Festival of Sails 2014
Save the dates: January 21 to January 27The Australia Day long weekend in January 2014 will again see the running of Australia’s most popular keelboat racing regatta, the Festival of Sails.
At the Festival of Sails 2014 there will be 15 different race series competing across the week-long regatta, catering for all sailors from weekend cruisers, to sports boats and trailable racers up to the highest performance Grand Prix machines, the varied racing and onshore action is sure to offer something for all sailing enthusiasts.
The growing multihull fleet will kick off proceedings on Tuesday January 21 with a passage race from Geelong to Melbourne, where they will be hosted at the new Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron Marina. They will compete in a day of racing at the top of the bay and enjoy a layday in Melbourne before joining the Passage Race fleet to Geelong.
The Sydney 38 and Melges 24 one-design classes are both holding their Australian Championships as a part of the Festival of Sails, with their series beginning in Corio Bay on Thursday Jan 23, along with the various Sportsboat fleets.
For the bulk of the regatta entrants the event starts with the historic 34nm Melbourne to Geelong Passage Race, which will be held on the Friday. With upwards of 300 competing yachts, this truly unique race has nearly three times as many starters as the Sydney to Hobart. The sheltered waters of Port Phillip and Corio Bay enable the spectator fleet to follow the race participants all the way to Geelong and then join them as a part of the festival action.
Following positive feedback from 2013 event participants, racing will culminate with twilight races on Australia Day, before a huge Australia Day celebration along the entire Geelong Waterfront.
Prize giving ceremonies will take place early on the Australia Day public holiday (Monday Jan 27) allowing the fleet time to begin their journey home.
The full Regatta and Festival programs, along with the Notice of Race will be released soon.
For more information go to: http://festivalofsails.com.au/
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