“Disquiet” about earlier dates for Geelong’s Festival or Sails has prompted Royal Geelong Yacht Club (RGYC) to deny a bike race “bumped” the event from its usual schedule.
The festival will now run from 21 to 26 January before the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race the following weekend.
Festival chairman Peter Alexander revealed the date change on 22 July, saying it would allow for a “nine-day feast of sporting action” incorporating both events.
But in an emailed letter to members seven days later he sought to explain “the rationale for the move”.
“Firstly, let’s be very clear. The RGYC was not ‘forced’ to move the event, nor ‘bumped’ by the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR),” Mr Alexander wrote.
“The dates for the 2017 CEGORR were announced just two weeks ago as January 28 and 29 and clearly would have clashed with our original dates. We had been aware for some time that this may have been a possibility and had been pro-actively assessing our options.
“It would have made no economic or strategic sense, for either RGYC or Geelong or CEGORR for that matter, to run our event effectively in competition with the Cadel Evans event.”
The board and committee believed that the date clash “actually presented a positive opportunity to expand the festival”, Mr Alexander wrote.
“The new opportunity goes further in allowing us to lock in a set date for the event each year, being the second last weekend in January every year, regardless of what day of the week Australia Day falls on.
“Having certainty around our dates and being slightly earlier in January will assist in our bid to retain and attract sponsors, potentially capture more of the Sydney to Hobart fleet and will also be clearer of the end of school holidays across the country.
“Our new arrangement also allows us to expand the sailing action beyond the traditional four days and develop a broader range of competition, opportunities and attractions across classes.”
“Partnering” the Cadel Evans race would deliver enhanced economic benefits to Geelong and showcasing the region to an international audience, Mr Alexander wrote.
“We understand that not everyone will welcome the changes.
“However, we make no apology for making what we believe was a carefully analysed decision in the best long term interests of the event and the club and which will underpin our future growth and prosperity.”
The Festival of Sails includes the Southern Hempisphere’s oldest sailing regatta as well as a series of other yacht races and various onshore activities, traditionally including Australia Day celebrations.
