Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia

11/09/2026

Foiling?? What’s the Point?

Good question, so what role is foiling actually playing in offshore sailing right now?

At the top, it has clearly rewritten what’s possible: a Vendée Globe record smashed, a solo lap of the planet without stopping in a flying trimaran, a 100-foot supermaxi lifting her bow off Sydney Harbour and ripping close to 30 knots with just a jib and a reefed main (Palm Beach XI btw). But that’s the top 0.5% of the fleet, boats with nearly unlimited budgets, naval architects on retainer and boat builders on standby.

What happens further down, in the programs that make up the rest of this sport is the real question. What technology will trickle down, when is it happening, and does it even need to?

Those are questions that we will try to answer in this story series: Pretty Fly.

📲: https://offshoreonline.com.au/pretty-fly-how-ocean-racers-learned-to-fly/

Image credits: Francois Chevalier, Martin Viezzer-Disobey-Macif, Y.Riou / PolaRYSE / GITANA S.A / Rolex Sydney Hobart Kurt Arrigo / Palm Beach Motor Yachts

08/09/2026

📣 Calling all CYCA owners: Get behind the Women’s Keelboat Series 📣

CYCA Sailing Manager Tara Blanc-Ramos has called on yacht owners to get behind the Sydney Harbour Women’s Keelboat Series (SHWKS) by offering the club’s female sailors the opportunity to skipper their yachts in the opening round on 20 September.

The CYCA will also offer the Club’s fleet of Elliott 7’s for hire to compete in the season opener.

The Series kicks off next Sunday 20 September at 1300 hours.

Crews are able to compete in full female crew or female helm divisions, as well as nominate spinnaker or non-spinnaker racing.

Click the link below to read more and enter the SHWKS ⬇⛵🌞
cyca.com.au/calling-all-cyca-owners-get-behind-the-womens-keelboat-series/

📸: CYCA | Ashley Dart

02/09/2026

After three years away, the Gweilo program is back — and considerably bigger and faster.

CYCA Members Matt Donald and Chris Townsend have picked up a heavily modified Volvo 70, with a taller rig, deeper keel and longer bowsprit than the standard boat in the class. This thing is going to be seriously quick.

First stop: a 1,500nm qualifier to Lanzarote in October, then a Royal Ocean Racing Club Transatlantic, a Caribbean 600, Rolex Fastnet Race and Rolex Middle Sea Race. Long game: home for the 2029 Rolex Sydney Hobart. (talk about a sailing calendar on steroids)!

This isn’t a program built from scratch. Nearly every name on the crew list has sailed either the previous Gweilo or Whisper , the boat Matt, Chris and co-skipper David Griffith campaigned together at the Middle Sea Race, a partnership successful enough that the trio wanted to keep it going on the new platform.

Read the full story: https://offshoreonline.com.au/believe-in-ghosts-because-gweilo-is-back/

30/08/2026

Would you like to help support the SOLAS Trusts?

Because it's not hard...

You can show your support by eating a delicious three course meal and listening to Grant Simmer OAM while he shares insights into the sailing industry.

Sound to good to be true? Check for yourself: https://events.humanitix.com/2026-solas-trusts-dinner

28/08/2026

⛵ Find your Crew & Join the Competition ⛵

Now a staple event, Crew Connect returns on Thursday 3 September to introduce prospective sailors with local boat owners ahead of the 2026/27 summer season. All experience levels welcome!

📅 When: Thursday 3 September, from 1830hrs
📍 Where: CYCA Clubhouse | Freya Room
🎟 Entry: FREE – RSVP via Humanitix
🍸 Who: Members, competitors & yacht owners | OPEN TO EVERYONE
💨 Types of racing: Inshore, Coastal & Offshore

Go to cyca.com.au/whats-on/ to RSVP 📅🖇

27/08/2026

The CYCA Youth Sailing Academy has been training hard all winter long - on and off the water. ⛵

Offshore Online examined their training program beyond the boat. As part of the Advanced Squad program, sailors complete fitness testing at the beginning of the season before incorporating a strength & conditioning in the months during, all designed to improve performance on the water.

Will their training pay off? Next up, the YSA will compete at the Ocius New South Wales Youth Match Racing Championship this weekend, 28-29 August.

🏁🕙 Racing will begin at 1000hrs on both days with live results at www.cyca.com.au/live-results

For the full Offshore Online article, click the link below ⬇
https://offshoreonline.com.au/beyond-the-boat-building-better-sailors-from-the-ground-up/

📸: CYCA |

27/08/2026

Do you know what the SOLAS Trusts do?

When something goes wrong at sea, someone has to bring sailors home.

Since 1999, the CYCA's SOLAS Trusts have raised $2.4M+ and distributed $1.2M+ to search and rescue organisations in every state and territory, funding rescue vessels, communications equipment and safety gear for the volunteers and crews who respond when it matters most.

The Trusts also support the families of sailors lost at sea during sanctioned races.

It's one of the quieter things the Club does. It's also one of the most important.

You can show your support by eating a delicious three course delicious and listening to Grant Simmer OAM while he shares insights into the sailing industry.

Sound to good to be true? Check for yourself: https://events.humanitix.com/2026-solas-trusts-dinner

24/08/2026

☀️ Leaning into the sunshine ☀️ summer sailing is almost here! 💃🕺

Entries are open today for your favourite blue water races

🌊 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore
🌊 Network Insurance House Summer Short Offshore Series (SSOS)
🌊 Night Harbour Series
🌊 Monday Twilight Series
🌊 Club Marine Wednesday Twilight Series
🌊 Coastal Pointscore
🌊 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

Go to cyca.com.au or tap the link in bio to enter your favourite series and read more about the 2026/27 season changes 🖇

📸: CYCA | ash

22/08/2026

Anyone who has raced the Rolex Sydney Hobart comes away struck by Tasmania's beauty, even though we only glimpse a small part of it. During the race you're usually too far offshore, it's night, or you're too busy racing to take much in.

After ten Hobart races and almost as many delivery trips north, CYCA Member Patrick St John always wanted to explore the island properly. In 2026 he finally did—by sailing around it.

Here’s his story: https://offshoreonline.com.au/lap-of-tasmania/

Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania | Discover Tasmania | Rolex Sydney Hobart

Anyone who has raced the Rolex Sydney to Hobart comes away struck by Tasmania's beauty, even though we only glimpse a small part of it. During the race you're usually too far offshore, it's night, or you're too busy racing to take much in. After ten Hobart races and almost as many delivery trips nor...

20/08/2026

No one wants to end up in Eden during a Rolex Sydney Hobart

It means something's not quite gone to plan. But for over three decades, one woman has made sure that when a competitor arrives into Twofold Bay, there's a hot meal, a spare bed, and someone waiting on the wharf, whatever time of night it is.

Meet Robyn Malcolm — the unofficial, then official, heart of Eden's welcome for the fleet. She's arranged flights, once organised a dawn kangaroo-spotting trip for a heartbroken Polish sailor mid-bushfire crisis, and never once let a diverted crew feel like they'd failed.

"No one wants to end up in Eden ," says CYCA Sailing Manager Tara Blanc-Ramos. "But the welcome they get is phenomenal — Robyn and the people of Eden are the unsung heroes of the Sydney Hobart."

Read the full story on Offshore Online:

Just south of Batemans Bay, as the Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet braces for the gauntlet of Bass Strait, a quieter calculation is underway in the town of Eden. It isn't about wind angles or sail changes. It's about spare beds, hire cars, and whether there's enough bacon and eggs for eighteen, or maybe m...