Some Sunshine, A Sou’wester and Sirene: The 2026 Fremantle Harbour Classic

What a great event! The sun came out, the Fremantle Doctor did its thing, and the Harbour Master closed the harbour for this year’s Fremantle Harbour Classic Yacht Race.

20 boats from sailing clubs around Perth were invited to race, 19 rocked up on the day. Gage Roads Brewery and the A Shed Wharf were heaving with yachties and spectators. Dr Ed Fethers and Laurie Flynn provided brilliant race commentary, keeping everyone up to speed on what was unfolding.

A loud boom – the start gun – and the race had begun. The start and first leg were downwind (spinnaker, wind behind you leg). The fleet raced three laps of the course. After a spinnaker start, the boats ran (downwind) to the new bridge, then beat (tacked into the wind) back up to a mark near the harbour mouth. The finish was also a spinnaker run, so spectators saw some snappy spinnaker hoists and drops along with wineglasses (kite twisted) and other spinnaker foul ups (tangled around forestays etc).

On the upwind leg, there were lots of close port-and-starboard calls, tight tacking and not getting too close to the Crown Princess cruise ship or other vessels in the harbour. This was a ‘pursuit race’, the slowest boat started first – so by the second lap, the field was beginning to narrow and, by the third lap, it was tiny and large yachts converged on the top and last rounding bouy.

Then a spinnaker race for the finish line – a three-boat, neck-and-neck battle. After the finish, a man went overboard, two boats collided and became entangled. All in a day’s racing.

Sirene was declared the winner of this year’s Fremantle Harbour Classic, after a spirited afternoon of racing in the Inner Harbour.

2UP finished second and Joss third. Farrlap was disqualified after a protest against her was upheld.

The sun shone and the wind blew, making for a fantastic event.

Detailed results are available on the FSC online page.

*Story and pics by Jean Hudson. Jean is our Shipping and Sailing Correspondent and also a regular feature writer, reviewer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may also like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.

~ If you’d like to COMMENT on this or any of our stories, don’t hesitate to email our Editor.

~ WHILE YOU’RE HERE –