Kookaburra in Classic Yacht win

by Di Pearson on 27 Jan 2005 Kookaburra, the Murray Swarbrick 12 metre yacht that represented at the America’s Cup in Fremantle was far and away the outstanding entry in the Parks Victoria Classic Yachts series at Skandia Geelong Week, winning by nine points.

Steered by Michael Smith representing Royal Yacht Club of Victoria in the five race series conducted by the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, Kookaburra, launched in 1985, had us all take a walk down memory lane bringing back memories of Kookaburra’s glory days under the leadership of West Australia’s Kevin Parry.

The first of three 12 metre class yachts built by Iain Murray and the Taskforce team to defend the 1987 America's Cup in Fremantle, Kookaburra came to Port Phillip in 1995, and has recently returned from attending the America's Cup 150th Jubilee regatta, a spectacular event in itself.

Whilst Kookaburra is by far the more modern of those yachts in this class, that is not so much the case for the rest of the entrants. Boambillee, George Fischer’s Sparkman & Stephens 36 representing RMYS, finished second in the series, after a tussle with clubmate, third placed Bungoona, a one design classic owned by Col Band.

Of the entries, the standout for being the prettiest boat on Corio Bay goes to Sayonara, the 1926 launched famous Fife design that appears here each year owned by a syndicate from Victoria.

The Classic Cruising coterie started their series in Melbourne with a Pursuit race on Port Phillip Bay. The following day they joined the huge armada in the Melbourne Geelong Passage race, but the best was yet to come as they appeared in all their glory in the Re-enactment of the very first Geelong Week race on Corio Bay, with many crews decked out in clothing from the 1800’s.

Over the rest of the weekend, the fleet raced on Corio Bay in races around fixed marks and these beautiful yachts certainly made for a fantastic sight to the thousands of visitors who throng to Geelong each year to soak up the party atmosphere both on and off the water over the Australia Day long weekend.

Once again, Doug Jarvis and his crew from Rhumbline have made Skandia Geelong Week, billed as the largest keelboat regatta in Australia, the impressive and successful event it is.