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30- and 40-footers lead the Pointscore into Tollgate Islands Race

Home 2026 30- and 40-footers lead the Pointscore into Tollgate Islands Race

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The Blue Water Pointscore reaches its halfway point this Friday with the Tollgate Islands Race, and the 30- and 40-footers are setting the pace. After two races, the top nine boats on IRC overall are all between 32 and 45 feet.

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The standings

Jules Hall's J/99 Disko Trooper leads IRC overall on 3 points (2nd, 1st). Sailed double-handed, she is five points clear of Sean Langman's GP42 Back 2 Black.

The double-handers have been a force across the board, with weather that has so far favoured smaller yachts. In the second race, they took the top three places on IRC overall: Disko Trooper, Andy Offord's Sunfast 3300 Borderline and Chris O'Neill's J/99 Blue Planet.

Behind them, Ron Forster and Phil Damp's Beneteau First 40 Ariel is 3rd, Edward Cox's Ker 40 Minerva 4th, Chris and Lachlan Dare's GP42 Ambition 5th, Alex Seja and Felicity Nelson's Sydney 36 Supernova 6th and Michael Rowe and Ben Martin's Cookson 12 Kanreki 7th. The TP52s, which lead Line Honours, are further back on handicap. Smuggler is 10th and Gusto is 13th.

On PHS, Disko Trooper's lead is even bigger. She is on 4 points, ten clear of Blue Planet.

What to watch

The J/99 duel. Disko Trooper and Blue Planet are swapping wins in the double-handed divisions. Disko Trooper leads Double-Handed IRC with two bullets. Blue Planet leads Double-Handed PHS by a single point.

Corinthian. Ariel has been the most consistent boat in the fleet, with two thirds, and leads on 6. Kanreki (8) and Supernova (9) are close behind.

Wild Rose. Kanreki (3) and Richard Hudson's Pretty Woman (4) have each won a race. One point separates them.

Line honours. Sebastian Bohm's Smuggler (3) leads Lee Hawksley's Gusto (5), with Back 2 Black (7) close behind. Robert Appleyard's Moneypenny won race two on the water but missed the season opener.

 

Will the big boats strike back?

Recent history suggests that it is probable in this race. In 2025, Moneypenny (69ft) won on IRC overall, ahead of URM Group (72ft) and Bacchanal (38ft). In 2024, the big boats took the top four places: Comanche (100ft), Whisper (62ft), Smuggler (52ft) and URM Group (72ft).

But it has not been one-way traffic all the way though. In 2023, the double-handed Kraken III took the win ahead of Andoo Comanche, with Jules Hall’s Disko Trooper third. This year Hall returns to Tollgate as the series leader.

At 260 nautical miles, conditions can split the fleet. The race will show whether the 30- and 40-footers can hold their lead into the second half of the series.

The race

The Tollgate Islands Race is set to kick off at 1700 hours tomorrow, Friday 16 October. The twenty-six strong fleet leaves Sydney Harbour and heads south to the Tollgate Islands, four nautical miles off Batemans Bay, before rounding and heading back north. The fleet then returns to the finish line in Sydney Harbour.

The current race record is 20 hours, 16 minutes and 49 seconds, set by Andoo Comanche in that first race.

Weather

The Start

The fleet gets underway at 1700 hours, with a moderate easterly of 15 knots forecast to provide a lively sunset start out of Sydney Harbour. As the yachts head south, the breeze is expected to ease overnight, potentially settling closer to 10-15 knots in places.

The opening hours will be about making the most of the available pressure before conditions soften. Boats that maintain speed through the overnight transition could establish an early advantage.

Saturday

Saturday looks set to continue a fairly consistent easterly of 10-15 knots along the coast, before the breeze trends more northeasterly during the evening towards Bateman’s Bay. The timing of that shift could prove decisive, particularly for boats approaching the Tollgate Islands turning mark.

Overnight into Sunday

The return leg could become the race’s biggest question mark. As the sun sets on Day 2, the breeze could drop with it. Pressure systems begin to converge with variable conditions that will present a final challenge to any competitors racing overnight and into Sunday afternoon.

What yachts will dominate?

Will the larger yachts like the R/P69 Moneypenny hold the line against the rest of the fleet, with the smaller yachts out left to battle it out in the overnight breeze? Or will the Double Handers continue their season-long winning streak? Follow the race tracker to find out.