Regattas

Australian Regattas

A growing guide to Australia's major yacht races and regattas — what each one is, its history, the course and classes, and how to enter or watch. Written by a working Grand Prix campaign that races the circuit.

68 regattas

Queensland

AugustQueensland

Airlie Beach Race Week

Airlie Beach Race Week is the Whitsunday Sailing Club's August regatta — tropical island racing off Airlie Beach, paired with the Whitsundays Festival of Sailing.

AugustQueensland

Hamilton Island Race Week

Hamilton Island Race Week is Australia's largest offshore keelboat regatta — a week of windward-leeward and island passage racing in the Whitsundays each August.

Bay to Bay Trailable Yacht Race

The Bay to Bay is Queensland's largest trailable yacht race — a two-day passage from Tin Can Bay to Hervey Bay through the Great Sandy Strait past K'gari, run by the Hervey Bay Sailing Club each May since 1981.

AnnualQueensland

Bribie Cup: A Moreton Bay Classic Since 1952

The Bribie Cup is one of Moreton Bay's oldest yacht races — a passage race run by the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club since 1952, from Shorncliffe across the northern bay to Bribie Island.

May, across five daysQueensland

Brisbane Race Week

Brisbane Race Week is the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron's five-day May regatta on Moreton Bay, known for running a different race format almost every day.

Brisbane to Bundaberg Yacht Race

The Brisbane to Bundaberg is a 250-nautical-mile Category 3 offshore race up the Queensland coast, run by the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron — the newest ocean race on the state's calendar.

EasterQueensland

Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race

The Brisbane to Gladstone is a 308-nautical-mile Easter ocean classic run since 1949 by the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club, from Moreton Bay to Gladstone Harbour.

AugustQueensland

Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race

The Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race is the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron's signature offshore race — around 340 nautical miles north from Moreton Bay to Keppel Bay, much of it in the sheltered water inside the Great Barrier Reef.

WinterQueensland

Etchells Australasian Championship

The Etchells Australasian Championship is a major one-design keelboat regatta held at Mooloolaba, Queensland — the winter championship of the Etchells class, a strict 30-foot one-design with a strong following across Australia.

AnnualQueensland

Gold Coast to Mackay Yacht Race

The Gold Coast to Mackay is a premier Queensland offshore race — a long passage north from Southport through open sea and coastal waters to tropical Mackay, run by the Southport Yacht Club.

Late August to early SeptemberQueensland

Magnetic Island Race Week

SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week is a late-August keelboat regatta on Cleveland Bay off Townsville, run by Townsville Yacht Club since 2007.

AnnualQueensland

Moreton Bay Classic: The Race That Stops the Bay

The Moreton Bay Classic is a classic-boat regatta that streams a flotilla of timber and classic cruisers across Moreton Bay to a rendezvous on Peel Island — a young event that has quickly become 'the race that stops the bay'.

Run over a long weekend on the Gold CoastQueensland

Sail Paradise

Sail Paradise is Southport Yacht Club's signature offshore regatta on the Gold Coast, with windward-leeward and passage racing across multiple divisions over a long weekend.

OctoberQueensland

St Helena Cup: Moreton Bay's Teams Racing Classic

The St Helena Cup is a Moreton Bay teams-racing classic run by the Wynnum Manly clubs since 1976 — a two-day October regatta sailed for a silver trophy first awarded on St Helena Island in 1890.

AnnualQueensland

Surf to City Yacht Race

The Surf to City is a uniquely structured Queensland race with two fleets — an offshore fleet around Cape Moreton and an inshore fleet through the bay — running from the Gold Coast to Brisbane, and a popular qualifier for the Brisbane to Gladstone.

New South Wales

January (Australia Day, 26 January)New South Wales

Australia Day Regatta: The World's Oldest Sailing Regatta

First held on Sydney Harbour in 1837, the Australia Day Regatta is the world's oldest continuously conducted annual sailing regatta — a vast, multi-class celebration of sailing held every 26 January.

Boxing DayNew South Wales

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The Rolex Sydney Hobart is a 628-nautical-mile offshore classic from Sydney to Tasmania, run by the CYCA and starting every Boxing Day.

NovemberNew South Wales

Bird Island Race

The Bird Island Race is the shortest race in the CYCA's blue-water pointscore — an 83-nautical-mile offshore run from Sydney Harbour north to Bird Island off Norah Head and back, and a Sydney Hobart qualifier.

AnnualNew South Wales

Cabbage Tree Island Race

The Cabbage Tree Island Race is a 172-nautical-mile CYCA blue-water classic — north from Sydney Harbour to Cabbage Tree Island off Port Stephens and back — and one of the most popular races in the Sydney Hobart qualifying series.

SeptemberNew South Wales

Flinders Islet Race

The Flinders Islet Race is an 88-nautical-mile CYCA offshore race — south from Sydney Harbour to Flinders Islet off Wollongong and back. One of the shorter blue-water pointscore races, it still packs plenty of action.

February–MarchNew South Wales

JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship

The JJ Giltinan Championship is the world championship of 18-foot skiffs — the fastest, most spectacular skiffs in sailing — held on Sydney Harbour since 1938 and run by the Australian 18 Footers League.

October (biennial)New South Wales

Lord Howe Ocean Race: Pittwater to Ball's Pyramid

The Lord Howe Ocean Race is the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club's new Category 1 classic — a roughly 900-nautical-mile loop from Pittwater out to Lord Howe Island, around Ball's Pyramid and back, first run in October 2026.

Autumn, with the start traditionally held in MarchNew South Wales

Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race

The Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race is a 226-nautical-mile offshore passage race run by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, north from Broken Bay up the NSW coast to Coffs Harbour.

Autumn — runs across several weeks from mid-April into early MayNew South Wales

Sail Port Stephens

Sail Port Stephens is one of Australia's largest sailing regattas — a multi-week autumn festival at Nelson Bay, NSW, spanning cruising, IRC, sportsboats and more.

AutumnNew South Wales

SailFest Newcastle Regatta

SailFest is Newcastle's revived keelboat regatta, run by the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club. It draws fleets from up and down the New South Wales coast and features the TP52 Gold Cup, the biggest gathering of TP52s in Australia.

December (Rolex Sydney Hobart lead-up)New South Wales

SOLAS Big Boat Challenge: Maxis on Sydney Harbour

The SOLAS Big Boat Challenge is the CYCA's spectacular Sydney Harbour maxi race each December — a charity curtain-raiser to the Rolex Sydney Hobart, with the biggest yachts racing close to the shore.

Early MarchNew South Wales

Sydney Harbour Regatta

The Sydney Harbour Regatta is one of Australia's largest inshore keelboat regattas, run each March by Middle Harbour Yacht Club across Sydney Harbour and offshore near the Heads.

Late JulyNew South Wales

Sydney to Gold Coast Yacht Race

The Sydney to Gold Coast Yacht Race is a 384-nautical-mile offshore passage from Sydney Harbour to the Gold Coast, run by the CYCA each winter and known as The Great Winter Escape.

AnnualNew South Wales

Sydney to Mooloolaba Yacht Race

The Sydney to Mooloolaba is one of Australia's significant offshore classics — an ocean race from Sydney up to the Sunshine Coast, first run in 1964 and revived in 2014 by Middle Harbour Yacht Club with Mooloolaba Yacht Club.

OctoberNew South Wales

Tollgate Islands Race

The Tollgate Islands Race is a 260-nautical-mile CYCA blue-water classic — south from Sydney to round the Tollgate Islands off Batemans Bay and back. The third-longest race in the pointscore, it is a favoured offshore training run for the Sydney Hobart.

Victoria

JanuaryVictoria

Festival of Sails: Geelong's Australia Day Regatta

The Festival of Sails is one of Australia's largest keelboat regattas, run by the Royal Geelong Yacht Club on Corio Bay over the Australia Day long weekend each January.

June long weekendVictoria

Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta: The AWKR

The Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta is the country's premier all-female keelboat regatta — run by the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron on Port Phillip each June since 1991.

Boxing DayVictoria

Cock of the Bay

The Cock of the Bay is the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria's Boxing Day dash across Port Phillip — a roughly 21-nautical-mile sprint from Port Melbourne to Mornington.

NovemberVictoria

Lipton Cup Regatta

The Lipton Cup Regatta is a historic multi-class regatta on Port Phillip, run by the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria for a trophy donated by Sir Thomas Lipton and first raced in 1909 — today drawing more than 200 boats across keelboat and off-the-beach classes each November.

March long weekendVictoria

Marlay Point Overnight Race: The Trailer-Sailer Classic

The Marlay Point Overnight Race is Australia's only overnight race for trailer-sailers — a Gippsland Lakes classic run since 1969 that sends hundreds of small yachts racing through the night.

Late October, around the Melbourne Cup long weekendVictoria

Melbourne to Devonport Yacht Race (The Rudder Cup)

The Melbourne to Devonport Yacht Race is Australia's oldest ocean race — 195nm across Bass Strait from Port Phillip for the historic Rudder Cup, run by the ORCV.

Late December, starting 27 DecemberVictoria

Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race (Westcoaster)

The Melbourne to Hobart 'Westcoaster' is a 435nm ORCV ocean race from Portsea down Tasmania's wild west coast to Hobart, starting each 27 December.

Held roughly every four to five years, with starts in autumnVictoria

Melbourne to Osaka Cup

The Melbourne to Osaka Cup is a roughly 5,500-nautical-mile double-handed yacht race from Port Phillip across the Pacific to Osaka, Japan, held only every few years.

Metung Easter Regatta

The Metung Easter Regatta is a long-running Victorian dinghy regatta on the Gippsland Lakes, held every Easter by the Metung Yacht Club and famous for the annual Easter pilgrimage of sailors from Sandringham and across the state.

Sail Sandy Regatta

Sail Sandy is Sandringham Yacht Club's popular multi-class regatta on Port Phillip — a season-opening gathering for off-the-beach dinghies, foilers and small keelboats that marks the start of the Victorian summer.

Tasmania

Easter (historically)Tasmania

Australian Three Peaks Race: Sailing Meets Mountain Running

The Australian Three Peaks Race was a gruelling Tasmanian endurance event combining offshore sailing with mountain running — three sailing legs and three peaks from Beauty Point to Hobart. Run from 1989 to 2013, with a 2028 revival proposed.

Bruny Island Race: Tasmania's Oldest Ocean Race

First sailed in 1898, the Bruny Island Race is one of the oldest ocean yacht races in Australia and the oldest in Tasmania — a circumnavigation of Bruny Island combining the winding D'Entrecasteaux Channel with the open Tasman Sea, run by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.

FebruaryTasmania

Crown Series Bellerive Regatta

The Crown Series Bellerive Regatta is Tasmania's biggest combined keelboat and off-the-beach regatta, run each February by the Bellerive Yacht Club on Hobart's River Derwent for sailors of all ages and classes.

Early January — 2 January, after the Sydney Hobart fleet arrivesTasmania

King of the Derwent

The King of the Derwent is a one-day River Derwent yacht race held in Hobart on 2 January, for Sydney Hobart and other ocean-race finishers plus local boats.

Starts 27 December, over the Christmas–New Year periodTasmania

Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race

The Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race is a 285-nautical-mile offshore classic from the Tamar River to Hobart, starting 27 December and run by the Derwent Sailing Squadron.

NovemberTasmania

Maria Island Race

The Maria Island Race is the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania's annual offshore classic, run each November from Hobart around Maria Island and back — a Sydney Hobart qualifier.

Port Cygnet Regatta

The Port Cygnet Regatta is one of Australia's oldest sailing events — held since 1863 on the sheltered waters of Port Cygnet in Tasmania's Huon Valley, and still going strong on the first holiday weekend of March.

South Australia

February, on the weekend before Lincoln WeekSouth Australia

Adelaide to Port Lincoln Yacht Race

The Adelaide to Port Lincoln Yacht Race is South Australia's premier offshore contest — around 156 nautical miles from Outer Harbour to Boston Bay each February.

FebruarySouth Australia

King of the Gulf Regatta

The King of the Gulf is Port Vincent's annual regatta on Gulf St Vincent — a broad, inclusive South Australian event bringing together keelboats, multihulls, sportsboats, trailer-sailers and cruisers on the Yorke Peninsula.

February, the week following the Adelaide to Port Lincoln Yacht RaceSouth Australia

Lincoln Week Regatta

Lincoln Week Regatta is one of South Australia's largest sailing regattas, run each February on Boston Bay at Port Lincoln, following the Adelaide to Port Lincoln Yacht Race.

JanuarySouth Australia

Milang to Goolwa Freshwater Classic

The Milang to Goolwa Freshwater Classic is South Australia's premier freshwater race — a downwind dash across Lake Alexandrina for a huge fleet of trailable yachts, catamarans and dinghies, and the centrepiece of Goolwa Regatta Week.

JanuarySouth Australia

Port Vincent Open Classic

The Port Vincent Open Classic is the Yorke Peninsula's premier dinghy regatta, run by the Port Vincent Sailing Club on Gulf St Vincent each January — a magnet for Adelaide sailors who cross the gulf for the summer classic.

Western Australia

February, summer offshore seasonWestern Australia

Bunbury and Return Ocean Race

The Bunbury and Return Ocean Race is a 170nm offshore passage from Fremantle south to Bunbury and back, run each February by Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club since 1948.

December (Boxing Day to New Year)Western Australia

Cockburn Sound Regatta

The Cockburn Sound Regatta is one of Western Australia's premier keelboat events, run by The Cruising Yacht Club of WA on the sheltered waters of Mangles Bay off Rockingham over the Boxing Day to New Year period.

AnnualWestern Australia

Fremantle to Albany Race

The Fremantle to Albany Race is a Western Australian offshore classic — a long passage down the WA coast from Fremantle to the historic port of Albany on the south coast, run by the Royal Perth Yacht Club since the 1950s.

OctoberWestern Australia

Fremantle to Geraldton Ocean Classic

The Fremantle to Geraldton Ocean Classic is Western Australia's premier offshore race — a roughly 220-nautical-mile blue-water sprint north from Fremantle, around Rottnest Island and up the coast, and an accepted Sydney Hobart qualifier.

February, run over several daysWestern Australia

Geographe Bay Race Week

Geographe Bay Race Week is one of Western Australia's premier summer keelboat regattas, hosted by Geographe Bay Yacht Club at Busselton each February.

AnnualWestern Australia

Roland Smith Ocean Race

The Roland Smith Ocean Race is an 80-nautical-mile Western Australian offshore classic — starting off Fremantle, out around Rottnest Island and back — run by the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club.

Northern Territory

July (dry season)Northern Territory

Darwin to Dili Yacht Race

Inaugurated in 1973, the Darwin to Dili Yacht Race is an iconic goodwill ocean race across the Timor Sea from Darwin to the capital of Timor-Leste, run by the Cruising Yacht Association of the Northern Territory.

Dry season (mid-year)Northern Territory

Spice Islands Darwin to Ambon Yacht Race

The Spice Islands Darwin to Ambon Yacht Race is the Northern Territory's great offshore classic — a roughly 630-nautical-mile international passage from Darwin across the Arafura and Banda seas to Ambon in Indonesia.

National

505 Australian Championship

The International 505 is a fast, technical two-person trapeze dinghy with a devoted following. Its Australian Championship draws the class's best sailors to a different club each year, from Sydney to Fremantle.

JanuaryNational

Australian 16ft and 13ft Skiff Championships

The 16-foot and 13-foot skiffs are fast, spectacular Australian racing skiffs with a history stretching back a century. Their national championships, run by the Australian Skiff Sailing Association, draw big fleets of these high-performance boats.

Australian Sharpie National Championship

The Australian Sharpie is a three-person racing dinghy descended from the 12-square-metre class of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Its national championship is a carnival that rotates around the country, with strong fleets in South Australia and the west.

JanuaryNational

Australian Tasar Championship

The Tasar is a two-person one-design dinghy designed by the Australian Frank Bethwaite — simple, tactical and hugely popular. Its Australian Championship is a major class regatta that has passed its 50-year milestone.

Annual, with the host venue and dates rotatingNational

Australian Yachting Championships

The Australian Yachting Championships is a national keelboat title decided on handicap at a rotating host venue under Australian Sailing each year.

International Moth Australian Championship

The International Moth is the fastest sailing dinghy in the world — a foiling development class that flies clear of the water. Its Australian Championship draws the country's best foiling sailors, in a class Australians helped revolutionise.

J/70 Australian Championship

The J/70 is one of the world's most popular one-design sportsboats — a 23-foot keelboat sailed by a small crew. Its Australian Championship is a fast-growing national regatta, contested at clubs around the country.

SAILING Champions League (Australia)

The SAILING Champions League is Australia's club-versus-club national championship — short, sharp stadium-format racing in identical one-design keelboats, with clubs battling through state leagues to a national final and on to the Asia-Pacific and world stage.