Victorian Championship Regatta
March 8-10, 2025 at Port Melbourne Yacht Club
Results are HERE
Notice of Race is HERE
Link to regatta entry is HERE
Or use the QR code.
Link to Pacer Association Membership is HERE
Or use the QR code:
Pacer Victoria Annual General Meeting:
Pacer Association members are invited to join the Annual General Meeting, to be held at 6pm at Port Melbourne Yacht Club, 38 Beach St, Port Melbourne VIC 3207. Please join the AGM to have your voice heard in relation to the association, events and association activities.
The Pacer Pursuit is a high performance version of the traditional Pacer developed by long time Pacer Builder Jim French in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia with 400mm extra on the mast, new larger fully battened mainsail, new larger jib, new larger asymmetric spinnaker and trapeze using the same Pacer hull. It is the intention for the Pacer Pursuit to be developed as a completely new and separate class alongside the traditional Pacer Class. This will allow the traditional Pacer to remain in its long established current format.
We asked Jim French to tell us about how he developed the Pacer Pursuit.
After sailing Pacers for many years, it became obvious to me that the class could do with a bit more sail to make sailing a bit more exciting. A lot of people were leaving Pacers because of this, and the class has taken on a training boat image in some areas. The pacer hull is a really good design, it is really stable and can easily take a lot more sail.
As the Pursuit was already a class in the 70`s (a not very successful boat) I thought it was time to re-visit the concept and modernise it. The single luff kites of the skiffs are so much more modern than the old balloon spinnakers, much faster and much easier to handle. Mylar fully batterned main and jib were the way to go.
I first thought, to make the boat successful I should make it affordable, so I tried to do a rig using the same mast as the Pacer, gaining the extra area needed from a big roach on the main, and the biggest jib I could fit with the same sheeting position. The mast needed spreaders and a different spin set up, but that was all. For the bowsprit I drilled a hole in the bow of the boat, and set up the retractable pole the same as the skiffs.
The boat worked brilliantly, especially off the wind, upwind it was just a little faster than a pacer. I sailed it for a few months, lending it to as many people as I could, their comments were noted , mostly the comment was that it should have a trapeze, so I added one.
I kept sailing the boat as often as I could and continued to lend it to as many that would try it. After the State Champs, I finally came to the conclusion through the feedback that it needed more sail to use the trapeze effectively and to be significantly faster than the pacer upwind.
A longer mast was the only option, so I made it 400mm longer, so people who didn`t want to buy a new mast could sleeve their old one. I ordered a new set of sails 400mm longer in the luffs and the kite longer in the foot as well to give it a bit more go off the wind.
The result is that the boat now is much faster than the Pacer upwind and amazingly quick downwind. It is really stable, especially off the wind, and is easy to sail, but not too much of a handful in a breeze.
McCrae Yacht Club, Victoria
More photos to come
The Pacer National regatta for the 2024 - 2025 season will be held at Largs Bay Sailing Club, South Australia, from 29th December 2024 to 4th January 2025.
Results are HERE
Notice of Race is HERE
Entry form is here: http://www.trybooking.com/CWKUL
Or use the QR code
Notice of Pacer Australia Annual General Meeting
Sunday, Dec 29, 2024, 6pm
Largs Bay Sailing Club
1 Foreshore, Lady Gowrie Dr., Largs Bay
YMCA Sailing Club, ACT
Robe Yacht Club, SA
Congratulations to Matthew and Freddie Otto, winners of the 2023/24 Pacer National Champtionship.
Results are HERE
McCrae Yacht Club
Photos by Steb Fisher Photography
More photos and prints available at http://steb.com.au/
Dear Sailing Centre Principal / Instructor,
After competing in Pacer events, non-spinnaker sailors were able to see that a Pacer, equipped with a spinnaker, is transformed into an exhilarating and competitive racing boat.
Close and exciting competition is the result!
Several enquiries on “how to make the transition to a fully-fledged racing dinghy”, has led us to this:
The Pacer Association is seeking expressions of interest from Clubs / Training Centres / individuals who wish to participate in a demonstration of spinnaker rigging and operation.
Interested?
This would simply be an on-the-beach session followed by questions and answers.
It is anticipated that this could occur during mornings at the beginning of the next sailing season and can be scheduled so as not to disrupt racing or sailing programs.
Perhaps interested parties could be grouped locally into a combined session.
There will be no charge.
If you believe this will be of value, please email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
to register your interest. A short message will be enough.
Pacer Association
Tanilba Bay Sailing Club.
Metung Yacht Club
Pacer Victorian State Titles 2023 - Mordialloc Sailing Club - March 11th - 13th
Congratulations to Paul & Emma Taig, the 2023 Victorian Champions!
Kangaroo Island Yacht Club
Pacer National Championship Regatta 2022-23, Altona Yacht Club, Melbourne, Dec 28th to Jan 3rd
Update: Congratulations to Paul Taig, Emma Taig and Steve Cui, the 2022/23 Australian Champions
The Pacer National Championship Regatta 22 ~ 23 has been confirmed! The event will be sailed at Altona Yacht Club at the top of Port Phillip Bay and will begin on the 28th December.
We anticipate great sailing conditions at the northern end of the bay and good representation from Altona and the surrounding clubs.
Regatta documents are here:
More information is available on the Altona Yacht Club Page here:
https://www.altonayachtclub.org.au/sailing/pacer-nationals/
Shortcut to the entry form is here:
https://www.trybooking.com/CCZQF
McCrae Yacht Club
The Pacer association supports the following regattas:
Altona Autumn Series. Visit https://www.altonayachtclub.org.au
Albert Park YC Winter Series. Visit https://www.apyc.org.au/