The 2025 Festival of Sails Crowns Twenty Division Champions Amid Thrilling Sea Spectacle

The esteemed Festival of Sails 2025, held at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, recently brought down the curtain on a breathtaking spectacle of sailing mastery. Featuring a staggering lineup of 246 boats, 1,100 sailors, and close to 100,000 onlooking visitors, this event was a remarkable display of maritime splendour. Upon its conclusion, almost twenty divisional champions were joyfully crowned. Raymond Roberts from Team Hollywood was among the victors, even graciously acknowledging his victory ahead of the final day of racing which was regrettably cut short due to storm threats.

Notably, the co-skippers of Clockwork, Andrew Lloyd and Mary Ann Harvey, clinched the overall win on IRC in Passage Rating Division 2. The ORC winner in this division was Wicked, co-skippered by the Welsh brothers, Mike and Mark. A splendid display was also put forth by Ginan, guided by sailing duo Nigel Jones and Cam Mckenzie, who impressively secured an almost flawless scorecard to clinch victory on AMS.

Notwithstanding the disappointment stemming from the early termination of the contest due to stormy weather, the participants and spectators alike savoured the ones-in-a-lifetime experience. The Geelong-based event, one of the highlight fixtures of the Australian yacht racing circuit, has continued to inspire generations of sailors with its unique blend of competition and camaraderie on the high seas.