Happy Australia Day! – Festival Of Sails

Festival Of Sails

Happy Australia Day!

Spread across Geelong’s Corio Bay over the last three days, the cruising and classic yachts, multihulls and S80s provided a stunning backdrop to one of Australia’s oldest sporting events, the annual Festival of Sails presented by Rex Gorell Land Rover.

These divisions were part of the impressive 276 boat armada from every Australian state plus the ACT that gathered to celebrate the fun of sailing competition, both on the water and ashore, for the 173rd time.

Their racing finished yesterday, Monday January 25, 2016 on a third day of consistent sea-breezes, 15-20kts, and capped off by a late afternoon twilight race. The winners were announced last night at the host Royal Geelong Yacht Club, the Australia Day eve fireworks providing a fitting tribute to the podium finishers. Official trophy presentations are taking place at 1030hrs this morning at RGYC.

A portion of the 2,500 sailors in town for the festival have arrived at the RGYC this morning dressed in their matching battle gear and ready for the closing two races of the Rex Gorell Land Rover Rating Series to decide the IRC and AMS Victorian champions, the Optimum Time Super 11s and Yacht Safe Performance Racing fleet.

Today’s forecast is south-easterly 15-20 knots with an easterly trend. What a perfect Australia Day!