The Sydney Harbour Regatta celebrated the event's 20th edition over the weekend of March 1-2, 2025.  NSW’s largest keelboat regatta saw 180 yachts and their crews, across 17 divisions, race all over Sydney Harbour and just offshore.  “It is a true celebration of sailing when that many sailors, supported by eight Sydney yacht clubs, come together for two days of competition,” commented Nautilus Marine Insurance CEO Lyndon Turner.

Steve Proud's Swish (Photo credit: Tim Stuparich)

The J/70 Division was represented by seven boats.  Conditions were “shifty, swirly, patchy and everything else, especially up near Shark Island” commented overall winner Steven Proud skipper of Swish.  The Race Committee headed up by RSYS’s Rob Ridley were as challenged as the competitors with a big run out tide, light ESE on Saturday and a brisk southerly strengthening on Sunday to a shifty 15 knots plus. 

Six windward/leewards over two days and it was Steve Proud's Swish that topped the scoreboard with four bullets in his tally. Kim Ketelbey’s Anemology placed second overall in the tough fleet. She won the two races that Swish didn't. Bryan Northcote and Miles McLennan's Jedi took the final podium spot.  “We really like the format of 6 races over a weekend and the Sydney Harbour regatta delivered. We had 2 days of different conditions and for new team like ours invaluable sailing against the experienced teams” said Northcote.

Kim Ketelbey's Anemology (Photo credit: Margaret Fraser-Martin)

Ketelbey reflected “It was a strong, competitive fleet with plenty of snakes and ladders over the two days.  The conditions, combined with the typical Sydney washing machine, ferries, party boats and several other SHR classes racing in the same area definitely had us thinking on the run as rig tensions were questioned and tacticians having to adapt rapidly.”

"J/70s are the best thing I've done in sailing," said Proud who has sailed a variety of classes. "There's some excellent sailors in this class and it's growing rapidly with new owners coming in. It's the fastest one-design class in the country right now. It's tough competition and in 15-20 knots they are awesome, though a bit of a handful over 20 knots, but still manageable."

Jabberwocky & Vamos (Photo credit: Margaret Fraser-Martin)

Tim Ryan on Vamos commented "we enjoyed the weekend and the challenges the range of conditions provided.  Tough weekend for us, but it was worth it for the great downhill rides on Sunday.”

On board Jouet Steve Ellis said “We were privileged to have an Olympic gold medallist on board. Lily Xu who won gold in the Laser radials at the 2012 games and a bronze in Beijing in 2008. We are all better sailors now for having her with us. Saturday was a very light and challenging day. Very shifty breeze from ENE. Correct rig tension and jib trim super important to sail at optimum speeds for the conditions. Sunday equally as challenging but for different reasons. A good 6 to 8 knots for the first race of the day. Building to 20+ knots for the third and last race of the day. Some spectacular rides and wipeouts were the order of the day. At least that was the case on Jouet the latest boat to join the fleet. All in all a very enjoyable outing and great competitive racing in the world’s largest and best sport keelboat class.”

Jouet (Photo credit: Margaret Fraser-Martin)

Results

The next event for the class is the J-Cup Lake Macquarie April 5 to 7, 2025.