Sailing stampede in 2025 Cock of the Bay Yacht Race

Almost 80 boats on the start line of the 2025 Cock of the Bay Yacht Race / Photo by Michael Currie

As the Aussies and the Brits endured the highs and lows of test match cricket on the hallowed pitch of the MCG, a veritable stampede of determined yachties fought for space under formidable skies on the start line of the 2025 Cock of the Bay Yacht Race.

In a Boxing Day tradition for the sport-loving city of Melbourne, 74 yachts and close to 500 sailors in three divisions, raced on the waters of Port Phillip in what has become an unmissable and also one of the most exciting races of the summer sailing season.

Choppy conditions made sailing hard going in the 2025 Cock of the Bay Yacht Race / Photo by Michael Currie

Conditions were rough at the start of the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s (ORCV) 21 nautical mile race with a 1.5 metre swell and 18 knot south-south easterly breeze, causing the start Race Director Martin Vaughan to raise the Y flag, making life jackets mandatory for all sailors.

The Royal Brighton Yacht Club (RBYC) race start team was under pressure at the start of the race with lots of traffic looking for a boat-end start, including Matt Fahey’s Faster Forward, which backed itself but lost in their attempt to squeeze through the start line.

Phoenix 49, a Marten 49 (formally known as Carrera S), skippered by Brenton and Jen Carnell, was first to pass the RBYC mark, followed by Ken Christensen’s Hick 39, BKT Jamhu, Abi Abrahams’s Melges Ic37, Fargo, and Wicked, the Beneteau First 40 skippered by Mark and Mike Welsh.

Hot on the heels of Phoenix 49 was the IY60 Belle, skippered by Richard Taylor and Kylie Balharrie from the Sandringham Yacht Club, with both boats screaming down the shoreline in the challenging sailing conditions, with the fleet providing a sailing spectacle for onshore sailing fans.

Fargo, provisional line honours winner of the 2025 Cock of the Bay Yacht Race / Photo by Michael Currie

While the 2024 record was never under threat, racing was tight for line honours with the Melges 37 Fargo crossing the line just after 2pm, with only three minutes separating the top five boats.

Second across the line was BKT JAMHU followed by Moana, skippered by Mark Buckley, Stampede, skippered by Christopher Gendala, and Belle in fifth place.

BKT JAMHU, overall/provisional winner of the 2025 Cock of the Bay Yacht Race Winner / Photo by Michael Currie

But the 2025 Cock of the Bay Perpetual Trophy, awarded on AMS overall, belongs to BKT JAMHU (Just a Minor Hiccup), a Melbourne designed and built yacht raced by a bunch of friends that just love sailing together in this Boxing Day classic.

Shining Sea, third place overall in the 2025 Cock of the Bay Yacht Race / Photo by Michael Currie

In second place overall was Epigen Young Bears, a Young 88 skippered by Graeme Matthews while Shining Sea, a Sydney 38 skippered by Chris Jackson from the Mornington Yacht Club, finished in third place.

All results are provisional at time of writing.

For full results from the 2025 Cock of the Bay Yacht Race go to: https://www.orcv.org.au/results/2025-26/2025COB/series.htm?ty=25824 

The next race on the ORCV’s sailing calendar is the 2025 Melbourne to Hobart ‘Westcoaster’ Yacht Race, which gets underway at 1:30 pm on Saturday, the 27th of December 2025.

To follow the fleet in the 2025 Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race, go to Blue Water Tracks via: https://race.bluewatertracks.com/2025-melbourne-hobart-westcoaster