Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club members enjoyed outstanding success in the 2026 Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, led by the remarkable performance of Disko Trooper and co-skippers RPAYC member, Alex Knight and Jules Hall.

The J/99 produced one of the standout performances of the race, claiming 1st in Double-Handed IRC, 1st in Double-Handed PHS, 1st in IRC Division 3, 1st in Corinthian IRC and 1st in Corinthian PHS. The pair also finished 2nd Overall IRC, narrowly missing overall victory to Sean Langman’s Back 2 Black.

It nearly came unstuck five hours from the finish. Chasing down Back 2 Black, co-skippers Jules Hall and Alex Knight had a wave catch the boat while trimming, tangling the mainsheet around the tiller, making the boat round-up and wrapping the spinnaker tightly around the forestay three or four times. “The first thing that goes through your mind is, we’re so close to the finishing line, we’ve done really well, and we’re about to chuck the whole thing in the bin,” they said. The focus shifted instantly from chasing the leader to simply holding on to second. “No shouting, no finger-pointing, just deal with it,” Halls affirmed. “You can’t go offshore and be highly competitive, pushing the limits, and not have something go wrong. You just have to get on with it.”

Beyond that late scare, the pair described conditions that lived up to the billing: “Absolute champagne sailing, bright moon, whales, dolphins, it was absolutely spectacular.”

RPAYC was well represented throughout the fleet, with Geoffrey Hill (Owner/Skipper) and Natasha Hill (Crew) racing aboard Antipodes, Lee Hawksley (Owner/Skipper) competing on Gusto, Garry Essex (Owner/Skipper) sailing double-handed aboard Veloce, and Stacey Jackson crewing aboard Charlotte.
Congratulations to all RPAYC members who took on the challenging offshore race and represented the Club with distinction.