Bluewater Pointscore Race 5, Port Hacking Return Race
Race report by Garry Essex – Veloce
The final Bluewater Pointscore race for the Season was held on Saturday the 11th of July. The weather forecast was for a light Westerly clocking North during the day, then back to the West in the evening. In general, the prediction was in the ballpark, but there was plenty of variation in both direction and strength. We again welcomed a J99 from CYCA and an Adams 10 from RANSA to join the small fleet from RPAYC.
We started the day with a cold misty morning which thankfully burnt off by the 10 AM start, it came with a nice 8-10 knot Westerly to get us away from Barrenjoey, but the good breeze disappeared off Avalon and left a big windless hole to get around. There was an inevitable split in the fleet, some going to out to sea and some back to the shore, we went East and got to watch the fleet that went into the shore sail away from us. Having eventually wriggled our way clear, we had a nice sunny run down to the tiny wave rider buoy off Kurnell, rounding the mark at around 4 PM.
The beat back North was a bit more challenging, the breeze was now a light north westerly with quite a bit of variation in strength and direction, we went tack for tack with Blue Planet (the other J99 in the race) for a couple of hours and swapping leaders. North of Sydney Heads we tucked into the coast from Manly and got some relief from the southerly current; we then worked our way home quite close to the coast. The final result was a win for Veloce over Blue Planet with a margin of 5 minutes after 13 hours, going toe to toe. Great racing!
Season 2026 Bluewater Coastal Series Overall
Race report by Garry Essex
The Bluewater Pointscore Series is a great way for anyone wanting to stretch their legs a bit and get some racing experience in the Ocean; the conditions are often more challenging than the inshore series, with both the sea state and the tactical routing options adding an extra challenge. On the other hand, the Ocean provides its own rewards, surfing down some decent swell with the big kite up, lots of sealife, with breaching whales, lots of Dolphins, seals and the occasional shark. It has been a great training ground for many sailors who can then go on to the longer races like the Gold Coast race or the Hobart race.
The Port Hacking return race was the 5th and final Bluewater Pointscore race for this season. Despite the unfortunate cancellation of the Coffs Harbour race due to the weather, we have had 4 really good races in the series. We have seen a variety of conditions, typically light to moderate, mostly sunny days, and moonless nights. We welcomed a number of visitors from clubs in the Harbour and will hopefully get quite a few more next season as we promote the series.
The final results for the season can be found here