Bright sunshine and moderate north-easterly winds provided perfect sailing conditions and a fleet of all 7 boats started the 2025 Australia Day Regatta, the 189th Australia Day Regatta, the oldest continual sailing regatta in the world, having been conducted since 1837. (www.australiadayregatta.com).
Bruce and Pam Davis very kindly acted as sailing committee and starters onboard Ready, Get Set… and Warwick, John, and Kerry supported them, laying the marks, taking photographs and providing safety on Charlies Chariot. Cory once again provided his professional radio coverage and onshore management.
The first race saw Clare and Jeremy in Black Swan slip away, ahead of Denis and Nola in Woody and Sophie and Magdalena sailing Eli D. They were followed closely by Michael and Joe in Ralph Newman, David and Ken in Vin, Rob and Jay sailing Dolly Wallis and Skye and Joel in Alex Martin. This is the order in which they finished, with only 30 seconds between first and second.
Following the first race Jay swapped places with Ros as crew in Dolly Wallis. The second race was very close, with Black Swan once again taking first place, Eli D second and Woody third, only 15 seconds behind. Then came Dolly Wallis and Ralph Newman, followed by Vin and Alex Martin.
So, going into the last race Black Swan was leading the pointscore and could only be beaten for first place overall if they came 5th or worse and if either Woody or Eli D won the race. With Woody and Eli D on equal points, the best placed would take second place overall. Dolly Wallis had another change of crew and Jim took over from Rob as skipper.
As it turns out, Black Swan won this race also, making it a clean sweep of the regatta. Eli D finished second overall, followed by Woody, Ralph Newman, Dolly Wallis, Vin and a gallant Alex Martin came in last place.
After the race we enjoyed BBQ sausage sandwiches, fruit and juice while the presentations were made. Second and third place getters were awarded a 2025 Australia Day Regatta medal, and the winners, Clare and Jeremy, will be invited to Sydney Town Hall in the near future to be presented with a trophy by a senior politician, possibly the mayor herself! Skye and Joel were not forgotten either and presented with the wooden (tea) spoon.
A number of interesting consistency facts to emerge from the results – Clare achieved three first places, Skye achieved three seventh places, and Sophie’s elapsed times for the three races were 19.17, 19.15 and 19.10 minutes respectively – very consistent indeed!
Our thanks again go to Bruce and Pam and all the volunteers involved in making this a wonderful Australia Day Regatta.
