2023 Petersville Regatta Wrap-up
all images: Russell Bates Photography
December 27-30 at Blairgowrie every summer is Petersville time. The annual Petersville Regatta is the premier keelboat event at BYS attracting nearly 400 sailors from BYS and visiting keelboats from clubs all around the bay. The fleet was split into four divisions, three spinnaker and one no spinnaker, 52 keelboats boats in total.
The pre-Christmas weather forecast for the regatta was not looking good, but thankfully the weather improved and we managed all five races over the four days in varying but pleasant sailing conditions.
The opening race is always a twilight on the evening of the 27th December. This year it was the iconic race down the Sorrento Channel to Portsea and return. The many coloured spinnakers make a fantstic spectacle to those viewing from the shore and the beat back up the channel makes this short race quite a challenge.
Day 2 was a longer race in a fresh breeze starting at 1130 hrs with the race heading down to Safety Beach, around the mussel farm and back to BYS. Day 3 is a shorter local race at 1130 hrs and another twilight. The first race took a little longer than expected which pushed the twilight race start back one hour to 5pm, the later finish put a bit of pressure on the dinner reservations but it all worked out well. Day 4 was another short race at 1130 hrs so boats heading back to Melbourne can still get away at a reasonable time.
Results can be viewed at petersvilleregatta.com.au. With four divisions and three different handicaps, there are too many to list here. We awarded 140 prizes over the four days and 28 trophies at the presentation.
The significant volunteer input covers both on-water and ashore activities and varies from, race officers, start boat assistants, mark layers, safety boats, finish boats, radio operators, handicappers, protest committees, preparation of regatta documents, organisation of daily prizes, and on-water photography. The following deserve individual acknowledgement and thanks – Glenys Hitchen, John Thatcher, Allen Broadhead, Wayne Bates, Sally Derham, Adrian Vinck, Russell Cutler, Phil Goodman, Anna and Grace Lewis, David Brown, Ginny Thatcher, Denis and Jura Liubinas
We would also like to thank all the BYS staff members who contributed to a successful regatta with a particular mention– Michelle de Blaquiere, Head of Sailing, Michelle Muter who spent many hours organising berthing arrangements, Albe Bosman and his marina team, Andrew Pappas, the F&B team and of course our GM Andrew Cooper.
The final thank you is to my colleagues on the organising committee, Regatta Manager, Felicia Brown and past Commodore, Alistar Singh. They both did a power of work and are the backbone of the regatta.
Planning for Petersville 2024 will begin in a few weeks and the whole team look forward to seeing you back at BYS on the 27th December 2024.
Phil Beattie – Petersville Regatta Race Director
Thank you to Russell Bates Photography for sharing images from the regatta. There is an extensive image gallery with prints and download files available to purchase at https://russellbatesphotography.com.au/
