Australia Day Regatta: Husband and wife rivalry

1:01 AM Mon 19 Jan 2009 GMT

'Classics sailing at Australia Day regatta' John Jeremy

For the first time in its history as the world's oldest continuously-held sailing regatta, a husband and wife will be rival skippers in the 173rd Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour on 26 January 2009.

Fred Bevis and his wife Beverley will each skipper their own yachts in the Classic Yachts division of the Regatta, a feature event of the regatta that attracts dozens of traditional gaff-rigged and Bermudan-rigged timber boats, some close to a century old.

Fred Bevis, a past commodore of Sydney Amateur Sailing Club and honorary treasurer of the 173rd Australia Day Regatta management committee, will skipper Warana, his classic 31-foot sloop built in 1930 of New Zealand kauri.

Beverley Bevis, also a member of the SASC, will skipper Tio Hia, her 26-foot gaff-rigged Port Phillip net boat built in 1938 and restored after being found as a derelict hull on Melbourne's Marybynong River. The boat is a distinctive double-ender with a beam of 9 foot 3 inches.

Both Fred and Beverley competed in the 2008 Gaffers Day conducted by the Amateurs, but in different divisions, Tio Hia placing third, Warana second.

'Beverley is already lining an expert crew to sail Tio Hia and beat me,' Fred Bevis commented. 'It's going to be as real domestic match on the water.'

More than 120 keelboats and modern and historical 18-footers are expected to line up for 173rd Australia Day Regatta on the Harbour while a further 40 to 50 ocean racing yachts will contest the traditional ocean race from Sydney to Botany Bay and return. Commonwealth Private is again sponsorship the historic regatta.

Yacht and sailing clubs on other parts of the Harbour, as well as on the Pittwater, Botany Bay, Lake Macquarie, Brisbane Waters (Gosford), Lane Cove, Georges River, Lake Illawarra and Chipping Norton Lakes will also stage affiliated Australia Day Regattas, as will the NSW Radio Controlled Yachting Association with their model yachts. First the first time in a decade, Woollahra Sailing Club will organize an Australia Day Regatta in Rose Bay.

NOR and Entry
Notice of Race and Entry for the 173rd Australia Day Regatta can be downloaded from the Australia Day Regatta web site - www.australiadayregatta.com.auas well from the web sites of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron - www.rsys.com.auand the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club - www.sasc.com.au

Entries should be lodged with the Sailing Office at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, with the deadline this coming Wednesday, 21 January,

Yachts block entered for the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Short Ocean Pointscore or the Ocean Pointscore, or casual entrants for the Botany Bay Ocean Race, must also lodge a 173rd Australia Day Regatta entry with the CYCA to be eligible for Australia Day trophies and medallions.

The 173rd Australia Day Regatta program is also available from most yacht and sailing clubs and includes a record of trophy and medallion winners at all Australia Day Regattas held on 26 January 2008. Feature articles include a report on the 2009 Anniversary Regatta, as it was then known.

The 173rd Australia Day Regatta will start at 1.15pm from a line to the east of the Flagship, HMAS Stuart, taking the fleet on a course around fixed Harbour marks. The Botany Bay ocean race will start at 11am from a line north of Shark Island, finishing back in Rushcutters Bay later in the afternoon.

by Peter Campbell

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Australia Day Regatta: Husband and wife rivalry

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