2026 Australian Sports Boat Association Nationals at South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club
by Andrew York 2 Mar 06:21 GMT
20-22 February, 2026
Plans for the 2026 ASBA Nationals were arranged later than normal after the original venue and dates could not be confirmed. Numbers were reduced to seven boats as the dates clashed with events some who wanted to attend had already committed to.
South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club welcomed the fleet to their quiet end of the lake late in February. Most competitors rented houses on the lake with their boats moored outside on their wharf or at anchor with some anchored off the club. It was a pretty nice set up.
Beers back at the club each afternoon, a sausage sizzle on the Saturday evening and the hospitality of the women running the canteen. Just what you would expect from a community run club! Great hospitality.
With not much breeze forecast above 5 knots for the weekend the fleet were pleasantly surprised when they were greeted on Friday by a 12 knot easterly on the race course that built to 16 knots, but became a little patchy in the afternoon..
The biggest boat in the fleet, Like Oxygen, built a commanding lead in each of the three races with Crank crossing the line second and doing enough to come second in each race, albeit in a tie with One Eyed Bandit in one race, who took three firsts on LTP (PHS) handicap on day one.
Day two dawned as a similar day with temperatures again to reach over 30 degrees Celsius. The sun was out and there was a 12 to 14 knot easterly for the days four races. Like Oxygen again showed the fleet a clean pair of heels in each race to wrap up seven wins on the trot. Crank did not get cleanly up a couple of first beats to be mid pack at a two first marks. While she pulled through to second across the line she scored a 4th overall in the second race of the day.
The slightly lighter breeze suited the Thompson 7s better than day one and they both moved up the leader board on LTP with One eyed Bandit not having such a good day.
The lightest breeze of the regatta was forecast for day three and the PRO, Evan McHugh said that he would just run the long distance race and not the windward/ leeward race as well.
The race was started after just a small delay for the breeze to fill in. Perhaps it was because with seven race wins under their belt that the crew of Like Oxygen did not pay enough attention to the course. Whatever it was, less than half-way around the course with about a 400m lead in 8 to 10 knots of breeze they went to the wrong mark. When they realised their mistake they retired and headed to the boat ramp to pack up. With one drop for the series it would not affect the results.
This left Crank in the lead but Black Betty took the race win on CBH for her new owner Dave McKay with One Eyed Bandit second and Jack Sprague's T7 Flying Circus having her best race of the series for a third.
Andrew York's Like Oxygen won the regatta on CBH with Andrew Wiklund on Crank second and Dave McKay on Black Betty third.
Burke Melia's T7 consolidated her lead on LTP to take it out from Flying Circus with Bill Young in One Eyed Bandit third.