Weekly Sailing News Summary

Boaties to celebrate Australia Day in Sydney, Melbourne & Geelong. Five boats sail to the finish of the Volvo Ocean Race Leg 2 in Melbourne.

Summary for w/b - 24 Jan, 2006 12pm

AUSTRALIA DAY CELEBRATIONS
Public Holiday January 26

SYDNEY

In the morning hundreds of paddlers race from the Opera House to Blues Point Reserve, and a ferry race is held. At midday all types of boats are invited to join a parade around the harbour. In the afternoon the regatta starts, tall ships race and the Australian Defence Forces conduct aerial displays. At 4pm boaties drop anchor in Johnstons Bay for Jazz on the Water starting at 5pm, followed by the Australia Day Spectacular at 8.45pm.

The Australia Day Parade starts at 12pm. The procession heads under the bridge before turning east, past Bennelong Point and Farm Cove. The parade moves around Clark Island, past Bradleys Head and back up the Harbour to the Bridge where it concludes by 1:30pm. You can join in at any time along the parade route in Sydney Harbour and there are prizes for Best Dressed Vessels.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Short Ocean Pointscore and Ocean Pointscore racing resume with the traditional Australia Day race from Sydney to Botany Bay and return.

MELBOURNE / GEELONG
Jan 25 - 29 -- Skandia Geelong Week, Melbourne and Corio Bay. For the first time in the event's history yacht entries have exceeded the 400 mark. The annual Wednesday pre race party will be held at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria in Williamstown, Melbourne. On Australia Day the fleet will depart Melbourne for the passage race to Geelong. For anyone not competing there are plenty of shoreside activities - art and craft markets, local food and wine tasting, buskers, street theatre and musical acts on three stages.

SAIL MELBOURNE
Racing was cancelled on the last day of the J24 Worlds and the Australian Etchells Championship as 30-40 knot winds swept Port Phillip.

J24 World Championship, Sandringham Yacht Club. The Brazilian crew of Bruschetta, skippered by former two-time Tornado Olympian, Mauricio Santa Cruz won the event. The Japanese crew on Siesta, skippered by Wataru Sakamoto finished second and Ian Southworth's British entry, Inmarsat, was third. The best placed Australian was Doug McGain and his crew on Code Violation from Middle Harbour in Sydney.

Audi Australian Etchells Championship, Royal Brighton Yacht Club. Sydney sailor Rob Brown and his crew of Bruce Wookey and Garry Gudmunson on Steam Packet VI won the event from his former 1983 winning America's Cup skipper, John Bertrand and crew Ian Johnson and Tim Ede (Triad, Vic), with Cameron Miles/Phil Smidmore/David Sampson (Free Advice, NSW) finishing third.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE & MELBOURNE STOPOVER

ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) finished Leg 2 from Cape Town to Melbourne first, followed by ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse), movistar (Bouwe Bekking), Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington).

movistar and Pirates of the Caribbean both made repairs in Albany WA before continuing to race. Brazil 1 was dismasted and is heading for Fremantle to be transported to Melbourne. Ericsson retired from this leg and the team is waiting in Melbourne for the boat to arrive.

The ability of Grant Wharington and his Australian entry ING Real Estate Brunel to continue the race has been uncertain because their joint sponsorship agreement with ING Real Estate and Brunel was due to end after his arrival in to Melbourne. The listed Dutch company Brunel, which specializes in professional staffing, has decided to support the team on its own.

Quote: Neal McDonald, skipper of Ericsson Racing Team - 'There is a very fine line between what is light and what is going to be robust. Some of us seem to have got that balance a little wrong, but that is our choice, that is not forced upon us.'

Bouwe Bekking on movistar answers the question of how movistar managed to sail 20,000 miles before the race, without having real problems with the hydraulics.

The Melbourne Stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race is set to spark a month-long party at Waterfront City, Docklands, featuring a huge program of free live music and entertainment by some of Australia's best-loved performers.

ALCOA IFDS WORLD DISABLED SAILING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Perth: Australian Paralympic gold medallist Jamie Dunross' crew member Jeff Milligan, who sailed with Jamie at the Athens Paralympics in 2004, was de-classified as disabled, the day before the start. Despite having lost his right foot, a change to the disabled classification rules since the Paralympics has made him ineligible to compete. Substitute crew Graeme Martin was on Noel Robins' gold medal winning crew with Jamie at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, he has not sailed competitively since.

After seven races and one drop Jamie, Graeme and Colin Harrison move up to third place on the leaderboard, just four points behind the British leader.

DAME PATTIE FOR SALE

Dame Pattie, the Australian Challenger for the 1967 America's Cup, is for sale in Canada. The 12 metre yacht was designed by Warwick Hood, skippered by Jock Sturrock, and owned by a syndicate from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.

KEEL BOATS & MULTIHULLS

Audi Australia will offer an Audi vehicle as the major prize for the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, March 4 - 5.

Six new Jeanneau yachts arrive in Queensland in January.

A newly designed catamaran is due to go into production late February in Malaysia. The alloy Silkline 510 - (15.4m / 50ft 6in) is a joint effort by Australian and British designers.

12th Singapore Straits Regatta 2006 - The last race took the fleet from Batam in Indonesia back across the busiest shipping lanes in the world to Singapore's east coast, finishing up at the new SAF Yacht Club in Changi. Neil Pryde's Hi Fi Team Pryde defended their title and cap it off with a fifth win in the final race.

The ISAF Grade 1 Auckland Match Racing Cup, February 25 - 29. Competitors include former Match Racing World Champions Ed Baird (USA), Bertrand Pace (FRA) and New Zealand's Dean Barker and Chris Dickson.

See also Sail Melbourne - J24s & Etchells

AMERICA'S CUP
Extensive live television coverage of the three 2006 Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts will be made available to rights-holding broadcasters of the 32nd America's Cup. Visitors to the Port America's Cup in Valencia will see the action on a giant screen in the park.

Brad Dellenbaugh USA has been appointed to the role of Chief Umpire. Dellenbaugh had previously served as Deputy Chief Umpire under Bryan Willis, who stepped down from the role at the end of the year to focus on his chairmanship of the Jury.

Weekly Sailing News Summary

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