2026 Banjo's Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta Day 2 - Summer sailing at its best
by Jane Austin 21 Feb 10:16 GMT
20-22 February 2026
White Knuckle Ride (red kite) is one of the smallest boats in the Performance Cruising Keelboat Division © Jane Austin
Nearly 100 entries and close to 300 sailors had ideal sailing conditions on the River Derwent for the second day of the 2026 Banjo's Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta hosted by the Bellerive Yacht Club.
Sailors enjoyed consistent breezes and a sunny summer afternoon as they fought it out across the various divisions that make up the regatta program.
In the Racing Keelboat Group, the Sydney 38 Eye Candy (Malo Leseigneur) is leading on performance handicap by two points from War Games, skippered by Crown Series stalwart, Wayne Banks-Smith, on 15 points, closely followed by Guilty Pleasures VI (Gary Cripps), on 16 points.
Joint Custody (Ian Stewart) is currently leading the battle for the 'unofficial' Mumm 36 World Championship from Hooligan (Jeff Cordell) although they are on equal points.
Stewart is also leading on ORC handicap.
In Performance Cruising Division One, it is a case of David and Goliath with a varied fleet from the the 82-foot boat, Crackerjack (Craig Clifford) to the 21-foot Shaw sportsboat, White Knuckle Ride (Joshua Ragg).
And White Knuckle Ride is showing them how it's done in their maiden regatta, with a first in the third race of the day bringing them up to equal first with the sports boat, Cutting Edge (Andrew Jones), both on 12 points, from Aeolus (Jacinta Cooper), on performance handicap.
X-Cite is leading in Division Two on nine points, from Sagittarius (John Hall) on 14 points and Deviljsh (Dermot and the DSS Devils) on 17 points while Yarinidi III is leading in Division Four on five points.
It is very close racing in the 2026 Tasmanian Sabre Championship.
Tasmanian Sabre President, Matt Westland, was on the water for the first day of the two-day event.
"We had great courses today which provided good reaching conditions for the fleet.
After three races, Mattl Pilkington is leading with Richard Parker and Jason Followes hot on his heels in the 20-boat fleet.
"We are certainly set up for a close finish tomorrow," said Westland.
In the Off-the-Beach groups, top performers include Harry Gregory who is leading the WASZPs after three wins from three races, and Abbey Lodge and Nicholas Schoe who are leading the ILCA 4 and ILCA 6 Classes respectively.
Full results are available at: byc.org.au/racing/banjos-shoreline-crown-series