News Archive
Great Conditions for the 177th Australia Day Regatta
More than 43 years after her historic challenge for the America’s Cup at Newport, Rhode Island in the USA, the International 12-metre class yacht Gretel II today showed her class with a fine win in the 177th Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour.
Gretel II, the last 12-metre class yacht to be built of wood, challenged for the America’s Cup in 1970, losing 4-1 against the US defender Intrepid in a controversial series.
Today there was no challenge to her supremacy on Sydney Harbour as the beautifully restored Gretel II, skippered by Michael Maxwell, outsailed the Classic 1 Division fleet, getting the gun and also winning on corrected time from two other ‘metre’ style yachts, Antara (Ian Kortlang) and Defiance (Nicole Shrimpton and Gordon Hinds).
The 177th Australia Day Regatta was sailed in a freshening 15-20 knot nor’easter, gusting to 25 knots, providing ideal sailing conditions for the 90 starters in the traditional Harbour Regatta. The racing fleet ranged from the 101 year old Tasmanian One Design yacht Weene to state-of-the-art 18-foot skiffs and ocean racing yachts fresh from the Sydney Hobart.
The flagship HMAS Sydney once again underlined the Regatta’s association with the Navy that goes back to the earliest Australia Day (Anniversary Day) Regattas which commemorated the first settlement by Europeans in Sydney Cove. Commonwealth Private sponsored the Regatta for the tenth year and guests aboard included Defence Force chiefs, civic leaders, Commodores of yacht clubs, the Australian of the Year, the Senior Australian of the Year and the Young Australian of the Year.
The Regatta, as always, was the centrepiece of colourful Australia Day celebrations on and around Sydney Harbour, with a cruise ship at anchorage, a Tall Ships race and the famous Ferrython; overhead, the RAAF Hawks enthralled the many thousands who were on the Harbour or viewing from the many headlands.
A further 21 ocean racing yachts raced for the City of Sydney Cup in the short ocean race from the Harbour to Botany Bay and return, with victory going to Balance, skippered by Paul Clitheroe.
Balance won on corrected time from Laurence Freedman’s Expresso Forte and Richard Cawse’s Vanguard, which beat Bob Steel’s Quest for line honours by just seven seconds.
The Classic 2 Division saw another outright win, with the wishbone ketch Sana (David Mathlin) outpacing the 16 boat fleet to also take handicap honours from John Diacopoulos’ ‘couta boat, Yeromais V, and Tia Hia, helmed by James Bevis.
Australia Day Regatta president Charles Curran watched from aboard the flagship HMAS Sydney as his 60-foot yacht Sydneytook line and corrected time honours in Division 1, winning from Akela (Alan Mather) and Scarlett O’Hara (Robert Skol).
Division 2 went to Jedi (Sandra Entwistle) from Silky (Tony Hirst) and Ambitious (David Matthews) with the Folkboat, Dreamtime (Lyndsay Brown and Jim Littlefield) revelling in the fresh breeze to win Division 3 from Witchway II (Jeff Finnegan) and Vitamin Sea (David Coleman).
Sandra Entwistle had an Australia Day to celebrate and remember blasting around the harbour on their new J/70 Jedi in Division 2, revelling in the blustery 20 knot+ shifty conditions.
“There was plenty of harbour traffic, and chop, but we were still achieving high ‘teens boat speed on the downwind legs,” Sandra said after the race. “We were concerned before the start when we realised we were the smallest boat at 6.93m (22.7 ft) and racing against boats up to 38 feet with long beats in the course. However, she held her own upwind which is remarkable for a boat this size.
“From Obelisk mark the second time around with the next mark in Rose Bay, kite up and wooosh the J/70 exploded down the reach. The crew were elated at how easy this boat was to sail even at these crazy speeds,” Sandra added.
Only 16 seconds on corrected time separated Division 1 non-spinnaker fleet winner As You Do (Ross Littlewood) and Molly (Frank Hetherton) with line honours winner Margaret Rintoul V (Graeme Wilson) a close third on handicap.
John Conroy sailed his Adams 10, Star Ferry, to an outright win in the Division 2 non-spinnaker fleet, second place going to Flying Circus, third to Waimota (Peter Hamilton).
In the CYCA Ocean Pointscore results for the Botany Bay race, the IRC category went to AFR Midnight Rambler, skippered by Ed Psaltis, from About Time (Julian Farren-Price) and Imagination (Robin Hawthorn).
Under ORCi scoring, AFR Midnight Rambler also won, second place going to Balance, third to About Time. Balance won the Ocean Pointscore PHS category from Vanguard and Imagination.
Peter Campbell
26 January 2013
Gretel II to race in 177th Australia Day Regatta
One of the most famous yachts in Australian yachting history, Gretel II, heads a fleet of more than 160 yachts and skiffs entered for the 177th Australia Day Regatta to be sailed on Sydney Harbour and offshore on Saturday 26 January 2013.
The one-time challenger for the America’s Cup, when the contest was between classic 12-metre class yachts, has been fully restored and modernised by her current owner, Sydney yachtsman Mike Maxwell.
Gretel II will be unchallenged Queen of the Fleet when she contests the Classic Division 1 of the 177th Australia Day Regatta.
To quote author David Salter in a feature article in the official programme of the 177th Australia Day Regatta, Gretel II still retains “the powerful mystique of a genuine international classic racing yacht”, and will make “any true sailor’s heart miss a beat as she sweeps past in all her majesty.”
The Australia Day Regatta, proudly acclaimed as the oldest continuously-conducted annual sailing regatta in the world, has been held each year since 1837 to commemorate the anniversary of the first European settlement of Australia.
Originally known as the Anniversary Regatta, this colourful event is held on Sydney Harbour, where it began, and also at other locations in New South Wales and offshore.
In recent years some 700 vessels have taken part in the Australia Day Regatta, making it one of the highlights of the celebrations on Australia Day, 26 January each year. With this extension of the Regatta, boats taking part range from large ocean-racing yachts to 18 foot skiffs, both modern and historical, and radio controlled model yachts.
Gretel II’s competition in Classic Division 1 including former Sydney Hobart racing yachts Margaret Rintoul and Anitra V and Weene, a Tasmanian One Design class yacht built in Hobart more than a century ago.
Among the entries in Classic Division 2 are Ranger, skippered by octogenarian Bill Gale, and Solveig, owned by ABC television and radio presenter Angela Catterns and Charlie Chan.
Adding the nostalgia of the 177th Australia Day Regatta, sponsored for the tenth year by Commonwealth Private, will be a fleet or ten Historical Skiffs, exact replicas of the iconic Sydney 18-footers that raced early last century. They are named after famous skiffs of that era, such as Scot, Britannia, Australia IV and Yendys.
The 18ft Sailing League’s state-of-the-art 18-footers will also race during the 177th Australia Day Regatta for the Lord Mayor’s Cup.
Modern harbour racing keelboats will be racing in three spinnaker and two non-spinnaker divisions, starting from 1315 hours, while a fleet of ocean racing yachts will compete for the prestigious Sydney of Sydney Cup in race from the Harbour to Botany Bay and return.
Heading the ocean racing fleet will be Bob Steel’s TP52 Quest which placed third in IRC Division 1 of the recent Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race while Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Howard Piggott has entered his Beneteau 40, Flying Cloud.
Returning to Sydney Harbour the yachts will sail the same waters that Captain Phillip RN did when he headed north with his ships from Botany Bay on 26 January 1788 to land and establish the colonial settlement in Sydney Cove in Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) and thus found what today is the Commonwealth of Australia.
“In view of Australia’s early maritime history, our Regatta is of symbolic significance to the celebration of Australia Day,” Charles Curran AC, President of the 177th Australia Day Regatta, said today.
The 177th Regatta will start at 1100 with the short ocean race to Botany Bay and return, while on Sydney Harbour the Regatta racing will start at 1315 from a line to the east of the Flagship, HMAS Sydney.
Other Australia Day regattas will be staged during the afternoon on Botany Bay, Brisbane Waters, Lake Macquarie, Drummoyne, Greenwich, the Parramatta River, Manly and Pittwater for catamarans, off-the-beach dinghy classes and keelboats while radio controlled yachts will race on Chipping Norton Lakes.
Other Australia Day events on or around Sydney Harbour on Saturday will include the Great Aussie Swim, the famous Ferrython, a floating concert in Farm Cove, the spectacular RAAF fly-over, the Tall Ships Race, a Tiger Moth aerial display and finally, a twilight ceremony in Cockle Bay and the Darling Harbour Australia Day Spectacular.
From Peter Campbell, on behalf of the 177th Australia Day Regatta Management Committee
M: 0419 385 028
E: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
Sydney Hobart Legends Excel in 176th Australia Day Regatta
Two past line honours winners and an overall winner of the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Brindabella, Fidelis and Quest, excelled in their respective fleets of the 176th Australia Day Regatta as yachties celebrated the national day afloat on Sydney Harbour and sailing an historic stretch of ocean between Sydney and Botany Bay.
Back in 1788, the First Fleet sailed north from Botany Bay to Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish the Colony of New South Wales, and on 26 January 2012 a fleet of modern ocean racing yachts retraced that fleet’s coastal course in the Australia Day Regatta race for the City of Sydney Sesquicentenary Cup.
On Sydney Harbour, yachts old and new, small and large contested the traditional Australia Day Regatta, held continuously now for 176 years and as such, the oldest continuously-conducted sailing regatta in the world.
Bob Steel’s TP52 Quest, overall winner of the 2008 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, led the ocean race fleet home, fast reaching up the Harbour under her powerful Code 0 sail. Close astern of her came Brindabella, line honours winner of the ocean classic back in 1997,
On the Harbour, in the historic 176th Australia Day Regatta itself, the 1966 Sydney Hobart line honours winner Fidelis led home the fleet after a sail around fixed marks on what is traditionally a race enjoyed by family and friends as well as regular racing crews. Fidelis did sail a shorter course in the non-spinnaker divisions with fastest time in the spinnaker divisions going to Sydney, owned by 176th Australia Day Regatta President Charles Curran.
Helming Sydney on behalf of Curran, whose duties as President kept him busy as host aboard the Flagship, HMAS Sydney, was David Kellett, the treasurer of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).
However, neither of the big boats figured in corrected time results on a day of light easterly winds on the harbour and even lighter offshore. On the Harbour 84 keelboats and historical skiffs raced and all but a couple completed the course.
Early rain reduced the number of spectator craft, but the Sydney Harbour ferries again put on a spectacular Ferrython and four Tall Ships added nostalgia to what is the world’s oldest, continuously-conducted annual regatta. “A light easterly came in just as the first boats were ready to start and the sun shone brightly throughout a warm summer’s afternoon,” reported Australia Day Regatta management committee chairman John Jeremy.
“Three RAAF F-18s gave a wonderful display over the harbour, the Army’s Red Berets did a spectacular parachute jump into Farm Cove, while a Navy Seahawk provided a search-and-rescue display,” Jeremy said. “All in all, it was a wonderful day to celebrate Australia Day 2012.”
The Australia Day Regatta is always attracts a magnificent line-up of Classic Yachts, some a century old, and this year saw 27 old-timers compete in two divisions.
Fidelis, Nigel Stoke’s 60-footer which took line honours in the 1966 Sydney Hobart, sailed a splendid race to take line honours and third place on corrected time in Classic Yachts division 1. The winner was David Mandelberg’s Tanami, second place going to Ian Kortlang’s metre-style boat, Antara.
Division 2 went to Cherub, owned by Mark Pearse and Peter Scot, second to Antares (R Keesen & D Wood), third to Tamaris (Greg and Brian Sproule).
Spinnaker Division 1 saw a win for Philip Grove’s Huntress from Larki Missiris’ Wild One, with Charles Curran’s Sydney third. In Division 2, first place went to Hickup (Bill Ure) after a close duel around the course with Balmain Tiger (Brian Wood). Third place went to Allen Mather’s Akela.
Well-known Sydney Amateur Sailing Club member Herschel Smith won Division 3 with Shambles, second place going to Joka (Cec Williams) and third to the Yngling class yacht, Karma (Gary Wogas).
The non-spinnaker divisions are always strongly supported on Australia Day, with Division 1 going to One More – No More, skippered by Ian Guanaria, from Lahara II (Glenn Crane) and Nocturne (Gerard Kesby). In Division 2, Kaleula (Chris Warren) won corrected time from Slips (David Kinsey) and Mid Wicket (Stephen Churn).
It was a long, long day for some competitors, and certainly for the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s race team as they ran the Australia Day Regatta race to Botany Bay and return for the City of Sydney Sesquicentenary Cup. The race started from Sydney Harbour at 11am and the last of the 44 starters in all divisions crossed the finish line back in Rushcutters Bay at 7.49pm.
The City of Sydney Cup is decided on PHS results with the Cup going to AFR Midnight Rambler, Ed Psaltis’ Ker 40. Runner-up was Paul Clitheroe’s Balance, third Stephen Thomas’ Blackadder. Of the 24 starters in the City of Sydney Cup, seven boat did not finish.
The City of Sydney Cup was run in conjunction with the CYCA’s Grant Thornton Short Ocean Pointcore and while most boats in the Australia Day event also are contesting the SOPS, results in this series also include IRC scoring in two divisions.
Under IRC scoring for the SOPS, AFR Midnight Rambler won Division 1 from Quest and Balance, while Out of Sight (Mike Wilkinson) was the only finisher in Division 2 IRC. Top three PHS results for the Grant Thornton series were identical to the City of Sydney Cup results in Division 1. In PHS Division 2, Limelight (Alan Husband) won from Outlandish (Sean Barrett) and Alpha Carinae (Damian Barker).
Peter Campbell,
176th Australia Day Regatta management committee
M: 0419 385 028
E: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
Century of Yacht Design on show in 176th Australia Day Regatta
24 January 2012
This Thursday’s 176th Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour will be a showcase of more than a century of Australian yacht design and construction, as well as a near century of development by Sydney’s iconic 18-foot skiffs.
More than 140 sailing craft including state-of-the-art ocean racing yachts, harbour racing keelboats, classic yachts, many gaff-rigged, along with state-of-the-art modern 18-footers and replicas of the skiffs that raced on the harbour early last century, have entered the regatta with racing on the harbour and offshore.
The Australia Day Regatta is the oldest continuously-conducted sailing regatta in the world. First held in 1837 to celebrate the founding of the Colony of New South Wales, it has been held every year since, including through times of war, with Sydney Harbour today the centre of celebrations of Australia Day throughout the Commonwealth of Australia.
The Australia Day Regatta Inc management committee, headed by John Jeremy, organises the regatta, with three Sydney Harbour clubs whose own history dates back to the 19th century, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Sydney Flying Squadron and Sydney Amateur Sailing Club, still involved in the on-water conduct of the regatta. Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron this year is celebrating 150 years of conducting yacht racing on Sydney Harbour, the Sydney Flying Squadron began running skiff races in 1891, while ‘The Amateurs”, as it is fondly known, has officially existed since 1872.
The 2012 Regatta will comprise the traditional Sydney Harbour races, a short ocean race to Botany Bay and return, as well as keelboat and off-the-beach regattas on the Parramatta and Lane Cove Rivers, on Pittwater, Botany Bay, Lake Macquarie, and Lake Illawarra and at Port Hacking and Gosford, more than 600 boats are expected to take part in New South Wales.
There is also a link with another traditional regatta, the Australia Day Sandy Bay Regatta on the Hobart’s River Derwent, first held in 1849. Australia Day Regatta medallions will be presented to dinghy class winners at the Sandy Bay Regatta.
In a further connection to early sailing on the Derwent, among the entries in the Classic Yachts division of the 176th Australia Day Regatta is Weene, a Tasmanian One Design yacht launched in Hobart 101 years ago and still racing competitively.
Weene is the oldest boat among the fleet of more than 30 yachts in the Classics division, among the line-up being the 1966 Sydney Hobart winner Fidelis and other former ocean racers Anitra IV and Mister Christian.
The Classics also includes the gaff-rigged sloop Ranger whose octogenarian skipper Bill Gale has sailed in every Australia Day Regatta since he was a young lad.
At the modern end of yacht design are the recently launched, state-of-the-art ocean racers, Ed Psaltis’ Ker 40 AFR Midnight Rambler and Warwick Sherman’s Occasional Coarse Language, heading a fleet of nearly 30 boats entered for the City of Sydney Sesquicentenary Cup as part of the Grant Thornton Short Ocean Point Score. Among these and other yachts that contested the bluewater classic, the recent Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, is the Corby 49 Vamp, skippered by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia commodore Garry Linacre.
The SOPS fleet, together with another 26 boats entered for the Grant Thornton Short Haul Series, will set sail from Sydney Harbour at 11am, with the return leg retracing the short voyage of the First Fleet on from Botany Bay to Port Jackson on Australia Day 1788 to found the colony that was to become the Commonwealth of Australia.
Heading the 176th Australia Day Regatta fleet racing on the Harbour will be the 60-footer Sydney, owned by Regatta President Charles Curran, with the yacht being skippered by David Kellett, treasurer and executive member of the International Sailing Federation.
As President, Curran will be entertaining special guests aboard HMAS Sydney which, as Flagship, is maintaining the strong link between the Australia Day Regatta and the Australian Defence Forces, with the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Australia Army also participating in events in the air and ashore.
Racing on the Harbour for more than 80 keelboats, a dozen or so modern 18-footers and seven historic skiffs will start from a line near the flagship, with the warning signal at 1.15pm. Division 1 of the Classic Yachts will head off first on a course around fixed harbour marks. The finish line will be in a similar position near the Flagship.
Further information:
Peter Campbell, 176th Australia Day Regatta Management Committee
M: 0419 385 028
E: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
Charles Curran new President of Australia Day Regatta
Prominent Sydney businessman, community leader and yachtsman Charles Curran AC, LL.B, FCPA has taken over the helm from Sir James Hardy Kt OBE as President of the Australia Day Regatta. Sir James has retired after a long contribution to the Regatta and its development as the nation’s most significant event commemorating the foundation of our nation.
Charles Curran, who succeeds Sir James as President, is also a yachtsman who has been involved in the sport at a national and international level as a competitor. He has been a long-standing member of the Australia Day Regatta’s Advisory Council, making many important contributions to the Regatta’s format.
As a yachtsman, he has owned a number of yachts over the years, the most successful being the One Tonner Stormy Petrel. Charles chartered Stormy Petrel to another prominent Sydney yachtsman, Syd Fischer, for the One Ton Cup in New Zealand in 1971.
Stormy Petrel won the Cup and Charles subsequently sailed the boat in the 1975 One Ton Cup in Sydney.
For the past 13 seasons he has raced the Iain Murray-designed 60-footer Sydney, initially in offshore races which included a fourth over the line in the Sydney Hobart, but in recent years as the ‘gun boat’ in the RSYS’s Division 1.
Charles Curran, who has qualifications in law and accountancy, has had an extensive career in Australian business and public life.
He was Chairman of the Medical Benefits Fund of Australia, the Australian Wool Exchange, the Greater Union Organisation, Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited and Capital Television Group, which operated television stations in Canberra, Perth and Adelaide.
He is Chairman of the Capital Investment Group, an international advisor to Goldman Sachs and is a member of the Financial Sector Advisory Council reporting to the Treasurer.
He has been a stockbroker for 12 years and Vice Chairman of the Sydney Stock Exchange. In the community fields, he has been involved in many organisations, including the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, the Sydney Health Service, the National Gallery of Australia Foundation, the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children and the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme.
Charles was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1987 and elevated to Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2006.
Sea fog fails to dampen a great anniversary
27 January 2011
The 175th Australia Day Regatta, sailed into the nation’s history yesterday when more than 160 harbour racing yachts, classic yachts, ocean racers and modern and historical skiffs celebrated this remarkable yachting anniversary on Sydney Harbour.
The regatta is the world’s oldest, continuously-conducted annual sailing regatta, a celebration of the arrival in 1788 of the First Fleet to found the penal colony that eventually became the great Commonwealth of Australia.
The Regatta was the centrepiece of Australia Day celebrations on Sydney Harbour, with other aquatic, dockside and aerial events adding colour to the National Day. A feature ashore was the many citizenship functions.
The 175th Australia Day Regatta is also a totally organised by a band of volunteer yachtsman headed by the eminent international yachtsman Sir James Hardy as president and naval architect and yachtsman John Jeremy as chairman of the organising committee. The regatta is sponsored by Commonwealth Private Bank.
The fleet today included 49 mostly wooden yachts in the Classic Yachts division, many gaff-rigged and several built more than a century ago. Many crews dressed in period sailing gear and later rendezvoused at the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club to celebrate the regatta’s history.
Despite a morning sea fog that blanketed the city and suburbs and the harbour, the misty conditions cleared somewhat and a light east to north-easterly breeze cooled conditions and provided close racing around fixed marks.
On waterways along the New South Wales coast, Australia Day regattas were linked to the historic event on Sydney Harbour while ocean racing yachts sailed to Botany Bay and return, albeit slowly, covering the same course sailed by the First Fleet in 1788.
In Hobart, Australia’s second oldest seaport, yachts, dinghies and windsurfers competed in the Australia Day Green Island race and the Sandy Bay Regatta.
Another icon of Australian yachting, the 1970 and 1977 America’s Cup Challenger Gretel II took line honours in the 40 nautical mile Green Island Race, helmed by her 1977 skipper, 85-year-old Gordon Ingate.
On Sydney Harbour, a fleet of 49 yachts, mostly built of wood, many gaff-rigged and several more than a hundred years ago, contested the Classic Yacht division of the 175th Australia Day Regatta.
Winner of the 175th Australia Day Regatta Classic Yacht Race Trophy and the Australia Day Council Trophy was Antares (R Keeson and D Wood). The Centenary of Federation Gold Medal went to Reverie, owned by Nigel Berlyn and John Barclay.
Outside of the Classic Yacht division, the biggest line-ups were in the two non-spinnaker divisions, reflecting the family fun aspect of the regatta.
Division 1 non-spinnaker saw Peter Davenport’s Arcturus II win from Molly (Frank Hetherton) and Willyama (R Barron/S Sanlorenzo/Trish Stanley). Division 2 non-spinnaker went the former Yachting NSW president Lyndsay Brown and Jim Nettlefold with their Folkboat Dreamtime. Second place went to Intrepid (Gary Ferres), third to Primary Wave (Ronald Montague) which also took line honours.
Division 1 saw a win by Barracuda (Greg Nolan) from Akela (Alan Mather) and Scarlett O’Hara (Robert Skol) while in Division 2, line and handicap honours went to Balmain Tiger (Neil Hamilton & Brian Wood) from Senta (Terry & Julie Clarke) and Brittania (Glen Ilic).
In Division 3, Gingerbread Man (Doug Russell) won to the double of line and handicap honours from The Holy Gale (Paul Harris) and Antares (Costa Rozakis & Anthony Tyson). Winner of the International Ynglings was Hamish Jarrett’s Miss Pibb from Karma (Gary Wogas) and Black Adder (Gary Pearce).
Only four Historical Skiffs turned out with Tangalooma (Peter Le Grove) winning from Australia IV (Eric Priestley) and Australia (Chris Haskard).
The Botany Bay race, conducted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, was a slow race, with headwinds heading south and fickle breezes on the return leg, with some yacht not finish until 1900 hours, after more than eight hours at sea on a hot, humid and misty day.
Line honours went to Jim Cooney’s famous conventional maxi, Brindabella, giving her the Geoff Lee Trophy, while the City of Sydney Sesquicentenary Trophy went to Rod Wills X43 Great Expectations.
In the PHS division which decided the City of Sydney Trophy, Great Expectations took just under seven hours to sail the course, winning on corrected time from LIsdillon (Desmond Fagan) third to Solahart-Rum Jungle (Scott Russell).
From Peter Campbell
M: 0419 385 028
E: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
Huge fleet of classic yachts turning out for 175th Regatta
More than 50 classic wooden yachts, many gaff-rigged, and several built more than a century ago, will grace the waters of Sydney Harbour to commemorate the 175th Australia Day Regatta tomorrow, Wednesday 26 January 2011.
The Australia Day Regatta, proudly acclaimed as the oldest continuously-conducted annual sailing regatta in the world, has been held each year since 1837 to commemorate the anniversary of the first European settlement of Australia.
Originally known as the Anniversary Regatta, this colourful event is held on Sydney Harbour, where it began, and also at other coastal waterways in New South Wales. There is also a traditional offshore yacht race from Sydney Harbour to Botany Bay and return, sailing almost the same course as the First Fleet in January 1788 when Governor Phillip moved his ships from Botany Bay to Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour).
This year there will also be a link to Australia Day events in Hobart, the 164th Sandy Bay Regatta and the long distance Green Island Race.
Boats taking part in the 175th Australia Day Regatta will range from one-design and harbour racing yachts and 18-foot skiffs through to large ocean racers and radio controlled model yachts.
The Classic Yachts will race in a special division to mark the 175th anniversary, starting and finishing near the Flagship HMAS Ballarat. As they finish they will pass astern of the Flagship then sail up the Harbour and around Fort Dennison before heading to the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club in Mosman Bay for a huge raft-up and prizegiving,
Among the entries for the Classic Yachts division are several wooden, gaff-rigged yachts built more than a century ago, but lovingly restored by their current owners, the ‘custodians’ of these graceful sailing craft of yester year.
The 27-foot gaff-rigged yawl Killala is one, beautifully restored by shipwright Ian Thomas. Built in the mid 1890s, she will be skippered in the 175th Australia Day Regatta by Hugh Treharne, the tactician on Australia II in her America’s Cup victory at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1983.
Also competing will be Weene, originally a Tasmanian One Design class yacht which celebrated her centenary last October. Owner Ben Stoner, an antique restorer, still has her on the register of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and her sail number is RYCT 1, although she now races with the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club.
Several old metre-style yachts have entered, including Sydney Hobart Race winner Neville Crichton’s Plym, which carries the sail number US20, political commentator Ian Kortlang’s Antara, and Les Goodridge’s famous 8-metre class racer Erica J.
Former Sydney Hobart racers, now retired to smoother waters, have also entered the Classic Yachts division, including Nigel Stoke’s Fidelis, Philip Brown’s Anitra IV, David Salter’s Mister Christian and Maris, owned by Clean Up Australia founder Ian Kiernan.
Not only are the yachts of classic age. Bill Gale, now well into his eighties, again will be at the helm of his famous gaff-rigger Ranger, which he has helmed or crewed for the past 65 years. Ranger carries the SASC sail number A1 and will head a small fleet of younger Ranger class yacht competing in the Classic Yacht division.
The 175th Australia Day Regatta will start from near the Flagship at 1.15pm with the warning signal for Division 1 boats. Division starts will continue until 1.50pm when the Classic Yachts will begin their handicap start – with the ultimate hope of a spectacularly close finish back near HMAS Ballarat.
The colourful and over-canvassed Historical Skiffs, wooden replicas of 18-foot skiffs that raced on the Harbour early last century, will start with the main fleet, but the modern, high-tech18-footers will race on their own traditional courses around the Harbour.
Media information: Peter Campbell
M: 0419 385 028 E: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
Century-old Weene to sail in 175th Australia Day Regatta
4 January 2011
One Australia’s oldest yachts still actively racing, Weene, will compete in the historic 175th Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour on 26 January 2011.
She will be among a large fleet of wooden yachts, many gaff-rigged, which will contest a special Classic Yachts division to mark the 175th Australia Day Regatta, the world’s oldest continuously conducted sailing regatta.
Weene was the first of seven Tasmanian One Design classs yachts built in Hobart to a US design published in The Rudder magazine of February 1902 and modified by Tasmanian yacht designer Alf Blore to suit local Tasmanian boatbuilding methods and sailing conditions. All seven boats still exist.
Owned and raced successfully by the wellknown Batt family in Hobart for some 52 years, Weene reached 100 years of age in October last year.
The highly successful and beautiful classic wooden yacht was inducted into the Australian Register of Historic Vessels at the annual Classic and Wooden Boat Festival at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Current owner, Sydney Amateur Sailing Club member and antique restorer Ben Stoner, regular competes in the SASC Classic Yachts division and regattas on Sydney Harbour.
Weene is still on the register of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania as well as the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club and carries the sail number RYCT 1 in place of her original sail number of A1 in deference to the famous ‘Amateur’s’ yacht Ranger which also has A1 as its sail number.
Ranger, skippered by octogenarian Bill Gale, will be among a large fleet of Ranger-class yachts also competing in the Classic Yachts division of the Australia Day Regatta.
During her ownership in Hobart by the Batt family, Weene was ‘perhaps the best known boat on the Derwent’ according to contemporary reports. Among her wins were the Lipton Cup, the North v South Cup, the John Colvin Cup and the historic Bruny Island Race, twice.
Weene and her younger sistership Gannet, now owned by Martin Cox who plans to bring this boat back to Hobart this year, were showpieces at the Classic and Wood Festival, berthed alongside each other.
The Classic Yachts division will sail a special course on the Harbour an Australia Day with a post-race gathering of the fleet at the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club in Mosman Bay.
From Peter Campbell
M: 0419 385 028 E: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
Hobart link to 175th Australia Day Regatta
28 November 2010
Sydney and Hobart are Australia’s two oldest seaports, and it is therefore not surprising that the early sailing and rowing enthusiasts of these two ports organised the nation’s first regattas back in the early 1800s.
The Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour on 26 January 2011 will celebrate 175 years of unbroken tradition since 1837. It is the world’s oldest, continuously-held sailing regatta.
On 26 January 2011, the Sandy Bay Australia Day Regatta will mark 162 years since the first Sandy Bay Regatta was held on the River Derwent. Of course, the first Royal Hobart Regatta was held in 1838 and is still a public holiday in February each year.
The 175th Australia Day Regatta and the Sandy Bay Regatta will be linked for the first time next January, with 175th Australia Day Regatta management committee member and yachting journalist Peter Campbell announcing yesterday that commemorative medallions will be presented to the winners of sailing races at the Sandy Bay Australia Day Regatta.
In addition, a special trophy and medallions will be presented for the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s Australia Day Green Island Race.
Campbell said the fleet of yachts in the Green Island Race would add to the colour of the Sandy Bay Regatta by starting from a line off Long Beach before sailing down the Derwent.
Hobart’s Lord Mayor, Rob Valentine, launched the 2011 Sandy Bay Australia Day Regatta on the expansive recreation area at Long Beach, recalling that the first Sandy Bay Regatta was held in 1849 at Lumley’s Point, coincidently now the site of the regatta’s major sponsors, Wrest Point.
“The Sandy Bay Regatta is very much a family, a community event,” the Lord Mayor said.
International Cadet dinghies from the Sandy Bay Sailing Club helped launch the regatta with a sail past and the regatta organisers hope to attract Cadets, Lasers, 420s, Sabots and Optimist dinghy classes racing on Australia Day. In addition to the RYCT’s Green Island Race, other yachts are being invited to compete in river races.
Ashore, guests were entertained by a fashion parade by young women representing various fashion stores in the Sandy Bay precinct of the City of Hobart in a lead-up to the traditional ‘Miss Sandy Bay Regatta’ parade on Australia Day 2011.
While the 175th Australia Day Regatta has always been primarily a sailing event, with races on Sydney Harbour and offshore to Botany Bay and return, the Sandy Bay Regatta on Australia Day is very much a community event, including many family activities ashore as well as sailing, canoeing and rowing events on the river.
A special commemorative program edited by Peter Campbell and including historic articles about the 175th Australia Day Regatta, sponsored by the Commonwealth Private, has been published is available from major yacht clubs in Sydney and at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania in Hobart.
From Peter Campbell
Mobile: 0419 385 028
Email: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
Nerida to lead Classic Yachts Sail Past on Australia Day 2011
29 October 2010
One of Australia’s best known classic yachts, the gaff-rigged cutter Nerida, will lead a Sail Past of Classic Yachts after competing in the 175th Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour.
The historic 175th Regatta on 26 January 2011 will be marked by a rally of classic wooden yachts, some a century old, competing in a special trophy race, followed by a colourful sail past of the Flagship, HMAS Ballarat.
Nerida is owned by the President of the 175th Australia Day Regatta, the eminent international yachtsman Sir James Hardy Kt OBE, an America’s Cup, Admiral’s Cup, Olympic and World champion sailor. This will be his last regatta in the role of President.
Nerida was built by Sir James’ late father, the South Australian winemaker Thomas Hardy who died in a plane crash just before World War II. After his death the yacht was sold to another South Australian yachtsman, Colin Haselgrove who converted her to a Bermudan rig and in 1950 – 60 years ago this December – skippered the 45-footer to an overall win in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
The Hardy family subsequently bought back Nerida and changed her back to her original gaff cutter rig. Sir James regularly sails her on Sydney Harbour.
Nerida will be joined in the Classic Yachts division and Sail Past at the 175th Australia Day Regatta by the line honours winner of the 1950 Sydney Hobart, the yawl Margaret Rintoul, now owned by 175th Australia Day Regatta management committee member Bruce Gould, who himself has competed in 40 Sydney Hobarts.
The Classic Yachts division race and Sail Past will provide a nostalgic touch to the 175th celebrations of the world’s oldest, continuously conducted sailing regatta that began in 1837 when a small fleet of gaff-rigged cutters and sloops raced over similar courses on beautiful Sydney Harbour.
Further media information: Peter Campbell
M: 0419 385 028 E: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
THOUSANDS TO CELEBRATE AUSTRALIA DAY AFLOAT
Thousands of Australians will celebrate Australia Day afloat next Tuesday 26 January 2010, including more than one thousand skippers and crew competing in the 174th Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour and in the traditional short ocean race from the Harbour to Botany Bay and return.
At least another thousand or so sailors will compete in regattas marking Australia Day organised by clubs on Pittwater, Brisbane Waters, Lake Macquarie, Botany Bay and Lake Illawarra and inland on Chipping Norton Lakes.
The 174th Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour is the oldest continuously- held sailing regatta in the world and is again sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank through Commonwealth Private. First conducted as the Anniversary Regatta in 1837, only 49 years after the First Fleet sailed into Port Jackson and raised the Union Jack on the shores of Farm Cove, the regatta today is still the focal point of Australia Day celebrations in Sydney.
“What better place to celebrate European arrival than the beautiful Harbour, ever mindful and grateful to those already there who kept it in such pristine order for us to enjoy,” says Regatta President, the eminent Australian yachtsman Sir James Hardy Kt OBE.
Entries have closed with the Sailing Office at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, with regatta organisers expecting more than 140 yachts and skiffs to compete in the historic Sydney Harbour event and in the short ocean race to Botany Bay and return.
The Australia Day Regatta will be sailed on the harbour from 1.30pm on Australia, next Tuesday, 26 January while the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s ocean race will start at 11am with the fleet heading down the coast to Botany Bay. The return leg is over the same coastal waters sailed by the First Fleet when, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip RN, the ships moved from Botany Bay to Port Jackson and founded what is now the great City of Sydney.
The early days of sailing on Sydney Harbour will be a feature of the harbour regatta with up to 30 original or replica ‘old-timers’ taking part in the Gaff-Riggers, Classic Yachts and Historical Skiffs divisions.
Among entries for the classic yacht division are 1966 Sydney Hobart Race line honours winner Fidelis, now owned by Nigel Stoke, and the 8-metre class yacht Erica J, owned by Les Goodridge. Erica J last year celebrated her 60th anniversary and a career that included winning the coveted Sayonara Cup for Tasmania in 1953.
The gaff-riggers division is headed by the famous Ranger, with octogenarian skipper Bill Gale again at the helm and proudly carrying the sail number A1 of the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club.
The nine Historical Skiffs are all replicas of the spectacular gaff-rigged 18-footers that raced on Sydney Harbour a century ago, many helmed by modern-day skiff champions including John Winning (Australia IV) and Michael Chapman (Yendys). Built to the original plans, these icons of Sydney Harbour carry colour emblems rather than sail numbers on their massive mainsails.
The Historical Skiffs, all built of wood, will be joined in the 174th Australia Day Regatta by modern day 18-footers, built of carbon fibre, in celebrating the National Day afloat.
The Botany Bay race is part of the Ocean Point Score, the Grant Thornton Short Ocean Point Score, with the Grant Thornton Short Haul (non-spinnaker) fleet also joining the race this year. The race always attracts casual entries, competing for the City of Sydney Sesquicentennial Cup for the first boat overall on Performance handicaps.
Biggest boat in the fleet will be Ludde Ingvall’s YuuZoo, 90-footer which finished seventh in fleet in the recent Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race while the ‘retired’ 87-year-old Middle Harbour yachtsman John Walker has entered his 34-footer Impeccable.
174TH RUNNING OF WORLD’S OLDEST CONTINUOUS YACHTING REGATTA
Sydney Harbour and the historic coastal stretch of the Tasman Sea between Botany Bay and Port Jackson will play host to the 174th Australia Day Regatta – the world’s oldest continuously conducted sailing regatta – on Tuesday, 26 January 2010.
First introduced to celebrate the arrival of the First Fleet, the historic regatta will see yachts of widely varying age and design race on Sydney Harbour while many of the best ocean races will compete in a traditional race from Port Jackson to Botany Bay and return. They will be sailing the course that brought Captain Arthur Phillip north to the magnificent harbour around which now stands the great city of Sydney.
The 174th Australia Day will also be marked by regattas on other coastal waterways, including Pittwater, Brisbane Waters, Botany Bay, Port Hacking and Lake Illawarra, as well as on inland waters such as the Chipping Norton Lakes.
The Sydney Harbour fleet will, as always, have a touch of nostalgia with divisions for gaff-rigged wooden yachts, classic yachts and historical skiffs lovingly restored by their current ‘custodians’ as the proud owners like to call themselves. In contrast, the ocean racing fleet will include many yachts built of exotic materials such as carbon fibre.
The notice of race and entry form for the 174th Australia Day Regatta on the Harbour can be downloaded from the Regatta website – www.australiadayregatta.com.au or from the websites of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron or the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club. Entries close with the RSYS Sailing Office (Harbour events) or the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Sailing Office (Ocean race) on Monday, 18 January.
The 174th Australia Day Regatta short ocean race is part of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Greg Thornton Short Ocean Pointscore and the Ocean Pointsore and while these yachts are block entries, owners must specify that they are entering the Regatta to be eligible for the City of Sydney Sesquicentenary Trophy and the Geoff Lee Trophy as well as Australia Day Regatta medallions.
The Regatta short ocean race will be race seven for the CYCA’s Short Ocean Pointscore, with Jackpot (Ray Enwhistle) and Soundtrack (Tim Cox) currently heading provisional IRC points in Division 1 and 3. In the PHS divisions 1 and 3 the leaders are Imagination (Annette and Robin Hawthorn) and Soundtrack.
Going into the Regatta, also race seven for the CYCA’s Ocean Pointscore, Dick Cawse’s Vanguard heads IRC Division while Quetzalcoatl (Anthony Sweetapple) heads the PHS Division.
Early entries for the 174th Australia Day Regatta on the Harbour the Division 1 racers Braveheart (John Meiklejohn) and Sydney (Charles Curran) and two boats for the Gaffers Division, Lady (David Perrett) and Yeromais V (John Diacopoulos) and Peter Campbell’s Hornblower, winner of Division 3 in last year’s Regatta.
The 174th Australia Day Regatta magazine is available at most yacht clubs and in it the President, eminent yachtsman Sir James Hardy Kt OBE, writes…”what better place to celebrate European arrival than the beautiful Harbour, ever mindful and grateful to those already there who kept it in such pristine order for us to enjoy.”
WIFE OUTSAILS HUSBAND IN HISTORIC AUSTRALIA DAY REGATTA WIN
In what must be a unique result in the 173 year history of the Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour, yachtswoman Beverley Bevis today outsailed her husband Fred to win the Classic Yachts division of the historic regatta.
Beverley Bevis skippered Tio Hia, her 26-foot gaff-rigged Port Phillip net boat built in 1938 and restored after being found as a derelict hull on Melbourne’s Marybyrnong River.
Fred Bevis helmed Warana, his classic 31-foot Bermudan rigged sloop built in 1930 of New Zealand kauri.
Both are members of Sydney Amateur Sailing Club, with Fred a past commodore and current honorary treasurer of the 173rd Australia Day Regatta management committee.
“It’s going to be a real domestic match on the water,” Fred said before today’s 173rd Australia Day Regatta. And so it seemed, with Warana finishing 10th across the line with Tio Hia just two places and just under three minutes astern.
On corrected time, however, Beverley Bevis beat husband Fred by 2 minutes 18 second, with third place going to Antara, skippered by wellknown ABC radio ‘spin doctor’ commentator Ian Kortlang.
The Classic Yachts attracted the second largest fleet of the 173rd Australia Day Regatta which saw 108 keelboats, plus historical and modern 18-footers, race in a 10-12 knot southerly breeze on a overcast but hot and humid day.
A further 35 yachts competed in the Australia Day Regatta short ocean race from Sydney Harbour to Botany Bay and return, replicating the course taken by the First Fleet when it moved from its original landfall north to the more suitable Port Jackson.
Enjoying historic status with the Classic Yachts division was the Gaffers division for ‘yachts that hoist a spar’, with first place going to Onenone, skippered by well known yacht broker Brendan Hunt.. Runner-up was Ranger, skippered by 83-year-old Bill Gale, one of two octogenarians racing on Australia Day, third going to John Crawford’s Vanity.
The other 83-year-old racing today, Gordon Ingate in his International Dragon class yacht Whim, finished out of a place in Division 2, won by Hick-Up (Bill Ure).
Other winners in the 173rd Australia Day Regatta on the Harbour today were Nocturne (Gerard Kesby) in Division 1, Hornblower (Peter Campbell/Steve Sweeney) in Division 3, The Tavern (Ian, Shane & Jean Guanaria) in Division 1 Non-spinnaker, Slips (David Kinsey – Sailability) in Division 2 Non-spinnaker and Control Plus (Daniel Marlay) in the International Yngling class.
Winner of the City of Sydney Sesquicentenial Cup for the overall PHS winner of the race to Botany Bay and return is St Hilliers Quest, skippered by Tim Casey, with a corrected time in PHS Division 1 of the CYCA’s Short Ocean Pointscore of 5 hours 16 minutes 50 seconds.
The next best time came from PHS Division 3 winner Stormy Petrel (Kevin O’Shea) with a corrected time of 5 hours 18 minutes 19 seconds.
St Hilliers Quest is a Nelson/Marek 46 which won the 2002 Rolex Sydney Hobart and many other major regattas while Stormy Petrel, an S&S 36, won the 1971 World One Ton Cup.
Under IRC handicaps, Division 1 went to Leslie Green’s Ginger and Division 3 to Brilliant (Howard & Susan Piggott).
The CYCA Ocean Pointscore race was held in conjunction with the Botany Bay race, with the PHS division doing to Imagination (Annette & Robin Hawthorn) while IRC honours went to Andrew Short’s 90-footer Andrew Short Marine Shockwave 5.
ASM Shockwave 5 took line honours in the Botany Bay race to also win the Geoff Lee Trophy for fastest time in this Australia Day Race.
OCTOGENARIAN SAILORS TURN OUT FOR 173RD AUSTRALIA DAY REGATTA
Two of Sydney most senior sailors, Bill Gale (pictured right)and Gordon Ingate, both in their early eighties, will compete in tomorrow’s 173rd Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour.
Ingate, who will turn 83 in March, will helm his International Dragon class yacht Whim in Division 2 of the oldest continuously-conducted sailing regatta in the world.
The veteran yachtsman, who began sailing on Sydney Harbour in dinghies some 70 years ago, last year won the prestigious Prince Philip Cup Australasian Championship in Hobart and earlier this month came within 14 seconds of retaining the trophy on Sydney Harbour.
In an illustrious career, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron member has represented Australia at the Olympic Games, America’s Cup and Admiral’s Cup and has extensively ocean raced, including a second overall in the Sydney Hobart with his then yacht Caprice of Huon.
Gale, also in his early 80s, will skipper his famous yacht Ranger in the Gaffers Division, continuing his longtime support of the Australia Day Regatta.
A Life Member of the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club, this is the 64th season that
Gale has sailed on the boat designed by his father, the late Cliff Gale. “I don’t believe I’ve ever missed an Australia Day Regatta, “ the octogenarian skipper said today.
The Classic Yacht and Gafffers divisions and the Historical Skiffs division will be highlights of the 173rd Australia Day Regatta.
Other entries for the Gaffers division include Reverie, an 8.7m gaff-rigged cutter owned by John Barclay and Rear Admiral Nigel Berlyn RAN (ret) which last year won the HV Dangar Memorial Ciup and the Centenary of Federation Gold Medal.
The Classic Yachts division includes Ian Kortlang’s Antara, John Sturrock’s Eudoria and John Griffin’s Julnar. Eudoria and Julnar are both 37-footer harbour racers designed in the late 1930s by George Griffin along scaled-down lines of the famous J class yachts that raced for the America’s Cup.
Among the Historical Skiffs entered the 173rd Australia Day Regatta, sponsored by the Commonwealth Private Bank, will be a replica of the original Yendys, a radical snub-nosed 18-footer that was a champion in 1920s and 1930s.
The hull of the original Yendys has been restored and re-rigged, and is in the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour. The replica Yendys will carry the distinctive red anchor insignia on its mainsail when it races on Saturday.
Modern 18-footers will also be racing as part of the 173rd Australia Day Regatta as part of their national championship, while yachts will race in several spinnaker and non-spinnaker divisions.
The 173rd Australia Day Regatta racing will start and finish near the Flagship HMAS Stuart, moored near Rushcutters Bay, starting from 1.30pm tomorrow.
In addition to the harbour event, a traditional feature of the Australia Day Regatta is the ocean race to Botany Bay and return, starting north of Shark Island at 11am, which has attracted a fleet of 35 yachts.
THE 173rd AUSTRALIA DAY REGATTA – THE WORLD’S OLDEST
The world’s oldest continuously-conducted sailing regatta, the 173rd Australia Day Regatta, will be held on Sydney Harbour next Monday, 26 January 2009.
The event marks the arrival in Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson) of the First Fleet from England to found the colony of New South Wales, which subsequently became the Commonwealth of Australia.
The remarkable continuity of the regatta, through world wars and economic recessions, underlines the history of a nation surrounded by the sea and developed through the trade of the sea.
The historic 173rd Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour will cater for keel yachts, old and new, including classic gaff-riggers, and Sydney’s famous 18-footers, both the carbon fibre, state-of-the-art modern skiffs and wooden replicas of the gaff-rigged skiffs that raced a century ago.
Conducting it again on behalf of the Australia Day Regatta Inc will be the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Australia’s oldest yacht club which will soon celebrate its own 175th anniversary. Sponsor is again the Commonwealth Private Bank.
Complementing the Harbour racing will be a short ocean race from Sydney to Botany Bay and return, historic in its own right as the First Fleet initially anchored in that port before moving north to Port Jackson.
Conducting this race will be the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia which just recently held its own 64th Rolex Sydney Hobafrt Yacht Race.
The Sydney Harbour Regatta has attracted some 110 entries, while the ocean race has 35 yachts specifically nominated for the Australia Day Regatta among the fleet in what is also a CYCA pointscore event for its Short Ocean Pointscore and Ocean Pointscore. The fleet has been boosted by 20 casual Australia Day entrants.
The short ocean race will see the Short brothers in keen competition, with Andrew Short helming his 90-footer Andrew Short Marine Shockwave 5, which finished fourth across the line in the recent Sydney Hobart, and Matthew Short skippering his TP52 Shortwave which set a record in the Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster Race.
In a unique clash, Australia Day Regatta honorary treasurer Fred Bevis will be sailing Warana in the Classic Yacht Division against his wife Beverley, skippering Tio Hia.
Two great sailors of Sydney Harbour, both in their early 80s will be competing in yet another Australia Day Regatta.
Gordon Ingate, who will turn 83 in March, will helm his International Dragon class yacht Whim in Division 2 while 81-year-old Roger Gale will be skippering his famous gaff-rigger Ranger in the Gaffers Division of the 173rd Australia Day Regatta.
The Australian Defence Forces have extended their ongoing support for the Regatta beyond the Navy providing the Flagship, HMAS Stuart, the RAAF sending its F-111 jet fighters in spectacular fly pasts and the Army organizing parachute jumps and 21-gun salutes.
This year the Army yacht Gunrunner, skippered by Oliver Coovre, will compete in Division 3 while the RANSA yacht Scarborough will be skippered by Major Mark Palmer in Division 2 Non Spinnaker.
HUSBAND AND WIFE RIVAL SKIPPERS ON AUSTRALIA DAY
For the first time in its history as the world’s oldest continuously-held sailing regatta, a husband and wife will be rival skippers in the 173rd Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour on 26 January 2009.
Fred Bevis and his wife Beverley will each skipper their own yachts in the Classic Yachts division of the Regatta, a feature event of the regatta that attracts dozens of traditional gaff-rigged and Bermudan-rigged timber boats, some close to a century old.
Fred Bevis, a past commodore of Sydney Amateur Sailing Club and honorary treasurer of the 173rd Australia Day Regatta management committee, will skipper Warana, his classic 31-foot sloop built in 1930 of New Zealand kauri.
Beverley Bevis, also a member of the SASC, will skipper Tio Hia, her 26-foot gaff-rigged Port Phillip net boat built in 1938 and restored after being found as a derelict hull on Melbourne’s Marybynong River. The boat is a distinctive double-ender with a beam of 9 foot 3 inches.
Both Fred and Beverley competed in the 2008 Gaffers Day conducted by the Amateurs, but in different divisions, Tio Hia placing second, Warana third.
“Beverley is already lining an expert crew to sail Tio Hia and beat me,” Fred Bevis commented. “It’s going to be as real domestic match on the water.”
More than 120 keelboats and modern and historical 18-footers are expected to line up for the historic 173rd Australia Day Regatta on the Harbour while a further 40 to 50 ocean racing yachts will contest the traditional ocean race from Sydney to Botany Bay and return.
Yacht and sailing clubs on other parts of the Harbour, as well as on the Pittwater, Botany Bay, Lake Macquarie, Brisbane Waters (Gosford), Lane Cove, Georges River, Lake Illawarra and Chipping Norton Lakes will also stage affiliated Australia Day Regattas, as will the NSW Radio Controlled Yachting Association with their model yachts. First the first time in a decade, Woollahra Sailing Club will organize an Australia Day Regatta in Rose Bay.
The 173rd Australia Day Regatta will start at 1.15pm from a line to the east of the Flagship, HMAS Stuart, taking the fleet on a course around fixed Harbour marks. The Botany Bay ocean race will start at 11am from a line north of Shark Island, finishing back in Rushcutters Bay later in the afternoon.
DAVIDSON FAMILY DONATES HISTORIC 140-YEAR-OLD TROPHY
A fine claret jug won by the yacht Ella in the 1866 Anniversary Day Regatta , as the Australia Day Regatta was then known, has been donated for competition once more, starting with the 171st Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour in January 2007.
The historic trophy will now be known as The Davidson Family Trophy, and as Ella was the winner of the race for Second Class Yachts at the 1866 Anniversary Day Regatta, it will be awarded to the winner of Division 2 for future Australia Day Regattas.
Ella was a prominent competitor in the regattas between 1866 and 1873 and at her first start won the race for Second Class Yachts, for yachts under 12 tons displacement. Her owner, Colonel J.Richardson, received the claret jug as his trophy.
With some good fortune, Geoff Lee, the Australian Day Regatta Management Committee Chairman from 2002-2004, and his wife, Judy, discovered the 140-year-old trophy in a Sydney antique shop
Suzanne Davidson, wife of Colin Davidson (Chairman of the Regatta 1989-1995) purchased the antique claret jug and has very generously donated it to the Australia Day Regatta as a perpetual trophy to be known as “The Davidson Family Trophy” for future regattas.
Ella was a cutter of 11 tons built for Colonel Richardson in 1866 by Dan Sheehy at Wooloomooloo, under the supervision of her designer William Bourn Russell Watson. It was he who devised a system of tonnage and measurements that was used for yacht racing as late as 1919.
Ella’s official number was 64372, her dimensions being: Length 35.9 feet; Beam 9.0 feet; Draft 7.0 feet.
Ella sailed in numerous races conducted by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron as well as the Anniversary Regatta from 1866-1873 and the Balmain Regatta. In 1866 she also won the St Patrick’s Day Regatta.
Her Anniversary Regatta record is as follows:
Friday, 26 January 1866: 1st Place (Colonel J Richardson)
Saturday, 2 February 1867: 2nd Place (Colonel J Richardson)
Tuesday, 28 January 1868: 2nd Place (Colonel J Richardson)
Wednesday, 27 January 1869: Did not compete
Thursday, 27 January 1870: 2nd Place (RSYS Commodore H C Dangar)
Friday, 27 January 1871: 1st Place (RSYS Commodore H C Dangar)
Saturday, 27 January 1872: 4th Place (Mr W Farmer)
Wednesday, 29 January 1873: 3rd Place (Mr W Farmer
In 1879 Ella transferred from Sydney to Hobart Town where she sailed with the Derwent Yacht Club. In 1886 she was still on the register of that Club.
ANOTHER LIFE MEMBER, BRIAN NORTHAM, PASSES ON
Brian Northam, a Life Member of the Australia Day Regatta and past Chairman of the ADR Management Committee, died in Sydney in April 2008 after a short illness, at the age of 75.
Brian took over as Chairman of the Management Committee in 1996 after serving as Vice-Chairman to Judge Colin P Davidson OAM for several years. The late Geoff Lee AM OAM, another Life Member who passed away late in 2007, succeeded him as Chairman.
The three of them, all later elected Life Members, made a major contribution to the expansion of the Australia Day Regatta, establishing its status as the major event on Sydney Harbour on that day and obtaining significant sponsorship. Judge Davidson is still an active member of the ADR Management Committee.
Brian Northam, a sailor since a teenager, was a member of the crew of Gretel, Australia’s first challenger for the America’s Cup in 1962. He remained actively involved in Sydney’s yachting and maritime activities for most of his adult life, also serving as President of the Sydney Maritime Museum (now the Sydney Heritage Fleet) from 1988 to 1991.
Brian was a son of the late Sir William (‘Bill’) Northam who won Australia’s first sailing Gold Medal when he skippered the 5.5 metre class yacht Barranjoey to victory at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Brian was closely involved in the restoration of his father’s yacht to compete in the Classic Division of the 5.5 Metre World Championship held in Sydney.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s Brian was active in ocean racing, sailing his East Coast 31 Humdinger and Humbdinger II in two Sydney Hobart Races. He also competed in races to Lord Howe Island with another yacht, Humbug.
Brian had been a member of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron since 1948 and was one of the driving forces in starting the Squadron’s annual May Cruise, a family-oriented event that continues to grow in popularity.
While he had retired from active participation, Brian maintained a close interest in the Australia Day Regatta. The Northam Family Trophy is competed for each year by young sailors in the Sabot two-up class.