It was a dream come true for 59-year-old novice sailor Katie Alexander yesterday when she was hoisted onboard the Trans-Pacific 52-foot yacht ‘Wot Eva’ to race in her first ever Melbourne to Geelong Passage Race.
The 181st Melbourne to Geelong Passage Race challenged the 200 strong fleet with high winds and a steep, confused sea state. The Port Phillip start line was busier than peak hour, the messy battle for the boat-end with the bulk of the fleet not spreading past the middle of the line and several boats overshooting.
The 2024 Festival of Sails has opened in sensational style with ‘Hooligan’ skippered by Marcus Blackmore snatching a nail-biting win in the 181st running of the iconic Passage Race from Melbourne to Geelong.
Some of the world’s elite cyclists competing in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race will be swapping bikes for boats at Festival of Sails as they head for the waters of Corio Bay tomorrow (Tuesday, January 23) for a ‘Pro-Am Challenge’.
Visitors to this year’s 2024 Festival of Sails will be welcomed through a new ‘Tipi on the Bay’ entrance taking pride of place on Fairnie Park on the Geelong waterfront, as the Royal Geelong Yacht Club ramps up the excitement at the 181st running of the largest keelboat racing regatta in the Southern Hemisphere.
They’re the heartbeat and the backbone of almost every event and today, on International Volunteer’s Day, the Royal Geelong Yacht Club has put out the call for their crucial volunteers to sign up for the 2024 Festival of Sails, coming up in January.
Hailed as currently one of Australia’s best live acts and with critics around the world stamping their hit record as ‘one of the finest of the year’, rock band ‘Body Type’ is set to take centre stage as the headline act for the 2024 Festival of Sails.
Young local sailing star, 17-year-old Evie McDonald from Geelong has been appointed the Festival of Sails’ inaugural Youth Ambassador.
The popular emerging music artists’ competition presented by Forte Magazine will be making a return to the 2024 Festival of Sails and the call is now out for aspiring artists to register.
The Royal Geelong Yacht Club is proud to announce that Australian sailing personality Nic Douglass has signed on to continue as Ambassador and Master of Ceremonies for the 2024 for Festival of Sails 2024, and her company Adventures of a Sailor Girl will officially become the media partner of the event.
