Geelong in the tooth

It was hard to know what to expect from this, the second year of Skandia's sponsorship of the former Geelong Waterfront Festival and Festival of Sail.

Last year's Skandia Geelong Week was simply extraordinary, and while we didn't want to head to the 2005 regatta with unreasonable expectations, keeping a level head was made difficult by the press releases we received from the sponsor during the lead-up.

"Bigger, better, more entertaining," they trumpeted - and all the while we quivered with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, because adjectives like these are more easily uttered than validated.

So imagine our great surprise (read: relief) when approaching the northernmost suburbs of Geelong on the way from Melbourne we spied the Skandia colours waving proudly from flagpoles alongside the highway.

It was true: this year, the festival had incorporated the entire city of Geelong rather than just the waterfront. Entering town, you just couldn't get away from it - flags, banners and shop-window decals in that unmistakeable blue and white were everywhere.

Skandia, and more importantly sailing, had taken over Geelong for the week. You couldn't have wiped the smiles off our faces with a gybing boom.

IN PERSPECTIVE
Skandia is a 150-year-old Swedish long-term savings company that operates internationally, but you'd be hard pressed to get that information out of many punters in Geelong. Ask anyone on the ground who or what Skandia is, and they're just as likely to answer, vaguely, "sailing".

This is to the company's credit. While sponsoring any high-profile event is an unashamed PR exercise, the public's perception of Skandia as a patron of yachting at all levels lends credence to the company's stated sponsorship goals of making sailing more accessible, growing the sport's appeal and enriching people's lives.

Skandia Geelong Week is far and away the biggest regatta of its kind in Australia. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, it is second only in size to the UK's Cowes Week, which is also sponsored by Skandia.

Last year, Geelong's mayor promised that Geelong Week would grow to rival, if not become bigger than, Skandia Cowes Week. So has it grown? Numbers speak louder than words.

Last year's regatta comprised 55 races over the five days of the festival; in 2005, this was boosted to 160 over six days. Just shy of 500 boats participated in the races, which brought well over 4000 sailors onto Corio Bay. These numbers, too, reveal increases over last year.

Just as importantly, land-based participation also exceeded the organisers' expectations. Skandia's theme for this year's festival was "Let us entertain you", and in excess of 100,000 people visited the shoreside to accept that challenge. They weren't disappointed.

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT
The historic Williamstown–Geelong passage race that officially kicks off the week is something to behold, as the picture on top of the opening page of this story will attest. Whether you witness the fleet departing Williamstown or watch the leaders steam into Corio Bay, the sight is simply breathtaking.

Unfortunately, the weather for this year's passage race was a carbon copy of last year's - cursed, for the better part of the day, with fickle breezes. While the favourite AAPT was initially expected to arrive in Geelong at around 1pm, it was only by around 1:30 that the vibrant mushroom field of spinnakers became visible over the horizon.

 And so Geelong played the waiting game. Fortunately, with the staggering amount of entertainment and activity taking place on the shoreside, it was impossible to become restless - and perilously easy to fall prey to the allure of fine fare and booze.

From the wicked yabby pie and woodfired pizza stands to the inspired Mussel Boat, which harvests its own blue mussels and then docks at Fisherman's Basin to sell steaming containers of the delectable molluscs for the modest sum of $5, the Geelong waterfront was a waistline's worst nightmare. Belts groaned and livers quivered at the array of fine wines and varied beverages on offer.

Meanwhile at the Steampacket Gardens, bands, magicians and assorted roving harlequins wowed kids and parents alike. Amateur boatbuilders toiled over their creations at the Bunnings Boatbuilding Challenge.

At the other end of town, along Eastern Beach, yet more music, kids' rides and waterborne activities kept the hoards of punters amused.

Thus, it was a raucous, sunstruck, tipsy and delighted cast of thousands that greeted Sean Langman and his crew aboard AAPT as they finally came in to claim line honours ahead of Grant Wharington's borrowed Volvo 60, Matt Allen's Ichi Ban and Victoria's XLR-8.

The Sydney 38s followed soon after. Of the 16 boats contesting the Nationals, Stephen Kulmar's Shining Sea triumphed ahead of Geoff Bonus' Calibre and pre-series favourite Cydon.

Then came the rest of the fleet - hundreds upon hundreds of boats, from racers and cruisers to classic boats and tall ships - bringing the Royal Geelong Yacht Club marina to life as much with their majesty as with the tshhhk! sound of Bundaberg Rum cans being opened.

PREMIER RACING
The glorious sunshine carried on into the subsequent days of the regatta, and thankfully the winds came to the party too. It was in absolutely perfect conditions that the prestigious Scotchmans Hill Series ensued.

Sean Langman continued to steal the show from Grant Wharington in every race, with AAPT consistently pipping what some wags dubbed "Rent-a-Skandia" for line honours. But the real story of the Scotchmans Hill Series - conducted by the Royal Geelong Yacht Club - was the handicap results.

 Michael Spies, sailing his Beneteau 44.7 First National Real Estate, had taken three wins from the first four races to streak to an early seven-point lead. Dekadence, owned by Sandringham Yacht Club Commodore Phil Coombs, took second place overall after winning Race Four, while another Sandringham member, Alan Whiteley aboard Cougar, was equal third overall with Dick Fidock's As Good As It Gets at the end of the third day's racing.

After Race Six, First National Real Estate had stitched up the Scotchmans Hill Series and therefore did not need to race the 15.5-mile final race around fixed marks on Corio Bay. However, as part of the strong Cruising Yacht Club of Australia team, it needed to do well to help the team triumph in its tight battle against the Sandringham squad. It finished 11th in the final race.

After the seven races in the overall Scotchmans Hill Series, First National Real Estate was the official handicap winner, with Cougar leaping into second place ahead of Dekadence, which suffered back in 10th place in the final race. Fourth overall was Steve and Mary Chiodo's Sydney 47 Gomez.

WINNERS, SINNERS AND GRINNERS
Other key performers over the course of the week were former America's Cup yacht Kookaburra, which was impressive in its nine-point victory over the Parks Victoria Classic Yachts series field; and Cydon, which took out the Sydney 38 Nationals ahead of Shining Sea and London Tavern.

In the Coca Cola Cruising Division 1, Ian Robottom's yacht Spirit of Rani took first place over David James' Ingenue. The two Jeanneaus went stroke for stroke from day one, with Robottom - a Geelong identity - scraping home by a one-point margin after finishing sixth in the final race.

The local Thunderbird heroes aboard Larriken 2 achieved what they set out to do in winning the five-race Skandia Thunderbird Series, while Mornington's Grant Hailes trounced the opposition in the S80 three-race series aboard Moondah, winning all but one of the races in impressive style.

While every race during this year's Skandia Geelong Week was hotly contested, the tone throughout the event was one of camaraderie, merriment and genial competitiveness. It's a credit to the crew aboard each boat, as well as race organisers and officials, that the regatta was run so successfully with such an imposing number of boats on the bay.

And, of course, it's a credit to Skandia and the city of Geelong that participants during the weeklong festivities had such a rollicking good time, whether they were on the water, on the land or simply on the turps.

If this second Skandia-sponsored Geelong Week was anything to go by, the third promises to be an absolute beauty. Don't miss it!