J/70 Australian Championship 2026 at Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
by J/70 Australia International Class Association 20 Jan 21:21 AEDT
11-16 January 2026
Sydney Harbour delivered classic summer conditions for the J/70 Australian Championship, hosted by Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron from 11-16 January 2026. A moderate to fresh north-easterly breeze set the scene for the opening three days, before a south-easter rounded out the regatta on the final day. The championship featured 12 races sailed across four days, providing consistent and competitive racing throughout the series.
The north-easterlies turned Bradley's Head into the defining battleground for the opening upwind legs of races one to ten. The fight for the lift off the headland delivered some of the most electrifying moments of the championship. Crews brave enough to flirt with the rocks were frequently rewarded, emerging with significant gains, although the port-tack escape from the shoreline often led to tense, close-quarters encounters with rival boats.
As the fleet converged on Bradley's Head, the the intensity spiked - boats calling for room to tack, threading their way back out on port tack through a wall of starboard tackers, before tacking once more towards the shore to capitalise on the powerful lift so often found off the headland.
The Open Division belonged emphatically to Tim Ryan's Vamos. With Rob Greenhalgh, Charlie Gundy and Drew Barnes on board, the team delivered a masterclass in consistency, never once finishing outside the top three. 'Strategy wise we just try and sail fast, get off the line clean, pick whatever shifts we can' said Charlie Gundy. 'A lot of the time it is neck and neck with the other boats the whole way around'.
Second overall was Rob Davis, David Chapman, Sam Williams and Alex Gough sailing Sequel of Nutcracker. Third was David Doherty's The Bull with Joe Turner, James Corrie, Hamish Hardy. Doherty commented 'It was a long week. I thought the conditions were good and the RO worked around them well. The competition is certainly getting closer, other than Vamos who is a level above everyone.'
Tramontana, skippered by Eliza Ewart from Sandringham Yacht Club's youth program, claimed victory in both the Corinthian and Youth divisions. Jedi, skippered by Brian Northcote finished second, with Maybe-J skippered by Michael Nash taking third place.
The Youth Division (under 30) saw Slingshot, skippered by youngest sailor in the fleet Carol Cheung secure second place, followed in third by Lulu Di Sciascio helming Ora, also from Sandringham YC's youth program.
Slingshot's Chelsea Williams commented 'Downwinds are definitely fun! A highlight of the week was seeing everything come together. The biggest learning this week was to not give up. The fleet does compress and there is always big packs in front or behind you and heaps of opportunities to grab a couple of places and boats here and there so really sticking to it through the two laps and not giving up.'
The overall PHS winner was Tenacite with Gus McLennan Freya Vickery, Craig McCauley and Andrew Wilson who took home a new jib generously provided by event and class supporter North Sails. McLennan commented 'The competition was extremely close with many results separated by one to five seconds. All races were a downwind finish adding to the excitement as boats crossed the line on both tacks. Congratulations to the race committee for their course laying including perfect start line length and angles making it fair for everyone. The appearance of Comanche on the Harbour on days 2 and 3 added to the fun especially for the interstate sailors. Totally awesome!!'.
Olympian Olivia Price sailing her first regatta on a J/70 said 'I really enjoyed the tight racing, you get the jump on the start and you get to have some pretty good rides downwind as well. It's super competitive, it's almost like the who's who of Australian Yachting at the moment in these fast sports boats. The fleet is very tight; there are some close crosses and some really cool interactions happening in this fleet.'
The jury of Howard Elliott (IJ), Erica Kirby (NJ, NU) and Peter Lowndes (RJ) had a few protests to listen to over the four days of racing. They were also on the water each day monitoring close situations in particular mark roundings, but also the fleet bouncing off Bradley's Head and Shark Island. NSW J/70 Class Measurer Greg Dixon took on the task of spot checking the boats throughout the regatta. Using the Vakaros Racesense there were no general recalls however quite a few boats were notified they were OCS at the starts.
A huge thanks to our Race Committee Rob Ridley, David Ross, Ian Kingsford Smith, Kari Svenson and Kevin Leedow. Charlie Alexander from the RSYS sailing office was also a great support for the event, as were mark layers Will Imlay and Daniel Leupen.
The event was generously sponsored by Zhik and North Sails, without whom we couldn't have had such a successful event.
The second leg of the 2026 J-Cup Australia will be raced March 7-9 from Sandringham Yacht Club.
Simple to sail but difficult to master, the J/70 offers consistently close and exciting racing. Its appeal is reflected in its status as the world's most numerous World Sailing-recognised keelboat class, with more than 1,900 boats built. For more information about the class in Australia visit www.j70australia.org.
Results:
Open:
1st Vamos: Tim Ryan, Rob Greenhalgh, Charlie Gundy, Drew Barnes
2nd Sequel of Nutcracker: Rob Davis, David Chapman, Sam Williams, Alex Gough
3rd The Bull: David Doherty, Joe Turner, James Corrie, Hamish Hardy
4th Swish: Steven Proud, Billy Sykes, Finn Alexander, Shaun Conner
5th Joust 70: Rod Warren, Aaron Cole, Aaron Linton, Bob Wilmot (Tue), Paul Mitchell (Wed-Fri)
Corinthian:
1st Tramontana: Eliza Ewart, Kieren East, Aaron George, Josh Griffith
2nd Jedi: Bryan Northcote, Ryan Fitzgerald, Thomas Quinlan, Samuel Ezra
3rd Maybe-J: Michael Nash, Andrew Simpson, James Birrell, Stuart Holdsworth
Youth (under 30)
1st Tramontana: Eliza Ewart, Kieren East, Aaron George, Josh Griffith
2nd Slingshot: Carol Cheung, Chelsea Williams, Maddy Mcleay, Nathan Gulliksen, Paige Caldecoat
3rd Ora: Lulu Di Sciascio, Max O'Connell, Felix Duell, Ollie Vanderslot
Mixed Plus (no more than two males over 18)
1st Slingshot: Carol Cheung, Chelsea Williams, Maddy Mcleay, Nathan Gulliksen, Paige Caldecoat
2nd Jabiru: Karyn Gojnich, Danielle Gerace, Rian Hughes, Ali Braden, Lauren Tandy
PHS
1st Tenacite: Charles McLennan, Freya Vickery, Craig McCauley, Andrew Wilson
2nd Tramontana: Eliza Ewart, Kieren East, Aaron George, Josh Griffith
3rd Maybe-J: Michael Nash, Andrew Simpson, James Birrell, Stuart Holdsworth
Full results available here.