KING OF THE GULF

This regatta is run by the Multihull Association of South Australia and David Eldridge from the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron is the main contact person. This year our Club, the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia, had eight boats entered: Venom, Playground, Rocksalt, G-Wizz, Marnico, Ocean Hawk, Rock On and Cerulean.

Gay Footer

Even COVID could not stop the ever popular and growing King of the Gulf Regatta taking place from 4-8 February. The regatta however was forced to move its base from the Port Vincent Marina to the RSAYS due to the harsh COVID density restrictions that would have been imposed on us in the marquee plus the fact that we did not want to jeopardise the well-being of our many fantastic Port Vincent volunteers who look after our catering. The huge marquee on the marina lawns, the tables, the BBQs and the hundreds of chairs were sadly cancelled but a booking was made for 2023. One of the features of racing at Port Vincent is the magnificent flat water which gives us the best racing in South Australia. In a strange twist of fate these conditions were replicated on this side of the gulf during the regatta with the consistent and strong easterly winds that prevailed. Goodness only knows what the sea conditions would have been like over at Port Vincent. Perhaps a very small tongue in cheek, ‘good one COVID’ is warranted. The regatta was looking to break the 40 yachts target but we lost some Port Vincent yachts due to the event moving to the RSAYS. However next year we are confident of breaking 40 yachts making it a very big regatta indeed. The regatta started off with a race along the Adelaide coast with the course taking yachts very close to all the suburban jetties for spectator viewing. The multihulls had to get to Brighton and back with Venom, the large trimaran from the CYCSA, taking well over four hours to get there but only one hour and four minutes to get back. In a fantastic result for the RSAYS Tearaway, a 31-foot trimaran skippered by Geoff Kneebone, finished ahead of Venom to finish with line honours but was second on handicap to John Muirhead in Cicala. Foundation 2, skippered by Sophie Davidson, won the monohull division against the very high-quality fleet with Playground and Rocksalt, both yachts from the CYCSA, finishing second and third respectively. One of the exciting developments in the King of the Gulf Regatta was welcoming an Adelaide University entry into the Monohull Division 2. They leased one of the Squadron’s J24 fleet, Foundation 2, which was skippered by Blake Lawrenson and was always up with the pack. Another welcome feature in the Monohull Division 2 fleet was the very first all-female crew in Barb Beacham’s Stella Rouge. No matter how much the wind blew you could always hear the sheer joy and camaraderie from this fantastic group of women sailing the boat. When the five race King of the Gulf regatta got underway confidence in the weather forecasting seemed to be challenged with the daily forecast of 10 to 15 knots always materialising to 18-25 knots. Although the reefing lines and the crews got a solid workout it was still very safe and great fun and the flat water saw yachts reaching good hull speeds very easily. It was great course setting by the Principal Race Officer Jock Ross in Wilbur and the mark setting boat Macro which saw all the races underway with great efficiency and a palatable sense of calmness. In the Multihull division Robert Dunn’s Venom took the King of the Gulf crown with his very skilful crew just edging out Iain MacDougall in Goldfinger and Peter Hawker in Carbon Credit. Iain turned the tables in the concurrently run South Australian Multihull Championships edging out both Venom and Carbon Credit adding to his National Championship title won in Geelong. 2023 is already looking great for the multihull fleet with a number of interstate boats scheduling the King of the Gulf Regatta into their 2023 programming. The large high quality Monohull Division 1 fleet saw John Herbert in Stealth winning the last two races to snatch the King of the Gulf crown away from perpetual King of the Gulf high level performer Colin Doudy in Circe with Brenton Pegler in Playground third. Of note was the Squadron’s General Manager enjoying the win in the Stealth crew. The Division 1 fleet just gets bigger and better every year and we look forward with great anticipation to 2023. A focus of the King of the Gulf regatta committee is to continually build up the Division 2 fleet. With the universities getting involved and the seven J24 yachts available to be leased for the regatta we are confident this will happen. They will however have trouble dealing with the hot fleet at the top with Silver Gull (Rob Hutson) winning the regatta, finishing with four firsts and a second out of five races. Kevin Kelly’s new boat Passport is getting faster and faster with every race and finished second with the Stella Rouge crew getting the third place gong. The Cruising Division was a parade with Cicala (John Muirhead) always out in front. Peter Hastwell in Witchcraft came second with Aquitaine (David Eldridge) in third position.

Venom

The increasingly popular North Haven Marine teams’ event was over capitalised with the purchase of team hats for all skippers. Yachts from all the different fleets are selected by lot to represent four landlocked countries. This competition was initially designed to break down the negative banter between big boats and small boats and monohulls and multihulls. The competition, with a prize pool of $700, is now an important feature as yachts realise they have to look after each other to get the money. A twist of fate and the luck of the draw saw one team completely full of Squadron yachts representing the great country of Bhutan. These winning yachts were, Cicala, Crosshair, Goldfinger, Stealth, Arcadia 111 and Stella Rouge. All in all this was another inclusive and enjoyable regatta despite the challenges and the late forced change of venue thrown at the organisers. A big thank you must go to the Squadron and their staff for their ability to pick up the event at late notice and to conduct it under COVID conditions. Thanks also to our sponsors, 35 South Marina, Wireless Communications, MYASA, North Haven Marine, Bec Hardy Wines, Dog Ridge Wines, the CYCSA and the RSAYS. Even though the sailing was great here our regular King of the Gulf yachts just cannot wait to get back to Port Vincent next year. The lawns of the marina and the big marquee with meals in the evening and breakfasts in the morning with our great Port Vincent friends beckon. The dates for next year have already been set to take advantage of the high tides and access into the marina and are –• Passage Race to Vincent, Friday 3 February 2023 • King of the Gulf Regatta, Saturday 4 February to Monday 6 February 2023 • Passage Race back to Adelaide, Tuesday 7 February 2023

David Eldridge