By Col Ramsay
The St Helena Cup is an action packed “Teams Yachting Event” that has been held on the waters of Waterloo and Moreton Bay in October for more than 45 years. The event is managed and run by the Wynnum Manly Sailing Club (WMSC), with the support of the Wynnum Manly Yacht Club and the Wynnum Manly Yacht Club Marina.
It is a two-day event, run on a wine glass-shaped course of approximately 20 nautical miles, and has a section of the course reversed on day two. Teams of three yachts compete for the prestigious trophy, with competitors coming from many parts of Australia.
The actual trophy has a long history, with its origin going back to the late 1800s when it was a shooting trophy contested between the “Brisbane Guard” and the “St Helena Prison Guards” of St Helena Island. The wonderful trophy was originally presented for the event by the late Mick Patterson, who was a member of WMYC.
In the early years of the event, as few as three teams contested the event. It grew steadily with the mighty effort of the organising volunteers. In 2021, with perfect weather for this Southeast Queensland iconic yacht race, around 100 yachts participated in the event. The organisers hope to increase participation to previous highs, where 161 yachts were registered for the events.
This year, the 2022 St Helena Cup is on the weekend of 8-9 October. The WMSC invites boats from other clubs to participate. To enter, boats need to have an existing handicap in one or more of the following divisions: PHS, IRC or AMS.
Entry is online via the WMSC website. Entry fees for 2022 will be announced on the website.
This is a wonderful event for local boat crews, full details will be provided in the Notice of Race, which will be published approximately a month prior to the event on the WMSC website:
www.revolutionise.com.au/wmsc/events/
Published in print July-September 2022
