Entries for Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s flagship Sydney Harbour Regatta on this weekend, March 6-7, have climbed past the 180 mark, among them a local yacht jointly owned for close to 20 years that has competed in every Sydney Harbour Regatta since the inaugural series in 2006.

For owners Rob Carr, Stephanie Cook and Kerry Burke and their Northshore 370 Rumba that sails from the host club, netting a few trophies is only one reason to front up year after year. “In our Performance Spinnaker division we sail against a whole heap of 28 to 34 footers of similar speed; that’s the fun bit. The party on the MHYC beach on the Saturday night is fun too, though we’ve been known to give away our day one advantage by partying too late.”

Rumba has recorded mixed results over 15 years. “As a general rule we’ve been in the top three in the last five to six years. Before that we were a bit ad-hoc,” Carr laughs. He’s hoping for 12-15 knots of wind and flat water on Sydney Harbour.

Sydney’s long-range forecast points towards steady 15 knot southerlies on Saturday and a fickle Sunday morning before a single-digit east nor’easter develops across the afternoon.

Standard entries have closed though MHYC may accept late entries up until midnight on Thursday March 4. View the starting list and enter here.

The sailing instructions will be published today here.

Performance Spinnaker is the most popular entry category and for the first time these divisions will also be scored on ORC, including both ORCi and ORC Club ratings. ORC Club is growing rapidly around the world and several Sydney clubs (MHYC, RSYS and RPAYC at this stage) have adopted this as a low cost, simple rating system to run alongside the usual Performance Handicapping System.

The International J/70 state title plus the Super 20, 30 and 40 divisions promise hot competition at The Sound, the area of deep water inside North and South Heads, just one of seven course areas that will operate across the harbour and offshore thanks to race officials, volunteers and support vessels from multiple partner clubs.

MHYC thanks Manly Yacht Club, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club, Royal Australian Navy Sailing Association, Sydney Flying Squadron, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and Sydney Amateur Sailing Club.

Grand Prize draw

In addition to regatta trophies and prizes, to be eligible for the Grand Prize draw the skipper or skipper’s representative from the top three placegetters in each division must register and be present at the official trophy presentation function at MHYC on Monday March 8.

• First place draw – Sail Racing merchandise voucher (value $2,000)
• Second place draw – Manly Spirits ‘Distillery Experience’ for yacht crew (up to 12 persons)
• Third place draw – Mercedes-Benz North Shore and Mercure Resort Hunter Valley Gardens have made available a Mercedes weekend drive experience plus two nights’ accommodation at the Mercure Resort Hunter Valley Gardens for two people.

MHYC acknowledges the support of key Sydney Harbour Regatta sponsors Club Marine, Robert Oatley Wines, Short Marine, Sail Racing, Mercedes-Benz North Shore and Mercure Resort Hunter Valley Gardens and supporting sponsors Ensign Yachts, Fever-Tree, Manly Spirits, DeckHardware.

Quick Links:

• Website: shr.mhyc.com.au
• Facebook: @SydneyHarbourRegatta
• Instagram: sydneyharbourregatta

by Lisa Ratcliff