Hood Sailmakers Australia

25/08/2026

Tp52_firstlight day 1 Hamilton island race week TP52Aus

23/08/2026

Time to prepare yourself sailors, its Monday firstly, also if you live in Australia you may be in the presence of sailors who try to convince you a week sailing on a tropical island is hard!
However, we at Hood Sails are super proud of the performance of our many clients and friends who took part in Hamilton Island Race Week (albeit a little envious).
It’s no secret we are big fans of Tp52_firstlight and with 2 of our best and bravest on board, we were hugely excited for what they could do this year! With 3 wins on IRC, 1 second, 2 4th-place finishes (plus a day where half the crew went swimming) the team almost got their maiden Hammo win, however Wild Oats X was too good and they finished second overall. Congratulations to long time friend of the Hood Peter White for this great achievement, it wasn’t too long ago he was competing on his Hanse 505 at this event, so this is an astronomical leap for him which we are very proud of!
Next up the mighty Caol Ila had a fantastic week of racing in Blue division and came away with 2nd on a countback behind Wild Thing 100. The team sailed the boat magnificently in the challenging conditions and their incredibly consistent results show their class. Well done team and good luck for your upcoming bluewater adventures!
The all round good guys and girls onboard Impulse also undertook the trek north and came away with a fantastic 2nd place in Orange division! The Impulse syndicate are some of the nicest and funniest teams you’ll get to meet and we are very happy for them and their results. In every photo of the boat pretty much everyone is smiling at all times and its hard not to love that!
This is only a small roundup, so apologies to anyone I have missed. We are very proud of all of our customers' and friends' performances and hope you can all adjust back to the realities of work-life this week.
Happy sailing everyone and just remember, Spring is right around the corner!

All photos credit to either Bow Caddy Media or the Hamilton Island Race week gallery. If any work is uncredited please advise.

19/08/2026

Sailing fans! If you're in Australia you know two things today,
1. It's Friday tomorrow.
2 most of your Facebook friends are in Hamilton Island Race Week.

This has been a brutal regatta so far with punishing conditions that have left the sailors as bruised as the boats! Thanks to the stunning photography work being done this year we can share some of our favourite photos so far, please standby for your trusted authors serious and professional (maybe) rundown of the weeks events for fearless leader and master of fashion Luca.

Pic credits to Hamilton Island Race Week, Salty Dingo and if any uncredited photos are displayed please comment for credit.

29/06/2026

Cookson 50 Sticky 2025 offshore season.Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia Farr Yacht Design Karver Sailing High Impressions Media Rolex Sydney Hobart

A promising boat, Sticky retired early with electrical damage in 20...

17/05/2026

Good morning, and happy Monday to those who celebrate!
Today we are very pleased to talk up the efforts of skipper Peter White and his crew (including fearless leader and the Italian diver/seal) of the mighty Tp52_firstlight who won the IRC division at the TP52Aus Gold cup finale!
First Light have been working hard for a long time, and we are very excited to see their efforts beginning to pay off. They also scored a 2nd on TPR to finish the orange boats season off in style. The next major event for the team is Hamilton Island Race Week!
We also wish to congratulate Peter Farrugia and the Bullwinkle team on a very credible season in the Super 40 class with the Farr400. Bullwinkle took 1st Corinthian team, 4th on Super40 Handicap and 4th on ORC in a tough division. This team should be very proud of their efforts and how far they have come learning this new boat in such a short time.
Thank you to the organisers of the TP52aus Gold Cup, the Super40 team and Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass for all of your hard work behind the scenes this season. These great regattas wouldn’t happen without you!

All photos credit to Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass and Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club - RPAYC

Judel / Vrolijk & Co

27/04/2026

Predictions for you today sailing fans!
The chances of Courageous and Fearless Leader Ben (herein known as CFL) , Director of Technology Toby (DOT), and executive Temu Consultant Luca (ETC) being tired and sore today are extremely high. Why is that?
Chances are they, and most of the crews who raced last weekend at the TP52Aus Gold cup and Super 40 series, are feeling more battered and bruised than anything else after a hard 3 days racing at Sail Port Stephens
The CFL and ETC were onboard with the good people of Tp52_firstlight, and the mighty DOT joined Bullwinkle 400.
So It's only natural you're wondering, who won the Hood race?
This author gives it to the DOT. A 4th place on Super 40’s is no mean feat, and we are all really pleased for the Bullwinkle Farr 400 team and excited to see what they can do in the future.
The mighty CFL and ETC had a great weekend with promising signs on board First Light and are hungry for more.
Highlights included a Line Honours in the Passage race and some great stoushes with the top end of the Gold Cup fleet which features some impressive crew lists and yachts. They unfortunately just missed the overall podiums in the end.

Congratulations to all of the competitors for what looked like a great weekend of racing, to the organisation for nailing it and the Tp52aus and Super 40 committees for all their hard work to make these events happen!

All photos credited to either Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass and the Sail Port Stephens Facebook. Videos onboard Bullwinkle from the Videographer extraordinaire Whitney.

21/04/2026

Ciao sailing fans!
Today we are again celebrating places we wish we were sailing last week, or are going to sail soon if you are lucky enough.
Once again, we’re in the middle of Sail Port Stephens! The beautiful Nelson Bay north of Sydney, is home to the extremely popular Commodores Cup, which was successfully held last week.
How popular is the Commodores Cup?
Well, the average fleet size since 2022 is 115.4 yachts. That is seriously impressive in this day and age, and it's no surprise many of our customers make the pilgrimage north to this regatta every year for a great excuse to go sailing and enjoy the local hospitality in a beautiful place.
Hoods had our newest recruit Ella sailing on board the mighty Bullwinkle 400 this year, and she reported a great on and off the water.
We’d like to congratulate all of our valued clients and friends for their performances last week and look forward to hearing all of the stories of a great week of sailing!
Next up for the Port Stephens regatta is the IRC showdown, which also features the TP52Aus and Super 40 regattas. Hood’s staff members, including the Fearless leader, Director of Technology, and the Master of buying things off Temu and overseas holidays (Luca incase your wondering) competing onboard Tp52_firstlight, and Bullwinkle 400. Stand by for an update on how the fearless trio go upon the conclusion of that event!

Until next time
Buona navigazione!

09/03/2026

Happy Monday sailing fans! And a special happy Monday to those competitors of the Middle Harbour Yacht Club Sydney Harbour regatta nursing bumps and bruises after a big weekend of racing!

The Sydney Harbour Regatta is a hugely popular annual event which sees a wide variety of yachts ranging from sports boats, to historical skiffs and IRC 52’s and the Super 40 class ripping around short course racing on the beautiful Sydney Harbour.
We are proud of all of our customers who competed, but today we are showing off our latest commissions for the powerful Judel / Vrolijk & Co PAC 52 First Light who took out the Open class racing division on IRC! We are very proud to make sails for this awesome yacht and excited to share the first impressions of the new additions to the wardrobe.
Fearless and brave leader Ben and his Ceo of Technical development Toby have been putting their heads together for some time now to develop a new mainsail and we are very proud of the result. Every aspect of this mainsail was carefully considered in the design and production process ranging from the angle of battens, to each individual carbon pass of the membrane. The dark art of Sailmaking is truly alive for any old-school sailmakers who may be reading this. We are very proud of our ability to design and manufacture sails for yachts of this calibre right at home in our Brookvale sail-loft, which makes tragic sailing nerds like the author of this post very happy.
Not only were we lucky enough to commission a new mainsail, a new A1.5 and A2 were also installed this weekend, both constructed from Contender Sailcloth to fire up the yachts performance ahead of the TP52Aus Gold Cup! Both spinnakers were signed off by the happy owner and crew, and the team are very excited to face off against the other 52’s and really see what they can do!

Photo credits
Bow Caddy Media , Middle Harbour Yacht Club , if anybody is missed please comment for credit!