Sometimes sailing adventures just happen and the Gove Sailing Regatta was just such an adventure.  What started as a discussion between sailors at the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association (DBCYA) bar after a wet season race, planted a seed to host a regatta at the Gove Boat Club (GBC). Little did anyone realise how popular it was going to become!

GBC is situated on the Gove Peninsular on the north eastern tip of Arnhem Land on the Gulf of Carpentaria making it one of the most remote sailing clubs in Australia.  The Club provides a social and recreational outlet for the small mining town of Nhulunbuy and the surrounding aboriginal settlements.

Getting to Gove is a challenge on its own with either four or more days sail across the top end from Australia, or a two day, 1,000km, four wheel drive trip over one of Australia’s roughest dirt roads through Arnhem Land.  For those who can’t afford the time to sail or drive, there are also a daily flights between Darwin and Nhulunbuy by a local airline that services the mine and town.  

Accommodation is available in the form of a new camp ground with modern facilities built in the club grounds or hotels in Nhulunbuy.  Most of the sailors and families bought their tents or camper trailers and camped at the club to be close to the action and enjoy the wonderful GBC hospitality. Others stayed in Nhulunbuy for the comfort of hotel dining and a swimming pool.  As part of the regatta package the GBC provided very useful information on how to get to Gove and how to arrange permits to travel through Arnhem Land as travel is restricted in Aboriginal Land.

Late-September, approximately 100 adults, children (and a few dogs) made their way from Darwin by road, sea or air to Gove to compete in the first Gove Regional Regatta.  The regatta included a Sports Boats, Lasers & Cruising divisions.

Due to the unexpected popularity of the event 12 Lasers were packed onto three trailers and transported from the Darwin to Gove via barge as they had run out of boats!  Sea Swift is a Darwin based Barge Company, running a regular barge service between Darwin and Gove, and was a major sponsor of the regatta.  Sea Swift provided transport for the Darwin Lasers as part of its generous sponsorship. The Darwin Lasers added to a GBC owned fleet of 11 gave a competitive fleet of 23 Lasers across all rigs.  

The Sports Boat division was sailed using GBC’s new fleet of 4 x Fareast19R.  Six teams from Gove and Darwin competing in a round robin format rotating the crews through the four boats over 15 races.  

Finally there was the Cruising Division consisting of keelboats and large multihulls. A few had made the 496NM journey all the way from Darwin in order to be a part of the event and there was a large contingent of Gove based boats providing a good 13 boat fleet.  

The regatta was sailed on the beautiful waters of Melville Bay in front of the club, an area that is well known for its good fishing and large crocodiles, adding some extra excitement to the event.  The racing was over three days from 26 to 28 September with the Lasers and the Fareast’s completing five races each day.  The cruising division sailed longer courses around the harbour and did one race per day.  

The Laser and Fareast courses were set as windward leeward with two laps of the course for each race.  To take advantage of the more consistent afternoon breeze the racing started after lunch.  Due to limited timeframes races were kept short with 15- 20 minutes per race.  Both fleets sailed on the same course at the same time with the Fareasts having a slightly longer course.  

The Laser starts were hotly contested with the fleet bunched together as they headed up the first leg of the course only to meet the Fareasts having rounded the top mark heading back down the course under full spinnaker.  This resulted in some unwanted wind shadows and obstructions for the Lasers whilst the Fareasts had their work cut out dodging the seas of Lasers heading upwind.  Rules were adhered to and there were no serious incidents.  

The short races proved to be popular for the Laser sailors with all rigs racing together, using the yardstick to determine the final results.  After three days of racing with 15 races and two discards the final results in the Laser fleet were;
1st    Holly Ranson (Radial) 
2nd    Aden McGrath (Radial)
3rd    Phil Toonson (Standard) 

The Fareast division had each team completing 10 races from a possible 15 as crews rotated through the boats. Teams varied from 3-4 sailors. Racing was close with the places changing each leg.  Final results after 10 races with no discards were;
1st    Michelle Batenburg (DSC) 
2nd     Michael Smith (GBC) 
3rd     Claire Hall (DSC) 

In the cruising division there was a mix of multihulls and monohulls in all kinds of shapes and sizes.  Handicapping was good with close results across the fleet. Cruising completed 3 races with no discards. Final results were;
1st    Liquidity II, Robyn Dix (DBCYA) 
2nd    Nautilus Darwin, John Punch (DSC) 
3rd    Varlee, Paul O’Hara (GBC)

After the final race on Monday Lasers were loaded back onto the trailers ready for the barge trip back to Darwin and the visiting cruising boats were re-fuelled & re-stocked ready for the sail home.

The 2020 Gove Regional Regatta was the highlight of the DSC juniors sailing season. Gove Boat Club’s campground turned into a tiny village of sailors all laughing, sailing and enjoying the holidays together. The juniors reported that it was exhilarating to compete against so many Lasers on the spectacular Melville Bay. The shifty and gusty conditions made for a fun challenge, and the short twenty minute races and busy start lines meant racing was always tight-knit and exciting. We felt very welcomed by Gove Boat Club and made some great new friends. A big thank you to all of the hard-working volunteers, sailors and members at GBC who put together this unforgettable experience!

Following the regatta the GBC hosted a wonderful presentation evening in the clubhouse. Prizes and trophies were awarded to winners and various sailors for outstanding actions or novelty incidents. The many valued sponsors were recognised and hardworking club members and officials thanked for their wonderful efforts in making the regatta possible. Everyone had a great time and the presentation evening continued on into the night with some hopeful stars taking over the karaoke system. 

On 29 September most sailors who drove to Gove headed back home knowing that they had 675km of rough dirt road ahead of them before seeing any bitumen. Some opted to stay in the area for a while with permits obtained to explore the beautiful remote beaches the area has to offer. 
The barge landed in Darwin on 5 October with all Darwin Lasers aboard. There are still a few yachts on their journey home enjoying the last of the good weather before the Territory Wet Season kicks in and the sailing opportunities wind down.

The inaugural Gove Regional Regatta was a great success attracting a large number of sailors of all persuasions and classes.  The regatta was professionally run with excellent race management and top class facilities.  Everything was considered with bacon & egg rolls on sale each morning, a jumping castle for kids ashore during the day and a campground with the best view around.

Many thanks to the Gove community who embraced the opportunity to support the regatta and notch up many firsts – be it starting a race, entering race results, even maiden races.  However the efforts of Brad Smith, Commodore GBC and the clubs committed volunteers must be noted as they planned and delivered a wonderful Regatta in seven months! 

The Gove Boat Club is a friendly, top class venue with a location that is the envy of sailing clubs everywhere.  GBC plans on making this a regular event, so if you want some great sailing in one of the friendliest and most remote clubs in the Australia, come to Gove for the next Gove Regional Regatta you won’t regret it.

Some fun facts from the event:
•    Sailors ranged from 9 to 70+yrs 
•    Laser sailors ranged from 13 to 68 years old
•    11 Laser sailors were 13 to 16 year old
•    Master sailors made up another 11 Laser sailors 
•    6 lasers had children competing against their parents
•    4 Lasers had siblings competing against each other.
•    Fareast fleet had 5 x husband/wife combos
•    Women outnumbered men in the Fareast fleet