Albany 2026: Fleet set for Fremantle to Albany yacht race as prestigious event returns for bicentenary

The Fremantle to Albany yacht race will return to the Great Southern this weekend, with the fleet setting out from Fremantle on Friday morning, and set to face strong winds in their run down the coast. The prestigious race is back on the calendar after a six-year break, with the last race run in 2019 and won by Ian Clyne with Joss. The race covers 300 nautical miles along the WA coast and is part of Albany’s 2026 bicentenary commemorations. The starting gun will go off in Fremantle at 10am on Friday, and crews are then faced with a gruelling 48-hour challenge to get around the twin Capes of Naturaliste and Leeuwin, and then the final leg of the Southern Ocean to Albany. This year, there is an extra incentive for crews to give it their all, with race record holder Ken Court putting up a $10,000 prize for any crew that breaks his record of 37 hours and one minute. Court, who also owns Great Southern Lime, one of the event’s major sponsors, set the record with the yacht Second Term in 1993, and winning crews in subsequent years have not even come close. Albany Maritime Foundation’s John Gaunt won the race with Bird on a Wire in 1992, and said earlier in the week conditions were looking perfect for Court’s record to fall. “What they need is that window of weather that is going to push them for those fast times,” he said. “It was looking favourable, but now the window is looking a bit late, so I think they will have a slow start to the race, but they should finish faster once they round Cape Leeuwin.” Gaunt explained that crews will be hoping for strong westerly winds once they get around Cape Leeuwin and into the Southern Ocean, which will propel them much faster towards the finish line at Albany. However, Gaunt said there was still a chance for winds to change, and said the record could always be broken. The Albany Maritime Foundation will be the sailors’ friends in Albany, setting up a welcome committee for the finishing yachts as they come into the Albany marina and operating a 24-hour kitchen from the AMF boat shed for hungry crew members getting off their boats after more than 36 hours on the water. The boats are expected in at the earliest on Saturday afternoon, and the fleet will continue coming into port into the night, and through to Sunday morning, with presentations held on Tuesday evening at Wilson’s Brewing Co. on Stirling Terrace.