Port Cygnet Sailing Club

18/05/2026

2025-2026 Presentation! Another season over. Commodore Gary Pritchard presented the awards of the season amidst loads of joy and merriment.

Special thanks to our Racing Committee and start box volunteers for making it happen and our fantastic volunteers for assisting with food and bar duties and to Wendy for supplying the photos.

10/05/2026

What an amazing success for a four week Discover Sailing Series! We had thought we might get 3 Saturdays with good enough weather, keeping one in reserve, and hoping that everyone would have at least one week out on the water. But our members and parents of Junior and Youth sailors came back for more:) Huge thanks to all the volunteers who made it possible…..I am sure we will be asked to organise a further series! In the meantime we have lots of willing sailors ready to crew:)

27/04/2026

Second Discover Sailing Day in the series. Light winds, a dappled sky and wonderful camaraderie:) Thanks to our Club members for providing their boats and to our Assistant Instructors for help with novice Pacer sailors. Back for more next Saturday!

Photos credit: Wendy Lentz

19/04/2026

The first of the Discover Sailing series for club members and parents of Junior & Youth members was held on Saturday morning. It was certainly chilly but there were good breezes and lots of enthusiasm:) Robbie and Jillaine Williams brought their 44’ Swarbrick to the jetty so that the 6 member crew could board easily and Glenn Sanders ferried his crew out to Digga in the Club tender. Bob Howison took his crew through all points of sail on the Etchells including a spinnaker run:) Alison Viner, Tiago Fisher and Thomas Pile each skippered a Pacer dinghy and their crew loved the experience of taking the helm. Wendy Lentz was in attendance in the safety boat and Judy Howison was shore based in the event of any help being required. Next week, 25 April, will see some more volunteer skippers offering their yachts for another Discover Sailing experience:)

15/04/2026

Huge thanks to John Alexander for conducting a Rules Night in the Clubrooms at PCSC on Tuesday evening. We used Paul Bale’s beautifully crafted model yachts for demonstration on a magnetic board! Lively discussion between 20 attendees;)

11/04/2026

Arrgh! It was Pirate Day for our young Junior & Youth sailors in challenging conditions. But undeterred by cold wind and rain, they ventured out and had a magnificent sail. Back to the Clubhouse for hot chocolate and lots of yummy food

31/03/2026

A wonderful relaxed evening at the Club on Friday night celebrating our Volunteers, the heart and backbone of the Club. Christine Jane Materia, Rear Commodore, represented the Flag Officers outlining all facets of the Club where more than a hundred volunteers give their time and skills wholeheartedly to ensure that we have a thriving active organization!

22/03/2026

Sunday the 22nd of March saw the rerun of Port Cygnet Sailing Club’s Faith, Hope and Charity Race. Normally this is the first race of the McLaren Series and is run in the early part of the season; and normally the early part of the season provides good, strong winds. Not so at the first attempt. After several hours of sailing the race was abandoned.

The start on Sunday threatened to be the same. With clear blue skies and a painfully light Easterly over a glassy sea, five boats crept over the start line at Beaupre Point. The distant Huon Point looked very distant and even after an hour, no boat was even halfway there. Two hours after the start, Red Back and the ever-combative Disgratziato, had found some pressure at the point and were heading south. The second Etchells, Hector, made it around the point a few minutes later and were able to ease sheets for the pleasant beam reach to the entrance to Port Esperance. Then followed Satisfaction and Snafu Too.

The race then developed into a showcase of the vast differences in racing styles of boats rigged with an asymmetrical spinnaker (Red Back) and the more conventional symmetrical spinnaker (Disgratziato). The former makes better use of wind on the beam and the latter from wind directly astern. For the reach across the mouth of Port Esperance, Red Back creamed along even despite a slackening of wind pressure. Once turning further West, however, the symmetrical spinnaker of the Etchells could be deployed wider to the breeze and although Red Back’s sail was larger it couldn’t capture the power necessary to drive down to the third island of the course- Charity Island.

By 2.30pm the wind had begun to be influenced by a sea breeze and was 12 to 15 knots and from the South East. Disgratziato led Red Back out of Port Esperance followed by Hector, Satisfaction and Snafu Too. Off wind sails once again burst forth and with the breeze strengthening on the starboard quarter, Red Back took off leaving Disgratziato and the rest of the fleet in her wake.
By 4pm, the wind was firmly in the SSE and blowing a stiff 22 to 25 knots. It was an exhilarating ride to the finish line off Beaupre Point with even the little Etchells doing better than 11 knots. In an attempt to shorten their race time, Disgratziato attempted to gybe their spinnaker and came close to sinking their vessel and indeed lengthened their elapsed time.

In the event, Red Back crossed the line five minutes ahead of Disgratziato, followed 12 minutes later by Hector, then another nine minutes to Satisfaction and two minutes to Snafu Too which did well sailing just three up and didn’t fly a spinnaker.
Handicap results saw Disgraziato (Michael Polkinghorne) first, Hector second, Satisfaction third and Red Back fourth. In Division 2, Snafu Too got the win.

This race marked the end of the McLaren Series and the overall results in Division 1 were First-Red Back (David O’Neill), Second-Disgratziato, Third-Hector. In Division 2 First was Maya (Ed Boast), Second-Dinkum, Third-Leda. Snafu Too came in fourth.

17/03/2026

16/03/2026

Cygnet Sailing report 15 March 2026

By Glenn Sanders

There are lots of rules for yacht racing, most of them very technical, obscure and rarely used in club racing. However, one that did apply during the Port Cygnet club’s first Autumn series race on 15 March is that, if two boats are on the same tack, the windward boat gives way. This rule is often used, quite fairly, by a downwind boat to force a boat upwind of them to tack away, or even to force them across the start line early.

It was a great day for sailing, clear Autumn skies and a steady ten knot north westerly breeze swinging more westerly as the day progressed. This meant the start was downwind, so everyone prepared to hoist spinnakers as the countdown began. As the start signal sounded, Disgratziato began to deploy their big blue spinnaker, only to find Tarka coming up underneath them, forcing them, as the upwind boat, to abort the hoist, and in the confusion a minor touch meant they had to do a penalty turn.

Meanwhile the rest of the small fleet headed off on the first leg of the course, to Deep Bay, then across to Beaupré Point on the Huon River, then back to the start, before a final visit to and from Deep Bay once again. Disgratziato regained the lead, followed by the other Etchells Seahorse, Tarka and Hector. Further back, King Billy under spinnaker lead division two, from Digga and Dinkum, both flying asymmetrical foresails rather than spinnakers.

The wind eased and swung to the west as boats rounded the Deep Bay mark, so spinnakers were doused as the leg to Beaupré became an upwind beat. Boats spread out, except for Dinkum and Digga swapping last position several times, dueling for most of the race.

From there it was largely a matter of deciding exactly when and where to tack, particularly important nearing the start line as the wind became quite flukey and variable, in typical Cygnet style. With the wind mostly from the west, boats had to avoid being trapped in the lee of the western shore, while the incoming tide favoured the centre of the bay to some extent.

The day ended with the fleet evenly strung out, the Etchells separated by two, three and four minutes as they crossed the finish line. Scratch and handicap results were the same: first was Disgratziato (Michael Polkinghorne), then Tarka, with Hector third. In division two, King Billy (Steve Pile) was a clear winner, but much further back, Digga managed by only a few minutes to hold off Dinkum on handicap. Not much close competition, but a wonderful autumn day to go sailing.

The next race is on Sunday 22 March starting at 11am, a rerun of the Three Island Race from Cygnet, around the islands in Port Esperance and back. A long-time favourite, this race was abandoned last November when there was no wind.