Festival of Sails to celebrate 180th anniversary

GEELONG’S Festival of Sails will be saluting its 180th anniversary of its Passage Race between Melbourne and Geelong this coming January.

The Festival of Sails is Australia’s oldest sporting event and the biggest keel boat regatta in the Southern Hemisphere, usually attracting more than 200 entries of boats and yachts each year.

The four-day regatta will kick off at Port Phillip Bay on January 26 and will run until January 29, 2023, when winners and results will be officially announced and calculated.

According to incoming Festival of Sails chair Paul Buchholz, the proudly Geelong-based event is a firm favourite with sailors from all over Australia, and he expects the opportunity to be part of the 180th anniversary celebrations will be even more of a reason for many of them to head down to Geelong.

“You can’t deny the importance of any event hitting such a momentous milestone and we are incredibly proud of how the Festival of Sails showcases not only the best of competitive sailing, but also the very best of Geelong and our region,” he said.

“After more than two years of waves of COVID-related restrictions and interruptions to businesses and events, we think the 180th anniversary is a pretty good reason to celebrate.

“On the waterfront, we really looking forward to welcoming our local and regional families with a mix of things they may have seen before – including the traditional fireworks and terrific entertainment – along with some exciting new additions.

“We are very much looking forward to delivering an event worthy of our 180th milestone.”

Buchholz said that some of the unique flavours being added to the event in 2023 would include the Melges 29 sailboat National Championship division, the booming category of Double-Handed racing, and the chance for viewers to see some TP52 Super Yachts in action.

City of Greater Geelong mayor Peter Murrihy said the Festival of Sails had played a significant role in Geelong’s event offering for many years and the 180th running of the Passage Race was extremely worthy of celebrating.

“As a local resident, there’s nothing quite like getting out and enjoying the January festivities along our Geelong waterfront.

“Having the Festival of Sails and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race both happening over the same weekend next January will bring an undeniable buzz to our fantastic city and region.”

The Festival of Sails is financially backed by the Victorian government and the City of Greater Geelong.

For more information, head to festivalofsails.com.au