Entries are soon to close for the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 2020 PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race, the club’s longest ocean race spanning 1,064 nautical miles.
This year will mark the second running of the race run since being reintroduced in 2018 after a 20-year hiatus. The 2018 PONANT Sydney Noumea saw a fleet of 22 taking to the start line to relaunch the race.
The 2020 PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race will start on Saturday 6 June 2020, on Sydney Harbour with boats heading northeast for a finish at the Cercle Nautique Caledonien in Noumea, New Caledonia. The PONANT Sydney Noumea also acts as a gateway event to the New Caledonia Groupama Race, which commences on 21 June 2020.
This year's race is already attracted some big names with Sean Langman's RP69 Naval Group lining up to do battle with David Griffith's JV62 Chinese Whisper, which recently took line honours in the Teakle Classic Adelaide to Port Lincoln Yacht Race and beating Naval Group over the line by a mere two minutes.
Both these crews will be looking to make their mark on this year's race with the race record of 4 days 2 hours 23 minutes and 34 seconds set by Michael Martin's TP52 Frantic set to tumble.
“The PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race is one of the Cruising Yacht Club’s great adventures – and one of offshore racing’s biggest tests,” CYCA Commodore Paul Billingham says. “We encourage entrants from our club, across Australia and around the world to enter the 1064-nautical-mile mission. We can’t wait for June 2020.”
PONANT have been the naming-rights partner of the race since 2017, signing an extension in December 2018 to again back the 2020 race to Noumea.
“The Sydney Noumea race is an exciting event for serious competitors, sailing through a range of challenging navigation and sea conditions for 1,064 nautical miles. Following our involvement in previous years, and working together, we appreciate even more the benefits both organisations receive through this continued partnership,” Vice President PONANT, Asia Pacific, Monique Ponfoort, says.
“There is a positive synergy with the CYCA, as yachting is part of PONANT’s DNA and 30-year heritage maintained through our three-masted sailing yacht, Le Ponant, and the rest of the small ship fleet. It seems only fitting that we can portray this further through our involvement with this exciting race.”
Entries close 1700hrs AEDT, Friday 13 March 2020
