Photo: Thomas Hodge

Australian Nationals 2026

Greg Wilcox 07.02.2026
It was just getting colder and colder. I had sold my OK and the plan for the new one was for it to be delivered in January to the Düsseldorf Boatshow where I would meet Simon from Synergy Marine and The Deaves. Was a solid plan until of course it wasn’t. Then the idea of a different type of break came to mind. A trip down under to a warmer place. Australia was calling.
The first thing required was a boat to use in Perth at the Australian Nationals. As there are not so many local OK sailors there, it needed to come from somewhere else. Most of the Australians who had done the worlds in Garda were going as the container stopped there on the way back. The Sydney guys sent a box from there just for the Nationals as well. Perth, if you don’t know, is rather a long way from anywhere else in Australia.
Luckily I have a few contacts. Glenn Williams organised a boat from Richard Furneaux. Mark Jackson picked the boat up and drove from Melbourne to Adelaide with it and another one. He dropped it off, stayed the night and then drove home. Fantastic effort.
I flew to Adelaide and basically went directly from the airport to the pub to meet most of the Adelaide OK fleet. Spent a nice day doing some coaching with the locals followed by a nice vineyard visit. It is after all South Australia and home of a lot of very good wine.
Two of the locals were taking an empty trailer to Perth to collect their boats from the Garda container so that quickly got filled with the two boats Mark had brought to Adelaide. We packed Brent and Glenns boats along with a few others on other trailers and got ready for a road trip.

I have always wanted to do the drive across the Nullarbor and now was the chance. We left at 6.00am and drove the first leg of around 1000km to the Nullarbor Roadhouse where we spent the first night. When you arrive there it is a bit like Tarantino movie. Trucks and a dingo and a motel in the middle of nowhere. The Nullarbor is more of an empty scrubland than a desert. There are signs all along the way about wildlife but the only things you see are a few dead Kangaroos and the odd dead snake. The idea is to not drive at night as then the animals all come out to play on the road. Something to do with condensation from the road providing water for them according to Ranger Brent. I couldn’t figure out why there were pedestrian crossings out there. Apparently they are markings for planes to use for landing as that is the fastest way to get crash victims out of there.

So after a few beers and a good nights sleep we again left early heading for the mining town of Kalgoorlie. This was a short 1090km drive with a stretch of 148km dead straight. The longest straight road anywhere.
There are a few really important things you need to do this trip. A good vehicle with excellent air-conditioning and cruise control. A fridge onboard and some entertaining company. Forget it otherwise.
Kalgoorlie is a mining town. We stayed in a nice old pub full of miners. We did joke that the beds are rented by the hour but luckily ours were cold when we checked in.
The final day was a short 600km. Top outside temperature was 43 degrees. We got to Freemantle just as the doctor arrived for the day. The club was very nice and cool inside but I have to say the beer was not cheap at $13 a pop.
We went for a practise sail on Saturday but spent most of the time on the boundary of the SailGP course right outside of the marina. Great view of them coming straight art us at 90kmh. Sunday we had tickets so went to watch the show from a slightly drier viewpoint. Being professional OK sailors we all got 4 beers each on the way to the seats which were directly on the finish line and front row. Thanks David Meehan! If you haven’t seen these machines up close it is well worth it. And in Perth it was amazing with the sun and waves and a lot of wind. Great day out.

Monday brought the first days racing. With 41 entries it was one of the biggest nationals for a while which was incredible given the distances people had to go to get there. A few like Taxi and I came from this side of the world. The two Kiwis, Mark Perrow and Simon Probert had less of a trip than Rik Thompson who took a week to drive from Brisbane. A few drove also from Melbourne and Sydney. Not really good for the planet but OK sailing calls.
We had a short delay the first two days waiting for the Dr to arrive but it did and it was worth it. Big waves and 18-22 knots. Fairly brutal bright sunshine as well. Wednesday was a layday so of course we found a really nice pub alongside the Swan River. Very relaxing and then we had a great BBQ back at the hacienda with Mark and Roger joining the Williams Bros and Duncan Lock and I. A few beers and nice wines later we were ready for the last 2 days.

Photo: Thomas Hodge

It was a bit like Groundhog Day with pretty much the same conditions apart from there was only one race a day due the wind getting over 25knts. We were combined with the 470 class and 505’s. When it got really windy the 505’s tended to tip over and break masts as it was quite shallow, part of the reason there was no second race as the rescue boats were busy. Not that anyone was complaint as one race was hard enough.

In the end Roger Blasse won his 13th Australian title and the rest of us survived, sort of. The day after was another nice warm Perth day so a few, around 20, of us went to a winery for a nice lunch. The winery was an event sponsor so it was a nice way to repay them.

Photo: Thomas Hodge

Then I flew out and back to -8 degrees and ice everywhere. It was a great trip and I highly recommend to anyone who needs a break to take the time and make the effort to go down under. The Aussies and Kiwi’s are always happy to organise a boat and a place to stay for any OK sailor.
I really have to thank Brent, Glenn and Duncan for the accommodation,the transport and the company. Mark Jackson for the effort of delivering the boat and Richard for the boat, Hopefully he will reattach the deck so it doesn’t fill up with water all the time. (Not my fault!) Also David Meehan for the last weekend and the tour around Perth.