Hood Sailmakers Australia

Good morning, and happy Monday to those who celebrate!
Today we are very pleased to talk up the efforts of skipper Peter White and his crew (including fearless leader and the Italian diver/seal) of the mighty Tp52_firstlight who won the IRC division at the TP52Aus Gold cup finale!
First Light have been working hard for a long time, and we are very excited to see their efforts beginning to pay off. They also scored a 2nd on TPR to finish the orange boats season off in style. The next major event for the team is Hamilton Island Race Week!
We also wish to congratulate Peter Farrugia and the Bullwinkle team on a very credible season in the Super 40 class with the Farr400. Bullwinkle took 1st Corinthian team, 4th on Super40 Handicap and 4th on ORC in a tough division. This team should be very proud of their efforts and how far they have come learning this new boat in such a short time.
Thank you to the organisers of the TP52aus Gold Cup, the Super40 team and Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass for all of your hard work behind the scenes this season. These great regattas wouldn’t happen without you!

All photos credit to Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass and Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club - RPAYC

Judel / Vrolijk & Co

Predictions for you today sailing fans!
The chances of Courageous and Fearless Leader Ben (herein known as CFL) , Director of Technology Toby (DOT), and executive Temu Consultant Luca (ETC) being tired and sore today are extremely high. Why is that?
Chances are they, and most of the crews who raced last weekend at the TP52Aus Gold cup and Super 40 series, are feeling more battered and bruised than anything else after a hard 3 days racing at Sail Port Stephens
The CFL and ETC were onboard with the good people of Tp52_firstlight, and the mighty DOT joined Bullwinkle 400.
So It's only natural you're wondering, who won the Hood race?
This author gives it to the DOT. A 4th place on Super 40’s is no mean feat, and we are all really pleased for the Bullwinkle Farr 400 team and excited to see what they can do in the future.
The mighty CFL and ETC had a great weekend with promising signs on board First Light and are hungry for more.
Highlights included a Line Honours in the Passage race and some great stoushes with the top end of the Gold Cup fleet which features some impressive crew lists and yachts. They unfortunately just missed the overall podiums in the end.

Congratulations to all of the competitors for what looked like a great weekend of racing, to the organisation for nailing it and the Tp52aus and Super 40 committees for all their hard work to make these events happen!

All photos credited to either Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass and the Sail Port Stephens Facebook. Videos onboard Bullwinkle from the Videographer extraordinaire Whitney.

Ciao sailing fans!
Today we are again celebrating places we wish we were sailing last week, or are going to sail soon if you are lucky enough.
Once again, we’re in the middle of Sail Port Stephens! The beautiful Nelson Bay north of Sydney, is home to the extremely popular Commodores Cup, which was successfully held last week.
How popular is the Commodores Cup?
Well, the average fleet size since 2022 is 115.4 yachts. That is seriously impressive in this day and age, and it's no surprise many of our customers make the pilgrimage north to this regatta every year for a great excuse to go sailing and enjoy the local hospitality in a beautiful place.
Hoods had our newest recruit Ella sailing on board the mighty Bullwinkle 400 this year, and she reported a great on and off the water.
We’d like to congratulate all of our valued clients and friends for their performances last week and look forward to hearing all of the stories of a great week of sailing!
Next up for the Port Stephens regatta is the IRC showdown, which also features the TP52Aus and Super 40 regattas. Hood’s staff members, including the Fearless leader, Director of Technology, and the Master of buying things off Temu and overseas holidays (Luca incase your wondering) competing onboard Tp52_firstlight, and Bullwinkle 400. Stand by for an update on how the fearless trio go upon the conclusion of that event!

Until next time
Buona navigazione!

Happy Monday sailing fans! And a special happy Monday to those competitors of the Middle Harbour Yacht Club Sydney Harbour regatta nursing bumps and bruises after a big weekend of racing!

The Sydney Harbour Regatta is a hugely popular annual event which sees a wide variety of yachts ranging from sports boats, to historical skiffs and IRC 52’s and the Super 40 class ripping around short course racing on the beautiful Sydney Harbour.
We are proud of all of our customers who competed, but today we are showing off our latest commissions for the powerful Judel / Vrolijk & Co PAC 52 First Light who took out the Open class racing division on IRC! We are very proud to make sails for this awesome yacht and excited to share the first impressions of the new additions to the wardrobe.
Fearless and brave leader Ben and his Ceo of Technical development Toby have been putting their heads together for some time now to develop a new mainsail and we are very proud of the result. Every aspect of this mainsail was carefully considered in the design and production process ranging from the angle of battens, to each individual carbon pass of the membrane. The dark art of Sailmaking is truly alive for any old-school sailmakers who may be reading this. We are very proud of our ability to design and manufacture sails for yachts of this calibre right at home in our Brookvale sail-loft, which makes tragic sailing nerds like the author of this post very happy.
Not only were we lucky enough to commission a new mainsail, a new A1.5 and A2 were also installed this weekend, both constructed from Contender Sailcloth to fire up the yachts performance ahead of the TP52Aus Gold Cup! Both spinnakers were signed off by the happy owner and crew, and the team are very excited to face off against the other 52’s and really see what they can do!

Photo credits
Bow Caddy Media , Middle Harbour Yacht Club , if anybody is missed please comment for credit!

It’s time to continue our post Rolex Sydney Hobart dedications and to talk up the “Happy Wanderers”, sailing onboard the mighty Corby 49 Vamp.
This crew needs no introduction, and most likely don’t want one either. However, it is important to note that this team represents the Wandering Warriors foundation and this campaign has raised vital funds to support current and past special forces service members and their families, For more on their work please see https://wanderingwarriors.org/.

Moreover, this boat and crew are an excellent example of what effective training methods and excellent organisational skills from the dedicated owners and boat captains can achieve in a very short space of time. This team meticulously plan all year, implement those plans and get things done, adapting where necessary and always achieving their goals.
We were very excited to commission a new J3.5, J4 and A5 for the 80th Hobart. The sails were designed to cop everything the crew could throw at them and we were very excited to see them charging hard in the heavy upwind conditions and hold on for a very respectable finish in tough conditions.
Congratulations Wanderers for another successful trip south!

Good morning and happy 2026 to you all!
It's the new year and with that its a great time to celebrate the achievements of our friends and clients who've recently completed the 80th Rolex Sydney Hobart !
Today we begin the series by shouting out our good mates onboard the Mondo Racing winners of the Sydney 38 Class Association and 2nd in IRC division 4.

Lisa, Steve and their team have been working away for many years now with this yacht, and we couldn't be happier for them all. Mondo represents a real community of sailors who compete year round out of Manly Yacht Club and more, regularly bringing junior sailors onboard to help the progression from dinghys to yachting in addition to sailing in charity events.

Congratulations to all onboard Mondo, we couldn't be happier for you!

Dimension-Polyant_aus


(please comment for photo credit and I will update accordingly)

Northshore 31 "Serendipity" looking fantastic on Wednesday night and charging to a win on the Spring pointscore at Greenwich Flying Squadron!

The team eased their sailmaking consultant 🫡 (yours truly) for the big race and brought in the real professional 👩‍⚕️(my better half) and now have provided a serious amount of banter in the household 😬.

Good work team 👏 💪

Happy Friday sailing fans!
Spring twilights are well underway in Sydney, and 3 of us found ourselves down at Middle Harbour Yacht Club last night for their popular Thursday night series.
Special mention to the many boats in Halloween costumes and Captain America and Caesar himself taking the rusty author sailing onboard "Impulse".

First up was the Director of technical developments (Toby) onboard Walter Carpenters' stunning Marten 67 "Caol Ila" to test the brand new J2 (badged Evolution Sails Sydney). The commissioning went beautifully, except for the lack of breeze!

Next up Nonna's favourite and our resident skiff sailor and Italian correspondent (Luca of course) joined "Freedom" to assess the new #1 Light headsail and enjoy a great night out.

Lastly, your faithful author was on board "Impulse" and, honestly, was lucky enough to enjoy a great night, albeit with a lack of wind!

Have a great weekend everyone we hope you get plenty of time on the water!