Yachting at BYRA

BYRA was founded on yacht racing - read about our rich history here! - and all things yachting remain a core focus of the club.

Related activities include our Tuesday Twilight yacht racing series, the annual Lion Island Race, and the opportunity to cruise in company with like-minded sailors.

Our point of difference is our relatively relaxed approach to yachting that creates a friendly and inclusive sailing environment, reflecting the family-oriented atmosphere inherent in our local community.

BYRA also has a penchant for all traditional craft – timber boats in particular - and these vessels are openly encouraged to participate.

Sylphene 11 

Tuesday Twilights

Each Tuesday evening during Summer daylight savings, we conduct Twilight races for yachts.

This is perfect for classic wooden boats, trailer sailors and cruising yachts who wish to join in low-key races from October through to April.

We even race for Perpetual trophies!

The format is a scratch start at 5.00 p.m. with handicaps available from the BYRA website, updated weekly by the handicapper.

To keep things simple, the course is the same every week and very straightforward:

• Start between the Woody Point pile and the Woody Point mark at your allocated time.
• Mark 1 - Round Stokes point mark to port
• Mark 2 - Round Soldiers Point mark (off the Basin) to port
• Mark 3 - Round Taylor’s point mark to starboard
• Finish at the starting line between Woody Point pile and Woody Point mark
• Report your finish time to BYRA

For more information, please click on the below links:

Event Dates

Notice of Race

Sailing Instructions

Race Reports from the 2023/24 Season
Report 1
Report 2
Report 3
Report 4 

Annual Lion Island Challenge Trophy - the main event!

The main yachting event of each season is the commemorative Lion Island Challenge Trophy.

This is held as close to BYRA's founding date of the 27th of November as feasible and remembers the founders of the club who raced round Lion Island in 1949.

The Start is always at noon on the waters in front of the clubhouse, with a briefing at 11 a.m. at the clubhouse.

Guest /visitor boats are welcome to participate.

For this year's event, please check out our events page.

Race Reports from previous seasons:

Race report Nov 2023

Last season's winner Jacana

Keelboat and
small yacht racing

BYRA also supports members who have small yachts and keelboats on the swing moorings, both off the clubhouse and around the bays, and who love to cruise Pittwater.

The club wants to encourage keelboat members, who are often dinghy participants, to meet for outings during the year. Albeit it is an excursion to the Hawkesbury area or a raft up somewhere, and of course, there is the Portuguese Beach Picnic outing in April.