Ponant Sydney Noumea Yacht Race 2024

News
2024
Entries for this year's Ponant Sydney Noumea Yacht Race have closed

Entries for this year's Ponant Sydney Noumea Yacht Race have closed

NEWS
07 Mar, 2024 10:30:00 AM

Entries for this year's Ponant Sydney Noumea Yacht Race have closed

Entries for this year's Ponant Sydney Noumea Yacht Race have now closed, with a total of 16 entries across IRC and PHS categories, slightly fewer than in 2018.

After a hiatus of over 20 years, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia reintroduced the 1,064 nautical mile PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race in 2018. The return was a success, with Seb Bohm's Rogers 46 Smuggler clinching overall honors and Michael Martin's TP52 Frantic securing Line Honours.

Despite the cancellations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2022, the PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race is set to start on Saturday 25 May 2024.

Returning this year are Frantic and Smuggler. While the Smuggler team competed aboard the Rogers 46 in the last edition, this year they will be racing the TP52. Following their successful performances in the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore and Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the team is geared up for the challenge of the 1,064 nautical mile race.

Among the 11 yachts battling it out in IRC and the five in PHS are two female Two-Handed teams aboard Celeste, co-skipped by Saskia Groen-Int-Woud and Maud, and Fika, co-skipped by the mother-daughter duo Annette Hesselmans and Sophie. Interestingly, the entry of these two boats is intertwined; Saskia and Annette bonded over the years over the Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race, and upon learning of Saskia and Maud's participation in this year’s Sydney to Noumea race, Annette decided to enter as well.

Saskia's passion for sailing started early, with fond memories of learning to sail with Tom Barker's family in Gladstone as a child. Her dream of owning a Swan 38 persisted since then, and she eventually acquired one in the Netherlands. Now back in Australia, Saskia teamed up with Maud to embark on an extensive Two-Handed offshore sailing program. Noumea serves as a practice run as they prepare for the Melbourne to Osaka race in 2025. They aim to find their rhythm and optimize their boat's performance, planning to sail as much as possible between the races and Christmas, with their next challenge being the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on Boxing Day.