12:29 AM Sat 9 Jan 2010 GMT
Sydney Harbour and the coastal stretch of the Tasman Sea between Botany Bay and Port Jackson will play host to the 174th Australia Day Regatta - the world's oldest continuously conducted sailing regatta - on Tuesday, 26 January 2010.
First introduced to celebrate the arrival of the First Fleet, the historic regatta will see yachts of widely varying age and design race on Sydney Harbour while many of the best ocean races will compete in a traditional race from Port Jackson to Botany Bay and return. They will be sailing the course that brought Captain Arthur Phillip north to the magnificent harbour around which now stands the great city of Sydney.
The 174th Australia Day will also be marked by regattas on other coastal waterways, including Pittwater, Brisbane Waters, Botany Bay, Port Hacking and Lake Illawarra, as well as on inland waters such as the Chipping Norton Lakes.
The Sydney Harbour fleet will, as always, have a touch of nostalgia with divisions for gaff-rigged wooden yachts, classic yachts and historical skiffs lovingly restored by their current 'custodians' as the proud owners like to call themselves. In contrast, the ocean racing fleet will include many yachts built of exotic materials such as carbon fibre.
The notice of race and entry form for the 174th Australia Day Regatta on the Harbour can be downloaded from the Regatta website -
www.australiadayregatta.com.au
or from the websites of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron or the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club. Entries close with the RSYS Sailing Office (Harbour events) or the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Sailing Office (Ocean race) on Monday, 18 January.
The 174th Australia Day Regatta short ocean race is part of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Greg Thornton Short Ocean Pointscore and the Ocean Pointsore and while these yachts are block entries, owners must specify that they are entering the Regatta to be eligible for the City of Sydney Sesquicentenary Trophy and the Geoff Lee Trophy as well as Australia Day Regatta medallions.
The Regatta short ocean race will be race seven for the CYCA's Short Ocean Pointscore, with Jackpot (Ray Enwhistle) and Soundtrack (Tim Cox) currently heading provisional IRC points in Division 1 and 3. In the PHS divisions 1 and 3 the leaders are Imagination (Annette and Robin Hawthorn) and Soundtrack.
Going into the Regatta, also race seven for the CYCA's Ocean Pointscore, Dick Cawse's Vanguard heads IRC Division while Quetzalcoatl (Anthony Sweetapple) heads the PHS Division.
Early entries for the 174th Australia Day Regatta on the Harbour the Division 1 racers Braveheart (John Meiklejohn) and Sydney (Charles Curran) and two boats for the Gaffers Division, Lady (David Perrett) and Yeromais V (John Diacopoulos) and Peter Campbell's Hornblower, winner of Division 3 in last year's Regatta.
The 174th Australia Day Regatta magazine is available at most yacht clubs and in it the President, eminent yachtsman Sir James Hardy Kt OBE, writes.'what better place to celebrate European arrival than the beautiful Harbour, ever mindful and grateful to those already there who kept it in such pristine order for us to enjoy.'
The Australia Day short ocean race will start at 11am on 26 January 2010, with the 174th Harbour regatta gets under way from 1.30pm. Starting at 11.30am will be the colourful Ferrython while other events during the afternoon will include the Tall Ships Race and spectacular flyovers by RAAF F/A Hornets and Hawk 127 aircraft and a parachute jump by the Army's Red Beret regiment members, landing in Circular Quay.
by Peter Campbell
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Manly, QLD
