ASBA Traveller Series

Australian Sports Boat Association Launches Touring Trophy Series 
The Australian Sports Boat Association (ASBA) has announced a dynamic new initiative to enhance 
participation and connectivity within the sports boat community – the ASBA Touring Trophy series. 
This announcement follows the ASBA’s recent AGM held on April 9, where members elected a new 
committee with a clear vision to grow the class and broaden national engagement. The 2025/2026 
committee comprises: 
• President – Jamie Berndt 
• Vice President – Malcom Dean 
• Queensland Representative – Andrew 
Wiklund 
• NSW Representative – Paul O’Rourke 
• SA/VIC Representative – Brian 
Partridge 
The new leadership team brings experience, enthusiasm, and a strong focus on inclusivity and 
planning. Their aim is to make it easier for owners and crews to participate in key regattas across 
Australia by coordinating a well-structured calendar of events with ample notice, to support this new 
event calendar which has been created to best capture the movements of boats on the eastern 
regattas of Australia. “We have identified that there may be some WA, TAS and SA boats moving 
through the eastern states this sailing season and we want to provide the best possible calendar to 
suit their movements” as spoken at one of the committee meetings.  
As a new committee, we are keen to grow participation in Sports Boats across all of Australia and as 
membership grows, we are more than happy to investigate the possibility of extending the calendar 
further to cater for events on the western and southern coasts. 
We believe a well-planned calendar with plenty of notice will make it easier for owners and crew to 
schedule club sailing, with the classic regattas and ASBA title events. 
“ASBA is a great class with exciting sailing, affordable boats, good spectator viewing, younger 
demographic and has mobility – which all gives the class a lot of potential” - incoming President 
Jamie Berndt said. 
The Association is going to group a few events together to encourage interstate travel and support 
for events. This will be the foundation of the ASBA Touring Trophy’s - recognising and rewarding 
those that commit to multiple events. The first will be the Northern Zone ASBA Touring Trophy with 
Airlie Beach Race week, the Queensland State Titles in Brisbane hosted by Wynnum Manly Sailing 
Club, and Sail Paradise, on the Gold Coast, 
scheduled within weeks of each other. It is 
hoped this will encourage NSW, VIC and SA 
boats to make the drive, leave the boat and 
then return a few weeks later for the next 
event. 
“Airlie Beach Race Week will be the ideal 
launch event for this touring concept. It 
attracts a great fleet from far and wide with 
plenty of social activities to discuss the idea” - said Class President Jamie Berndt   
The second part ASBA Touring Trophy will be the Southern Zone with a combination of Sydney 
Harbour Regatta, NSW State titles at Lake Macquarie and Sail Port Stephens scheduled from 7 March 
to 25 April. There will be boat storage organised between the three events. Again, the hope is QLD, 
VIC and SA will make the trip for three great events.  
“Importantly each event will be support by a great off water program – an essential ingredient of 
Sport Boat sailing” – Vice President Malcom Dean added. 
The Touring Trophy results will be combined to award the inaugural Australian Touring trophy at the 
last event, Sail Port Stephens but each event will contain per event prizes supplied by the ASBA. 
Results will consist on both CBH and ASBA LTP systems for the best possible event outcome. 
2025/2026 ASBA Calendar 
Northern Zone 2025 
• Event 1:  Airlie Beach Race Week | Whitsundays Festival of Sailing | 7-14 August 2025
• Event 2:  QLD State Titles - Australian Sports Boat Association WMSC 6-7th September
• Event 3:  Sail Paradise - Australia's Spectacular Offshore Regatta SYC 4-6th October
Southern Zone 2026 
• Event 1: Sydney Harbour Regatta - Home , MHYC  7-8th of March
• Event 2: 21st- 22nd March, ASBA NSW State 
Titles, Lake Macquarie  
• Event 3: Sail Port Stephens , NCYC  24th- 26th of April
The committee are also committed to welcoming all 
designs of sports boats that meet the ASBA 
constitution to race with a tailored Long-Term 
Performance (LTP) handicap result for all events. The 
ASBA committee has been working with Sail Sys to 
redevelop the original concept on their platform. This 
has allowed the association to gain access to a wide 
range of results data of sports boats from across 
Australia. This allows boat owners that do not want to 
“chase a rating” or spend big $$ on their boats to 
have an opportunity to get out on the water and race competitively in a mixed fleet on a 
performance-based handicap. We also hope to welcome back boats that have not competed for 
several years or perhaps have not sailed in a sports boat fleet before. New skipper Peter Mansbridge, 
with his 30-year-old Elliot 770, had a ball at Sail Port Stephens in April – “it was great fun, and the 
other crews and club were a great support getting things sorted for my first regatta” – Peter 
Mansbridge  
The affordability and ease of transporting these fantastic boats to and from regattas makes it a great 
class to invest in. Also, with multiple designs to choose from you can get the best from all aspects of 
sailing, from the fast and furious big 8m range of boats down to the mid-range of 7m boats and some 
with cabins making them family and cruiser friendly down to the 6,5 to 6m range making the best 
bang for your buck and competitive racing. On the ASBA website www.asba.org.au there are plenty 
of 2nd hand boats for sale at some great 
prices to get you, friends and family out 
on the water for some fast and 
competitive racing. 
For further information: 
Contact Association President Jamie Berndt  
www.asba.org.au 
austsportsboats@gmail.com 
www.facebook.com/sportsboatsaus  
So, with these regattas, and the other 
bucket list regattas around Australia like 
Port Lincoln Race Week and Bay to Bay, 
let’s make it a year to remember of fast 
and fun racing in this “tick all the box” 
class and we will hopefully see you on the 
water in 2025/2026!