Fourteen teams for the WA School Team Sailing with Scotch College on top
by Suzzi Ghent, NYC 28 Apr 14:08 PDT
15-17 April 2026
Team racing sailing is an exciting part of the sport where sailors work in a team of boats with the goal of the lowest overall score. It's been a popular sport for school teams around the country for many years with schools lining up against each other, three boats each, for bragging rights as the best school in the state.
The event in Western Australia has certainly gained in popularity and there were fourteen teams at this years event. Held in the second week of the April school holidays, the three day regatta was hosted by Nedlands Yacht Club in Perth and sailed in two person Pacer dinghies. This was the biggest event yet, with returning teams from Shenton College, Methodist Ladies College and Iona Presentation College as well as new entries from Fremantle College and St Stephen's School. Entries came from as far away as Frederick Irwin Anglican School in Mandurah and of course there were the two schools who regularly place at the top in this event, Christ Church Grammar School and Scotch College. This year, sailors who did not have a full team for their school could represent their yacht club and two teams came from The Cruising Yacht Club Rockingham and Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club.
School team marquess lined the long grassed area on the beach front of Nedlands Yacht Club, sailors warmed up and stretched in their groups, getting their teams into gear for the day. The first challenge came from the weather with thunderstorms on the first morning of racing followed by light and shifty winds. After a delay to racing, things kicked off just before midday. It was a tough task for Race Officer Rob Hubbard but he managed it well getting through 28 matches on day one. Christ Church Gold finished the day on the top of the scoreboard with four wins and several schools had three.
Wind conditions settled in on day two and the afternoon was perfect for team racing. Close and exciting and within great view from the shore. With an army of volunteers, 98 matches were held in the qualifying part of the event, each team sailing 14 matches. Volunteers came from the host Nedlands Yacht Club and supporting partner Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club who contributed race officials and resources. The chief organiser was Andrew Mackellar from NYC who did an amazing job leading the event. The team worked hard over the three days hosting a total of 113 matches. A special mention to the umpires who worked tirelessly on the water, match after match with high concentration!
Even when sitting ashore waiting for breeze, the atmosphere was terrific, all the kids seemed to have a wonderful time. Time ashore was filled with games, footy and cards, the atmosphere was great.
President of the association for team sailing in WA, Philippa Packer commented, "Team Racing is how I describe 'next level' sailing for kids who are competent sailors. You really have to think as well as to sail fast! The Regatta is sailed in matches of evenly matched Pacer dinghies. Each match is only 5-6 mins long, within which the strategy and tactics of each match is critical. Working as a team to promote and enable your teams' 3 boats to overtake and beat your oppositions' 3 boats, is key to the strategy. It is fast, furious and fun sailing! There are specific Team Racing rules to facilitate this."
She followed on to explain the inclusion of the new SailLAB programme which had boats on display at the event, "I was also delighted to include the SailLAB programme into the Regatta. The Federal and State Governments are supporting rollout of SailLAB in schools to provide a low cost practical application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). As all yachties will know, Sailing ticks all those boxes with ease. And it can be made a 'fun' subject, particularly when sailing a remote-controlled model yacht on the school swimming pool is part of the learning experience! It is a free programme run through Australian Sailing and can be geared for Primary or Secondary students. Teacher experience of sailing is not necessary. Personally, I think it should be encouraged strongly and run in every school in WA."
At the end of the qualifying series, the top eight schools went through to a final series to race it out for the championship. Moderate winds blew from the shore with racing in the beachfront stadium in front of Nedlands Yacht Club. With the flat water you could see the gusts hit the water and move across the race course, it was tight racing and great to watch.
Methodist Ladies College and Scotch Maroon sailed well through the first two stages and raced each other for third and fourth place. MLC took the win and a podium position overall for the team.
This left CCGS Gold and Scotch Gold to battle it out for the championship and it would not be an easy one. Match one went to CCGS, Scotch responded with a confident win in the second match placing 1,2,3 across the line. They went on to win the following two matches with their team places of 2,3 and 5 beating Christ Church's 4,1,6. The champion school for 2026 was Scotch College Gold!
Full results and photo gallery of the event on the NYC website.