Coral Sea Classic May 2001 Townsville, Cairns, Papua New-Guinea

by Tamzin Wardley on 28 Jan 2001 Entries are starting to come in for the Coral Sea Classic, being held in May 2001. Eight yachts from the racing division of the Royal Papua Yacht Club have already commenced preparations with one making the delivery trip down to Cairns over the weekend.

The biennial race series traditionally attracts yachts from Northern Queensland who compete against their PNG counterparts. Over the last few races yachts from further a field have been joining the series as word of the warm waters and tropical trade winds spreads.

This year the race follows the Easter Brisbane - Gladstone race as the yachts travel the east coast race circuit up the coast of Australia.

The race series has three divisions: performance handicap, cruising and multi-hull and commences in Townsville on May 2 with a 24 hour race to Cairns. A short hop to nearby Fitzroy island, famous for its post race party, on the Saturday; followed by the feature race from Cairns to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, on the Monday. The series is completed with three races run in the fantastic Port Moresby harbour and local islands, on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 May.

Papua New Guinea's commercial tv station, EMTV will be filming the event. A film crew will be flown down to Cairns to follow the race series. Video cameras will be carried on nominated yachts to capture life onboard during the Cairns to Port Moresby crossing of the Coral Sea. This coverage will allow for regular news footage and will be the basis for a documentary on the series.

The series will be covered on the Sail-World website so watch out for further information about the event.


The 2001 Coral Sea Classic is an International Ocean Racing Series providing both individual and team competition, conducted and organised by the Royal Papua Yacht Club with the co-operation of the Cairns Yacht Club, the Townsville Cruising Yacht Club and the Townsville Motor Boat Club. The series is proudly sponsored by Air Niugini, EMTV, HIH and Sail-world.com

Sail-world.com is providing the official race website http://www.sail-world.com

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS - 2001

RACE #1 WEDNESDAY May 2 Townsville to Cairns * (180 nm)

RACE #2 SATURDAY May 5 Cairns to Fitzroy Island * (35nm )

RACE #3 MONDAY May 7 AIR NIUGINI Cairns to Port Moresby (455 nm)

RACE #4 FRIDAY May 11 Port Moresby Inshore (12nm)

RACE #5 FRIDAY May 11 Port Moresby Inshore (PHF& Multi only) (12nm)

RACE #6 SATURDAY May 12 Port Moresby Inshore * (25nm )

* Races #1, #2 and #6 are run in conjunction with local fleet races.

The race series is open to self righting monohull yachts and to multihull yachts being not less than 8.85 metres in length all of a thoroughly seaworthy nature entered by a member of a yacht club recognised by a national yachting authority.

The race series shall be open to entrants in three divisions., PERFORMANCE HANDICAP, MULTIHULL & CRUISING: