1:52 AM Sun 28 Feb 2010 GMT
Sydney Harbour will become the playground for an incredibly diverse fleet of keelboats for this year's Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, all brought together in the harbour city to celebrate a common love of sailing.
Racing kicks off on Saturday 6 March and concludes Sunday 7 March, and when organisers say that just about every class of boat will be represented, they're not exaggerating.
'This is the sailing regatta for all sailors and with a multiplicity of classes comes a huge range of skippers, sailors and spectators,' said regatta director Peter Hemery.
Some of Australia's most experienced and talented skippers and crews, with decades of competitive sailing under their belts, will battle it out on the eight course areas within the harbour amphitheatre and off Sydney Heads.
With the cream of Australia's sailing crop taking to the water for the weekend regatta, organisers have made the following rough calculation to work out how many years of boating experience the fleet represents:
Assuming that the 3000 or more competitors, from wide eyed ing?nues to battle scarred tacticians, have an average of about five years of sailing each, this means a combined total of approximately 15,000 years of sailing experience. That's a lot of time on the water!
Of course it's not all flat out racing, Classic sloops like Celeste will bring plenty of old world charm to the entry list while IRC grand prix boats such as Rolex Sydney Hobart record holder Wild Oats XI, Audi IRC Australian Championship pointscore leader Secret Men's Business and Living Doll from Melbourne will add the top-end glamour.
With the very popular International Etchells duelling, and the the Flying Tigers also racing one design, the weekend regatta is going to be just as much a celebration of the diverse range of classes as the people who sail them.
Late entries for the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, organised by Middle Harbour Yacht Club, close this Friday and currently the fleet is nudging 300.
by Lisa Ratcliff
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Manly, QLD
