Festival of Sails – Holding Pattern

by John Curnow on 25 Jan 2013 At 0630hrs this morning it was blowing through Geelong at up to 40 knots from the North. At 0730hrs it had moved to the WSW and was just 30, then by 0830 it was lucky to be 20 knots and still from the West.

Up at the top of Port Phillip, the nearly 250 vessels awaiting the start of the annual passage race from Melbourne to Geelong were put in a holding pattern at 0730 and it looks like they may possibly get underway at 1200hrs now, as it is still mostly 30 knots there, albeit that the Sou’wester change has seemed to have arrived. That situation is an hour-by-hour review kind of thing.

The IRC Australian Championship fleet moored at Geelong begins their long race today at 1030hrs. The Division One boats will complete 52nm and the smaller vessels will do 32nm. The main idea is to have these vessels and the passage race fleet arriving at approximately the same time, once they have completed their 34nm course. However, with the Answering Pennant flapping madly away in the breeze, it could be very dusky by the time some of the smaller craft arrive from Melbourne.

The Festival of Sails includes the Audi IRC Australian Championship and the Melges 24 Australian Championship. The Melges 24, Sports Boats and A Class Cats are under AP this morning in Corio, just like their yacht cousins up in Melbourne.

See festivalofsails.com.au for more information.