Northbridge Sailing Club Open Day
Last sailing season, Middle Harbour Yacht Club and Northbridge Sailing Club started a collaborative program with the young sailors in MHYC’s Opti fleet joining Green and Open Fleet sailors from NSC to periodically race together. In the coming season, we hope to enable more junior sailors to build experience in larger fleet racing as a prelude to regattas.
The Northbridge Sailing Club Open Day is on Sunday 31 August. All are invited to go along to learn more about the club and, if you wish, bring a change of clothes for you and/or your child to go for a sail with an instructor.
Northbridge Sailing Club – igniting a passion for sailing
West of the Spit Bridge in the protected waters of upper Middle Harbour, Northbridge Sailing Club’s focus is family sailing in a range of dinghy classes or enabling a parent (or grandparent) sailor to introduce sailing to other family members via one of three sailing dinghy pathways.
- Learn to Sail – our programs for beginners are provided by our Australian Sailing certified instructors targeted for kids aged 7-12y, families and adults using Pacers and Optimist training dinghies on Sunday mornings. Junior sailors transition from accompanying instructors in Pacers to plastic Opti trainers to Green and Open fleet racing in Optis or Flying 11s.
- Social Sailing and Personal Coaching – membership benefits include inexpensive hourly rental of Pacers and ILCAs (Lasers) to enable adult members to build experience (with or without an instructor) or previous sailors to take their kids for a social sail or even let their more experienced kids take them!
We also encourage members new to sailing to join NSC club members in social yacht racing throughout the year. This complements their basic dinghy sailing experience so they can readily progress to become crew members for social sailing on yachts – feeding into twilight sailing or weekend racing.
- Afternoon racing – we race ILCAs (Lasers), two-handers (Tasars and NS14s, suited for two adults or parent/child crews or teenagers) as well as Moths with our open fleet of junior sailors in Optis and Flying 11s. The Flying 11 class enables 10-15 year olds to enjoy two handed racing together, or joining a parent in an NS14 or Tasar.
Our club is volunteer led and we strive to create a family friendly environment where fun on the water is foremost, supported by a community that helps each other. Our annual Live-In sailing camp for kids is legendary!
Tony Stephens, NSC Commodore
2025-2026 Program announced and Online Entry Open
Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s Sailing Program for 2025-2026 has been announced and online entry is now open.
While the printed Sailing Handbook for the new season will be available from the beginning of September, a detailed daily schedule and race documents for each of the MHYC series have now been published to the club’s website.
The program structure is largely unchanged from last season, with some minor amendments to race documentation and adjusted start times for some series.
The Saturday Inshore Annual Pointscore this year comprises ten Combined Clubs passage races, nine sprint races and the series kicks off on September 6 with a standalone inshore passage race using the club’s traditional inshore courses. The Combined Clubs Sunday Series run in conjunction with Manly Yacht Club is ten races for the coming season – six sprints and four passage races. Midweek is busy, especially in Summer, with 49 Wednesday non-spinnaker pursuit races, 24 Thursday Twilight pointscore races eleven Friday Spinnaker Twilight fleet races.
A new pricing scheme has been introduced, providing a substantial discount on series entries for MHYC Marine Berth and Mooring Holders.
For Online Entry – click here
To download a filterable excel spreadsheet of the MHYC 2025-2026 Sailing program – click here
To view the Notices of Race and Sailing Instructions for each MHYC Series – click here
Read more: 2025-2026 Program announced and Online Entry Open
Keelboat Prizegiving and Awards Night
Middle Harbour Yacht Club's Annual Keelboat Prizegiving and Awards Night will be held on Saturday 3rd May from 6.30pm.
Trophies are awarded and achievements recognised for Inshore and Offshore competition, the Twilight Series and Cruising Division. The hard work of officials, volunteers, committee members and staff are recognised along with the wonderful support of the club's sponsors.
Tickets are $30 and include a welcome drink and canapes.
Prizegiving will commence at 7pm sharp.
Book now via TryBooking.com
ORC Club Update
August 2025
MHYC is encouraging boat owners who don’t have an ORC Rating to apply for an ORC Club Certificate.
ORC is now the primary handicapping type for Saturday pointscore racing and an ORC pointscore based on elapsed times will be run in conjunction with the Pacific Rigging Wednesday Non-Spinnaker Series from the beginning of the new season.
The Sailing Committee is promoting ORC Club (ORCc) as the best option for all boat owners to obtain a Measurement Rating as it provides the right balance of science and simplicity to generate a handicap at a low cost.
Benefits:
- Easy Application Process - ORC Club requires a small number of measurement points and the ORC database already holds these measurements for over 128,000 production boats
- Fixed Handicap - ORC Club provides a constant reference point of a boat’s performance from week to week and allows identical boats to compete on the same handicap
- Boat Polars - the ORC Club Velocity Prediction Programme (VPP) calculates target boat speeds of each boat across a variety of wind strengths and wind directions
- Low Cost - It is inexpensive to generate an ORC Club certificate (in 2025 a new application for ORCc is $115 whereas ORCi is $650)
- Visibility - ORC Club is an open rule, so anyone can look at any other boats certificate and measurements that have been used. ORC Club also enables skippers to do a test to see what impact any changes to their boat or sails has on their handicap
- Popularity - ORC Club is widely used internationally and has seen rapid growth in Australia. The NSW ORC Championships are held each year
To assist owners with new applications, Australian Sailing’s Ratings Manager, Chris Zonca, will be at the club on Sunday 24 August (the final Get Checked Day this year for free safety audits) to provide information and answer questions about ORC Club and help with measurement.
Further details on ORC Club and other ratings can be found on the Australian Sailing website https://www.sailingresources.org.au/ratings-hub/.
Go to https://orc.org/sailors/active-certificates-database to search the ORC database for an existing ORC International or ORC Club certificate.
See the MHYC Handicapping Information Page at https://mhyc.com.au/sailing/keelboat-division/handicapping-at-mhyc.
Or contact the MHYC Sailing Office via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 8969 3103.
Nominations open for MHYC Special Awards
with Past Commodore Julie Hodder
Nominations are now invited for three Special Awards for the 2024-2025 Season – the Tig Thomas Distinction Trophy, the Crew Member of the Year Award and the Jules Trophy for the MHYC Yachtswoman of the Year.
To be eligible for the Tig Thomas Trophy, a Senior, Full, Sailing or Youth member must have competed in a State, National or World Championship, Major Regatta or Major Ocean Race within the last year (1st April to 31st March). Candidates can be nominated either by a Senior, Sailing or Full member, or self-nominate.
The Crew Member of the Year 2024-2025 is presented to an esteemed crew member, displaying the characteristics desirable of a MHYC Member, someone other crew members would aspire to emulate, and nominated from a yacht competing in a MHYC Pointscore Series Program.
The Jules Trophy for MHYC Yachtswoman of the Year will be awarded to a member who sails regularly from MHYC, is enthusiastic and active participant in the sport of sailing and shows good seamanship and sportsmanlike conduct.
All nominations must be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday 18th April 2025.
Awards will be announced at the MHYC Annual Prizegiving on Saturday 3rd May 2025.
To download the Tig Thomas Trophy Nomination Form – click here
To download the Crew Member of the Year Nomination Form – click here
To download the Jules Trophy Nomination Form – click here
2025 Information & Education Sessions
Middle Harbour Yacht Club has announced a series of Information & Education Sessions commencing in July and continuing until October.
Some will be face to face while others will be conducted using Zoom videoconference. The updated schedule is:
- Wednesday 27 August - Officiating in Sailing (Online)
- Wednesday 3 September - Racing Rules Refresher (Harbour View)
- Thursday 11 September - Skippers Briefing - Mandatory Session (Online)
- Thursday 25 September from 7pm - Skippers & Crew Meet and Greet (Harbour View)
- Wednesday 1 October from 6pm - Keelboat Safety Forum (Online)
- Saturday 11 October from 10am - MOB Practical Training Session (MHYC)
- Wednesday 22 October - Race Flags & Signals (Online)
To download the updated information flyer – click here
First Light Presentation with Elizabeth Tucker
Za Ocean Racing: A Voyage and a Vision
Join MHYC member Elizabeth Tucker (Za Za) as she shares her recent experience delivering her Open 40 yacht, "First Light," two-handed from the west coast of Spain to Middle Harbour.
Elizabeth will discuss the planning and execution of her two-and-a-half-month voyage, and outline the future program for "First Light," which includes participation in the 80th Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race with an all-female Za Ocean Racing crew.
Member entry: Free
Non-member entry: $10.00
Limited spaces are available. Early booking is recommended.
DATE
Wednesday 16 April 2025 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (UTC+10)
LOCATION
Middle Harbour Yacht Club
75 Lower Parriwi Road, Mosman NSW 2088
For Bookings Click here
MHYC Platinum Luncheon - 20 Year Plus Members
This year’s 20 Year plus Members Platinum Luncheon will be on Sunday 20th July from midday in the MHYC Harbour View Room.
The 2025 lunch promises to be entertaining with a great new cohort of members being inducted, together with some members being elevated into new brackets. Keynote speaker will be Elizabeth Tucker from Za Racing.
Tickets are available through TryBooking - CLICK HERE
Vale David “Mossy” Moss
David “Mossy” Moss - 1952 to 2025
It is with great sadness to report that David Moss, a long-term member of MHYC for 38 years recently passed away after a long hard fight to overcome his heart issues.
In his younger years, David sailed on many boats including the yacht Timeout with Colin Boyle and Craig Nichols when they broke their mast on the Southport race. He sailed with the same team on the Sydney 38 yacht On the Boil.
For a long time he crewed on Lindsay Rose’s Ruff and Tumble which is where he met his wife Anne Jarvis in the early 90’s.
For many years he was a regular Wednesday crew on Gunther Shmidt-Linder’s yacht Austmark – when of course he was not happily tripping around the world with his beloved partner Anne. It was hard to catch up with their many adventures.
David was a proud medical/warrant officer in the Australian Navy and in recent years became the president of the Dee Why RSL sub- branch. After retirement he worked with St John’s Ambulance organisation.
We will always remember David as someone who was always willing to help out where needed and always did so with his special smile.
MHYC extends its sympathies to David’s family and his many friends. There will be a celebration of his life at His life will be celebrated at Dee Why RSL on Wednesday, 19th March at 2.00 pm
Julie Hodder
MHYC Women's Regatta
The MHYC Women's Regatta will be held on Saturday 10 May 2025.
The Open Keelboat divisions will be contested by yachts with all female crews and mixed crews with a female helm.
One Design divisions for mixed crews with a female helm are available for Melges 20, Adams 10, Yngling, J/24, J/70 and Elliott 7 classes with a minimum of four entries.
Commencing at 11am, two short windward-leeward races will be followed by a passage race starting at 1.30pm. Sailing will be conducted on the waters of Sydney Harbour and The Sound.
Join us back at MHYC after racing for some good company, drinks, nibbles and the presentation of prizes.
For race documents and online entry, visit the MHYC Event Page
Photos by Marg Fraser-Martin
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2025-2028 Racing Rules of Sailing now published
The 2025-2028 edition of the Racing Rules of Sailing with Australian Sailing’s prescriptions have now been published.
To download a copy, and also download the World Sailing Study Version of the 2025-2028 RRS, visit the Australian Sailing Rules Hub at https://www.sailingresources.org.au/rules-hub/rrs/
As there have been a number of changes to rule numbers in the new edition of the rules, a series of minor amendments have been made to the MHYC series race documents. These changes are advised in a Notice to Competitors with links to the affected documents. See https://mhyc.com.au/images/Sailing/2024-2025/Keelboat_Racing/NoticesToCompetitors/NTC-2024-12-12-1-AmendmentstoMHYCRaceDocuments.pdf