Lord Howe Ocean Race: Pittwater to Ball's Pyramid

The Lord Howe Ocean Race is the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club's new blue-water classic — a Category 1 offshore race of roughly 900 nautical miles that loops from Pittwater out across the Tasman Sea to Lord Howe Island, around the towering spire of Ball's Pyramid, and back. First run over the October long weekend in 2026 and held every second year, it revives serious ocean racing to one of the most spectacular corners of Australian waters.

Note: the inaugural Lord Howe Ocean Race starts on 2 October 2026. Details below reflect the race as announced by the organising club; as a new event, some specifics may evolve.

What it is

The race is a return offshore loop, which is unusual and clever. Rather than a one-way dash to a distant port, the fleet starts and finishes at Pittwater, north of Sydney. In between it races east to Lord Howe Island, rounds Ball's Pyramid, and comes home. That format keeps the full rigour of a Category 1 blue-water race — it is conducted under Australian Sailing Special Regulations Category 1, the highest offshore standard — while removing the interstate or international delivery that a one-way ocean race usually forces on competitors.

It is open to fully crewed monohulls, double-handed monohulls and fully crewed multihulls. The Category 1 rating means top-level safety equipment, qualification and crew preparation, putting it in the same class of seriousness as the great Australian ocean races. For the roles aboard a boat tackling a race like this, see our guide to crew positions.

The course and Ball's Pyramid

The roughly 900-nautical-mile course takes the fleet across open Tasman Sea water to Lord Howe Island, a remote World Heritage island some 600 kilometres off the New South Wales coast. The turning point is the race's signature: Ball's Pyramid, a sheer volcanic sea stack rising more than 500 metres straight out of the ocean about 20 kilometres south-east of the island. It is the tallest sea stack in the world, and rounding it is the dramatic centrepiece of the race before the fleet turns for home.

A return loop of this length is a true test of navigation, watch-keeping and boat preparation, with the added challenge of open-ocean weather systems crossing the Tasman in both directions.

History

The new race follows in a clear tradition. The Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race was a 414-nautical-mile Category 1 race run from 1974 until 2014 — for many years the only annual Category 1 ocean race in Australian waters outside the Sydney Hobart. When that one-way race to the island was discontinued, ocean racing to Lord Howe lapsed.

The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club's Lord Howe Ocean Race revives it in a new form. Announced for an inaugural running on 2 October 2026, it is to be held biennially, alternating with the club's Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race. That places a fresh blue-water classic on the Australian calendar, in the lineage of the great offshore races covered across our regatta guides.

The fleet and how results work

As with other offshore races, the first boat home takes line honours, but the overall result is decided on corrected time under handicap — the distinction set out in our guide to line honours versus handicap, with the rating systems explained in IRC versus ORC. The mix of fully crewed and double-handed entries means several different contests run within the one race.

How to enter and follow

Entries and the Notice of Race are published by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. Because it is a Category 1 race, crews need to plan well ahead for safety equipment, qualifying passages and crew training. For how a marquee ocean race fits into a campaign's season, see our racing program; the sailing terms glossary covers the offshore vocabulary you will meet in the race documents.