systems for the best possible event outcome.
2025/2026 ASBA Calendar
Northern Zone 2025
- Event 1: 7-14th August, Airlie Beach Race Week, WSC
- Event 2: 6-7th September, ASBA QLD State Titles, WMSC
- Event 3: 4-6th October, Sail Paradise, SYC
Southern Zone 2026
- Event 1: 7-8th of March, Sydney Harbour Regatta, MHYC
- Event 2: 21st- 22nd March, ASBA NSW State Titles, Lake Macquarie
- Event 3: 24th- 26th of April, Sail Port Stephens, NCYC
The committee are also committed to welcoming all designs of sports boats that meet the ASBA constitution to race with a tailored Long-Term Performance (LTP) handicap result for all events. The ASBA committee has been working with Sail Sys to redevelop the original concept on their platform. This has allowed the association to gain access to a wide range of results data of sports boats from across Australia. This allows boat owners that do not want to "chase a rating" or spend big $$ on their boats to have an opportunity to get out on the water and race competitively in a mixed fleet on a performance-based handicap. We also hope to welcome back boats that have not competed for several years or perhaps have not sailed in a sports boat fleet before. New skipper Peter Mansbridge, with his 30-year-old Elliot 770, had a ball at Sail Port Stephens in April - "it was great fun, and the other crews and club were a great support getting things sorted for my first regatta" - Peter Mansbridge.
The affordability and ease of transporting these fantastic boats to and from regattas makes it a great class to invest in. Also, with multiple designs to choose from you can get the best from all aspects of sailing, from the fast and furious big 8m range of boats down to the mid-range of 7m boats and some with cabins making them family and cruiser friendly down to the 6,5 to 6m range making the best bang for your buck and competitive racing. On the ASBA website www.asba.org.au there are plenty of 2nd hand boats for sale at some great prices to get you, friends and family out on the water for some fast and competitive racing.