Over five days, RQYS was transformed into a high-octane blend of close to 50 boats, including 25 dinghies, all subjected to our somewhat sadistic desire to throw a completely different racing format at them almost every single day! Off the water, we had enough festivities to make even the most seasoned sailor reach for the Panadol, Gatorade, and hash browns. Here is how the biggest edition, to date, of our little regatta unfolded on the water, on the lawn and — ‘occasionally’ — at the bar. The Green Island Hot Lap: guessing games and gusts To kick things off on Friday, the Race Committee threw a curveball with the Green Island Lap. Think of it as our nautical nod to Formula 1 qualifying, where skippers gazed into their crystal balls to predict their exact elapsed time before they even crossed the start line. Naturally, Moreton Bay decided to turn on the charm with a stiff breeze that peaked at a cheeky 28 knots around the back of the island, turning the whole affair into what the fleet affectionately dubbed a “hairy hot lap”. While most of the skippers were probably sweating over complex algorithms and VPP polars, Tony Craner on Balancing Act made a compelling case for throwing the laptops overboard. He simply eyeballed the distance, made a rough guess at his upwind and downwind speeds, and somehow nailed his 51:43 prediction to within half a minute. Sometimes sheer instinct just beats a highly-calibrated spreadsheet. While Tony put on a clinic in precision, the crew aboard Jester decided to use Day 1 to showcase a very different interpretation of ‘skills and experience’ by making a couple of highly entertaining attempts at a lap. First, they boldly innovated modern sail trim by attaching the clew of their sail directly to the bowsprit, and then they comprehensively demonstrated the exact incorrect side of the infamous Western cardinal mark. We can only applaud their unwavering dedication to providing the rest of us with top-tier, on-water entertainment! If you weren’t at Brisbane Race Week 2026 presented by Porsche Centre Brisbane this year, you missed what can only be described as the most glorious, windswept circus to ever grace the waters of inner Moreton Bay … Pursuits and pure pandemonium Here’s a review of this year’s Brisbane Race Week (BRW) by Nic Douglass (aka ‘Sailor Girl’) and Anton Prange (aka ‘Flamingo Buoy’) … fasten your seatbelts! Pics used in this feature are by Sailor Girl with words by Flamingo Buoy (and near-certainty that AI could not possibly have matched them) 35 Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Yearbook Mainsheet 2026 Brisbane Race Week 2026 presented by Porsche Centre Brisbane
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