Offshore sailor Stacey Jackson and double Olympic champion Matt Wearn have been named Female and Male Sailor of the Year at the 2026 Australian Sailing Awards in Sydney on Friday 30 October.

Around the world, non-stop

Jackson, from the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, was part of the first all-female crew to complete a non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation of the globe in pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy. The crew finished in 57 days, 21 hours and 20 minutes, making Jackson the fastest Australian to sail non-stop around the world, according to Australian Sailing. She won ahead of Jiang Lin, the first woman to skipper an overall winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart, and 2025 winner Zoe Thomson.

“It’s a huge achievement for me to finally win the award. I’ve been a finalist before, but to get the recognition for my offshore sailing, in particular competing in the Jules Verne Trophy, I’m hugely proud of it,” Jackson said.

Wearn’s fourth

Western Australian Wearn won the Male Sailor of the Year award for the fourth time after a dominant return to the ILCA 7, winning three Sailing Grand Slam events and his seventh Australian National Championship title.

“It’s been great getting back into the ILCA,” Wearn said. “Having eighteen months away from it after Paris gave me the perspective I needed to come back into the Olympic world.” He added that this year felt different: “2024 was great with that performance at the Games, but it was four major regatta wins this year which is something I hadn’t done before.”

His coach, Rafa Trujillo, was named Coach of the Year for the third year in a row.

The other winners

  • Team of the Year: Kairos Racing (CYCA), after its skipper became the youngest winner of the Congressional Cup match-racing event.
  • Para Sailor of the Year: Genevieve Wickham (Royal Perth Yacht Club), her second win.
  • Noakes Group Youth Sailors of the Year: Rory Meehan, and Mia Austin and Zara Marks, the first winners of the new male and female categories.
  • Club of the Year: Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, the first back-to-back Category A winner, and Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club in Category B after a 30% rise in membership.
  • Volunteer of the Year: Emma Hooper (Sandy Bay Sailing Club).

Rio 2016 Laser gold medallist Tom Burton was inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame, alongside David Kellett, Dr Lyndall Patterson (née Coxon) and Walter Reeks.

With Wearn now building towards LA2028, attention on the water turns to the summer, and the Rolex Sydney Hobart start on Boxing Day.

Sources: Australian Sailing, “Jackson and Wearn take top honours at 2026 Australian Sailing Awards” (30 October 2026); Australian Sailing Team release via Sail-World (2 November 2026).