BYS Youth Sportsboat Regatta hits the sweet spot
by Michelle de Blaquiere, BYS 21 Apr 10:42 BST
18-19 April 2026
What happens when you remove barriers, keep the racing tight, and prioritise good people and good vibes?
You get a full start line, zero spare boats, and a youth regatta that people actually want to come back to.
The Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron Youth Sportsboat Regatta (18-19 April 2026) brought together 50 sailors aged 15-30 across 11 teams for its biggest year yet. The racing delivered, but it was the energy around the event that really stood out. Yes, there was skill. Yes, it was competitive. But there was also, by popular agreement, a healthy level of maximum tomfoolery.
This regatta has always done things a bit differently. You don't need to own a J/70 to enter. Boats are made available through Blairgowrie's fleet, generous owners, and visiting clubs. This year, three Sandringham Yacht Club teams brought club boats down, helping push the event to capacity.
And that is not just a nice feature, it is the whole point. This age group is where sailing often loses people. Work, study and life all compete. So instead of making things harder, this regatta makes it easier to show up, get involved and have a great time doing it. The result was no spare boats, and likely a couple of teams who missed out.
Racing was short, sharp and relentless, with on-water umpiring keeping sailors honest. Sixteen sprint races across the weekend meant there was no time to drift out of it. If you had a bad race, you got another shot almost immediately. The starts were aggressive, the fleet stayed tight, and every shift mattered.
Race Officer Stephen Cowell summed up the standard: "It's a high quality fleet with them evenly racked up in a single row for the starts, impressive skills in their kite hoists and drops, and in picking shifts in a widely oscillating breeze. Close racing too, particularly mid pack."
Saturday's 5-12 knots from the south-west to south-east brought pressure, shifts and tide into play, while Sunday's lighter north-easterly made it all about patience and positioning. With racing this close, no one was hanging back:
"We've been having an absolute whale of a time, it's been really fun," said Michael "Parksy" Parks from Ora (Sandringham Yacht Club).
"We've had heaps of spins, which has held us back, but that just means we're hungry and getting amongst it, hopefully just with a bit more success next time."
Mornington Yacht Club's team onboard Jumpin' Jack Flash came out on top, but not before turning a few heads.
1st Place - Digby Taylor (skipper), Jack Eickmeyer, Maddy English, Jack Vermeer, (Mornington Yacht Club) on Jumpin' Jack Flash
Eight race wins and a stack of consistent finishes saw them take the regatta with 24 points.
"We are very, very happy, the team did a really good job," said skipper Digby Taylor.
"First time actually sailing a J/70 was like, a couple of days ago, so it feels pretty good to get into it. It's a very fun boat. Good fleet. Good racing, very good.
The highlight of the weekend, apart from the social side, was probably beating the other Mornington teams, and Blairgowrie, actually you know, winning, probably," he laughed.
"But honestly, it's always good to come back in after a long day, have a couple of chats with your mates, talk about everything that happened and have a bit of a yarn. That's the highlight of the regatta to be honest. The sailing comes secondary sometimes."
2nd Place - Hayden Brown (skipper), Casey Bates, Mats Maertens, Harrison Sly (Sandringham Yacht Club) sailing on Tramontana.
A strong Sunday lifted them up the leaderboard, finishing with multiple wins and consistent top-three results.
3rd Place - Ethan O'Brien, Hamish Bolton, Will Hailes, Abby Young, Will James / Fred O'Brien (Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron), on Audacity.
A solid all-round performance, with race wins and consistent finishes keeping them in the mix.
Not every highlight showed up on the scoreboard. The Kurt Jaks Award for sportsmanship went to the Mornington Yacht Club team on Javelin: Samuel Savage (skipper), Ada Edwards, Will White, Tom Mackenzie. New to the boats, they leaned into the experience, asking questions, backing each other in, and bringing a genuinely positive energy to the weekend.
If the racing brought people together, Saturday night locked it in. A relaxed dinner at the club gave sailors space to unwind, catch up and build on friendships that stretch across clubs and classes. For many, that is the part that sticks, and the reason they come back.
With strong turnout, growing demand and the kind of atmosphere that is hard to fake, the BYS Youth Sportsboat Regatta is clearly landing where it needs to. It is competitive without being intimidating, social without losing its edge, and right now it is doing something really important, giving young sailors a reason to stay connected to the sport.