Sean Langman’s Back 2 Black has won the IRC Overall crown in the 384 nautical mile 2026 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race.
“This has to be the warmest edition of the race, and I don’t remember a race where the night was so warm and the day was so glorious,” Langman said.
Smuggler has taken Line Honours
The Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race is a 386 nautical mile course to Main Beach and the start of the 2026/27 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore (ACSBWPS).
NSGCYR is the second longest of the six races in the series, only surpassed by the 628nm Rolex Sydney Hobart.
It is always a magical way to start the sailing season in Sydney. It’s a moment in the middle of winter that more often than not turns out to be a glorious day, and thoughts turn to the summer heading our way and the races that will decorate the harbour over the coming months.
A fleet of 49 sailed out of Sydney Heads and raced north to Queensland’s Gold Coast. The 2026 fleet is a cracker with a mix of veteran and first-time competitors, local, national and international sailors and a strong contingent of double handers.
Smuggler, who was also last year’s overall winner, was first through Sydney Heads, ahead of V5, Koa, Caol Ila and Gusto. Caol Ila’s crew posted one of the cleanest starts of the fleet, keeping the heavy Maarten 67 moving through patchy conditions inside the Harbour.
The largest boat in the fleet, Antipodes, was flanked out of the harbour by 40 footers Ambition and Back 2 Black, both racing well above their rating. Disco Trooper was the first double-hander and first 30 footer through the Heads, with Mistral close alongside and Annie Stevenson’s Dehler 30 not far behind. Marguerite was last to clear the Heads.
Conditions for the start were sunny with winds of eight to thirteen knots. Forecast winds are set to ease and turn light and shifty over the coming days, leaving it unclear whether the run to the Gold Coast would favour the bigger boats reaching for pressure or the smaller boats picking through the gaps.
In an interview earlier this year, Smuggler skipper Seb Bohm left no doubt about his goals for this year’s ACSBWPS, stating that he and his crew were “better, faster and hungrier” going into the 2026/27 pointscore.
The biggest boat in the fleet, competing in its first-ever Noakes Sydney Gold Coast, is the Vidor Family’s CNB76 Charlotte, skippered by James Whelan. The yacht’s last big offshore race was the 75th edition of the Sydney Hobart in 2019.
“We are looking forward to letting Charlotte stretch her legs again offshore fully crewed and giving the Vidor family a taste of what [the late] Ervin Vidor AM [former owner of Charlotte] loved about the boat and sport,” Whelan said.
Vidor family members Allan Vidor (Ervin’s son), Sam Vidor (Allan’s son and Ervin’s grandson) and twin brothers Ben and Josh Fischl (Ervin’s other grandsons) are on board. The four have trained with the crew in preparation for the race.
Whelan has 10 Sydney Hobarts to his name, in addition to an array of other offshore races, fully crewed and double handed, as well as thousands of sea miles.
Also on board Charlotte is offshore legend Stacey Jackson, a member of the Famous Project CIC trimaran team that became the first all-women crew to complete a non-stop world circumnavigation in January. That was Jackson’s third time around the globe, after having competed in two Volvo Ocean Races (rebranded as The Ocean Race). She achieved these amazing feats in 2014/15 with Team SCA and in 2017/18 with Vestas 11th Hour Racing.
Crew member and twice winner of the ISAF World Sailor of the Year, Carolijn Brouwer, adds to the large number of sea miles shared by the Charlotte crew, having competed in three Volvo Ocean Races, that include a win in the 2018 edition with Dongfeng Race Team.
“I’m very grateful to have built a crew that has a range of strengths and skills,” Whelan said. “We have a very strong core crew who all get along well and just so happen to be some of the most accomplished sailors in the country and world.”
The 40 footers have been in contention for the Overall win. Chris Dare’s GP42 Ambition is back after retiring from the 2025 Sydney Hobart.
Sean Langman, Managing Director of race sponsor Noakes, is racing Back 2 Black in her first ever Noakes Sydney Gold Coast after she was shipped across from the UK mid-last year. She debuted on the Australian circuit towards the end of the 2025/26 ACSBWPS season at the Cabbage Tree Island Race in early December, before backing that up with an impressive second place in IRC Division 2 at the Sydney Hobart. Langman believes he has competed in at least 20 Sydney Gold Coast races over the years.
The boat has recently undergone some modifications to prime her ahead of the race.
“It includes new appendages, a cockpit change, a new winch package, and a few things that are secret,” Langman said.
Another 40-footer of note is the Verdier 40 Vixen Racing. Skipper and one of Vixen Racing’s four boat owners, Sharon Ferris-Choat, is keen to return to offshore racing after competing in the 2026 Solo Trans-Tasman in May/June. Hers was the first monohull yacht to cross the line of the 1170 nautical mile race from Opua, New Zealand, to the Gold Coast, after a week at sea. Ferris-Choat is on board with seven other crew members of mixed abilities.
Among the eight Double Handed yachts is Rupert Henry’s Lombard 34 Mistral, which is co-skippering with Greg O’Shea. Henry recently returned from Europe after qualifying for the Route du Rhum, a solo 3542-nautical-mile yacht race in November. He qualified through his completion of the 1000nm Dhream Cup in France on board his Class40 Eora. The Noakes Sydney Gold Coast marks Henry’s first Double Handed offshore race in local waters after he was forced to retire from the 2025 Sydney Hobart due to injury.
On board the Ryckmans’ Yeah Baby Boatec Australia (formerly Voltstar Yeah Baby) is new Double Handed duo Francesca Leverkus and Lindsay Stead. The Ryckmans’ have kindly lent them the boat for the race.
Stead floated the idea to Leverkus of competing together early this year, but it became a reality at the CYCA’s Commodore’s Party less than three months ago, in May.
“That’s when we were like, “Yeah, I’m definitely up for doing it”,” Leverkus said.
While Stead, a professional boat builder and sailor, is no stranger to double handed sailing, it is a new adventure for Leverkus, who works for the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure. Leverkus started sailing after she moved to Australia from England 10 years ago and has competed in four Sydney Hobarts and one Noakes Sydney Gold Coast, all fully crewed.
In the week before the race, the duo undertook an overnight training session, tracking around 125 nautical miles. They practiced manoeuvres, reefing, safety procedures, hoisting and lowering sails and race start manoeuvres. The passage gave Leverkus a confidence boost heading into Saturday.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Leverkus said. “When I first told a few people, they all thought I was absolutely mental and were like, ‘Are you sure you want to do it? Maybe in a year or two?’ But I felt I couldn’t turn down the opportunity. It’s incredible.”
New partnership with Virtual Regatta
New this year is the ability to experience the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race as a game.
It is the first time the 384-nautical-mile offshore classic – the second-most prestigious race on the CYCA’s calendar behind the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race – will feature in the Virtual Regatta game, extending a relationship between the two organisations that has run successfully for the Sydney Hobart for the past decade.
Virtual Regatta’s global community of more than three million registered players have been able to download the race course and compete alongside the real fleet as it heads north from Sydney to the Gold Coast, navigating the same waters in real time and real conditions.
Virtual Regatta hosts more than 50 official events each year, allowing its e-sailors to race shoulder to shoulder with professional fleets in some of the sport’s biggest contests, including the Vendée Globe, the Route du Rhum and the Transat Jacques Vabre.
CYCA Chief Executive Officer Justine Kirkjian said the new partnership built on a proven relationship and gave fans of the race another way to follow the action, wherever they are in the world.
“Alongside the live stream of the race start on CYCA TV via YouTube, the game will give our community all around the world another way to engage with this great event.”
The Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race started at 1300hrs (AEST) on 25 July 2026 and is organised by the CYCA with the co-operation of the Finish Partner, Southport Yacht Club.
