Classic boats in 172nd Australia Day Regatta

by Peter Campbell on 21 Jan 2008 The world’s oldest continuously conducted sailing event, the 172nd Australia Day Regatta next Saturday, 26 January, will take Sydney Harbour back to the days when yachts and 18-foot skiffs ‘hoisted a spar’ to sail with spectacular gaff rigs.

The Regatta will again be the centre of celebrations afloat on Australia Day as Australians join to mark the anniversary of Captain Phillip’s landing with the First Fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788.

The tradition of a regatta began in 1837 and has been held every year since, even during wartime.

Appropriately, the 172nd Australia Day Regatta has drawn a fine fleet for its Classic Yachts division, many gaff-rigged and built early last century, and also for the Historical Skiffs division in which at least a dozen replicas of famous gaff-rigged 18-footers will compete.

Among the entries for Classic Yachts division is Reverie, an 8.7m gaff-rigged cutter owned by John Barclay and Rear Admiral Nigel Berlyn RAN (ret). Reverie won its division of the Sydney Harbour Bridge 75th Anniversary Regatta last year.

Veteran Harbour yachtsman Bill Gale will be skippering his famous Ranger, the 63rd sailing season he has sailed on the boat designed by his father, Cliff Gale. “I don’t believe I’ve ever missed an Australia Day Regatta, “ the octogenarian skipper said today.

Not all the Classic Yachts division entrants are gaff-riggers, but they all meet the criteria of ‘classic’ and include two famous ocean racers from the 1960s.

Nigel Stokes’ 60-footer Fidelis, is a past line honours of the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race while Caprice of Huon is a former two-times Admiral’s Cup team yacht, now owned by David Champtaloup.

The Classic Yachts division will race for the Centenary of Federation Medallion, a gold medal won by the yacht Sainora at the Federation Regatta in 1901.

Among the Historical Skiffs competing in the 172nd Australia Day Regatta, sponsored by the Commonwealth Private Bank, will be a replica of the original Yendys, a radical snub-nosed 18-footer that was a champion in 1920s and 1930s.

The hull of the original Yendys has been restored and re-rigged, and is in the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour. The replica Yendys will carry the distinctive red anchor insignia on its mainsail when it races on Saturday.

Modern 18-footers will also be racing as part of the 172nd Australia Day Regatta as part of their national championship, while yachts will race in several spinnaker and non-spinnaker divisions.

The 172nd Australia Day Regatta racing will start and finish near the Flagship HMAS Kanimbla, moored near Rushcutters Bay. The first divisions will start racing at 1.30pm.

In addition to the harbour event, a traditional feature of the Australia Day Regatta is the ocean race to Botany Bay and return, starting north of Shark Island at 11am.