The Yalumba Great Southern Regatta will be held off North Haven on the waters
of Gulf St Vincent, South Australia. Racing will take place over two days,
Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 October 2023.

Saturday’s racing includes up to 3 windward/leeward races for Divisions 1 & 2.
Sunday’s racing includes a longer fixed mark race followed by presentation at the club immediately after.

Proposed 2023 Schedule:

9. SCHEDULE OF RACES
9.1 All times shown are for the warning signal for the first start.
9.2 Great Southern Regatta racing schedule
Race 1 21 October 2023
Division 1 1255 Windward/Leeward
Division 2 1300 Windward/Leeward
Race 2 21 October 2023
Division 1 After Race 1 Windward/Leeward
Division 2 After Race 1 Windward/Leeward

Race 3 22 October 2023
Division 1 1155 Fixed Marks
Division 2 1200 Fixed Marks
Race 4 22 October 2023
Division 1 After Race 1 Windward/Leeward
Division 2 After Race 1 Windward/Leeward

If you haven’t experienced this great weekend, Mike Holmes has kindly provided a report on how racing went for his yacht over the 2 days in 2022:

Yes, I would love to be part of this regatta. How do I get a ride on a boat?

Day1 – Race 1 (track pictured below) – W/L

Crew consisted of Shaz, Ian, Will, Jase, Alex F, Will and new recruit Dave.  We had gone out of the pen early to test the light sail that we have but never seem to use very much. We discovered it was better than the Medium/Heavy below 6kts but hard to keep in the groove.  The AP flag went up and we were delayed 5 mins as we started to see about 8 kts of southerly breeze, so the Medium Heavy jib was selected.  I recall we got shadowed by SMB just before the gun, losing a little time to the line.  Anyway we recovered well and picked the shifts nicely on the first beat.  I think it was a 1.8 mile course, so a fairly long beat.  At the top mark, we set the S2 kite and two gybes later we were pointing at the right gate.  Unfortunately we picked up traffic we had to sail through from the Div 2 fleet.  We managed to split Balancing Act and Take Five by steering above the former and accelerating past (see picture).  We then had to give the later boat han the first beat, then managed to sail off the breeze straight back to the finish line, ie no gybe needed.

We did well.  1^st on AMS.

Day1 – Race 1 (track pictured below) – W/L

Crew consisted of Shaz, Ian, Will, Jase, Alex F, Will and new recruit Dave.  We had gone out of the pen early to test the light sail that we have but never seem to use very much. We discovered it was better than the Medium/Heavy below 6kts but hard to keep in the groove.  The AP flag went up and we were delayed 5 mins as we started to see about 8 kts of southerly breeze, so the Medium Heavy jib was selected.  I recall we got shadowed by SMB just before the gun, losing a little time to the line.  Anyway we recovered well and picked the shifts nicely on the first beat.  I think it was a 1.8 mile course, so a fairly long beat.  At the top mark, we set the S2 kite and two gybes later we were pointing at the right gate.  Unfortunately we picked up traffic we had to sail through from the Div 2 fleet.  We managed to split Balancing Act and Take Five by steering above the former and accelerating past (see picture).  We then had to give the later boat room at the mark but they didn’t steer up very quickly once they were at the mark, so we lost a few seconds there and I heard a few words were exchanged between boats.  Anyway we cleared traffic with two quick tacks, noticing that the wind had shifted (backed 20 odd degrees south).  We made the top mark again in less distance than the first beat, then managed to sail off the breeze straight back to the finish line, ie no gybe needed.

We did well.  1^st on AMS.

Day1 – Race 2 (track pictured above) – W/L

For the second race, we put 10mm of tension back on the forestay.  We were looking ok for the start but the enormous cat Venom parked themselves below us.  We were going to be early so we had to gybe away from the line then gybe again to join the back of the fleet, losing a lot of time.  We separated from the fleet on a long port tack which didn’t gain us any time, from memory.  Upon reaching the mark we made our way down the course, gybing to attempt to clear one of the Div2 boats, then gybing away when we realised we didn’t have space.  A couple of gybes later we were back at the right gate again without issue.  We wind was shifting south again so the 2nd beat was a bit shorter, and we got to sail straight to the finish again under spinnaker.  We were 3^rd on AMS

Day2 – Great Southern Regatta Race 3

Rain at North Haven met us on Day 2.  We also had crew changes with Will, who had done something to his back during the week, raising the white flag via text message on Sunday morning (get better soon Will!)  Ben was returning from holiday to race with us, originally to replace Shaz on keyboard, but Shaz volunteered to come back for the second day.  So Ben was instantly promoted to bow with Stu as his coach.

We had a great start towards the pin end (picture below), with a beat to a laid mark (different marks for Div 1 and Div 2).  None of the usual suspects were getting away from us, hoisting the S2 promptly at the mark to head over to the Lead In. 

GSR R3 Pre-Start positioning

Turning south we picked the shifts well to keep up with the fleet as we approached the top mark, an orange wreck/wonga buoy.  The wind started filling in, with the still relatively new S2 kite making us able to sail at depth.  This allowed us to make the Lead Out beacon without having to gybe and without sacrificing any speed.  Our second beat down to the Wonga buoy saw us keep in touch with everyone.  I think we sailed the S2 back to the Lead In (Expedition dropped it’s connection to the boat computer, so no log) comfortably at 130TWA with 12-14 kts behind us.  We had to give Div 2 boat Ocean Hawk space at the Lead In then we then had a short cracked sheets leg to the finish line.  A great sail!

As for results we were Div1 Winners of the Great Southern Regatta Trophies for AMS and PHS.  Congratulations to the crew on some great teamwork.  The foredeck team (Will & Dave, then Ben & Dave) had flawless hoists and drops all weekend.  Our trimmers, Jase and Alex, did a superb job to keep us on polar boat speeds upwind.  Ex-Magic owner Ian really enjoyed trimming the main, which he is skilled at, and not having any Magic bills.  Stuart was highly enthusiastic all weekend, orchestrating a great on-water performance.  Finally my thanks go to Shaz for perfect halyard skills, plus all the on-shore catering to keep the crew happy.

Thanks for reading.

Yes, I would love to be part of this regatta. How do I get a ride on a boat?