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Mid-week Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour
169th AUSTTRALIA DAY REGATTA 2005
Organisers are expecting the largest fleet in years for the historic 169th Australia Day Regatta, with Australia Day 2005 falling midweek, on Wednesday, 26 January.
In addition to the traditional regatta on the Harbour, a large fleet will contest the Australia Day ocean race from Sydney to Botany Bay and return, and hundreds of dinghies, trailable yachts and catamarans will race in special Australia Day regattas on other coastal and inland waterways in New South Wales.
The notice of race and a souvenir colour program for the Regatta is now available from conducting clubs, including the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Sydney Amateur Sailing Club and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. The harbour regatta is a Category 7 safety event, the offshore race a Category 4 event.
“The 169th Australia Day Regatta is the world’s oldest continuous sailing regatta…...competing is a wonderful way to celebrate our national heritage,” Regatta president Sir James Hardy said today.
“The Regatta is an institution among sailors and this year we again have the support of another great Australian institution in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
“It is an event for boats old and new, fast and slow, for keen racing crews and for boats whose crew on Australia will be mainly family, all celebrating Australia Day afloat.
“I urge all sailors to be part of the famous Australia Day Regatta on Wednesday, 26 January 2005,” Sir James added.
The ocean race, whilst open to all eligible yachts, will be the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s first pointscore race since the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and many of the boats that raced to Hobart and Coffs Harbour will be back into the competition.
The ocean race is also for the prestigious City of Sydney Sesqui-centenary perpetual trophy,
In addition to some of Sydney’s finest harbour racing yachts, the 169th Australia Day Regatta program includes a heat of the Australian championships for Sydney’s most famous sailing class, the 18-footers, and also the Historic Skiffs, contested by replicas of skiffs that raced on the Harbour a century ago.
The 18-footers also will be racing for the Lord Mayor’s Cup, a perpetual trophy engraved with the winners who have included some of the most famous names in big skiff sailing over the past few decades.
Flagship for the 169th Australia Day Regatta will be the Anzac class frigate HMAS Parramatta that will be on station near the start and finish of the main Regatta.
