First Gove-Darwin

race set for July

The Gove Yacht Club, possibly one of Australia’s most remote and isolated yacht clubs, has announced its inaugural Gove to Darwin Arafura Sea Yacht Race.

To start from Gove at 1100 hours on Sunday, July 20, 1986, compet ing yachts should enjoy a reason ably fast run, with southeast trades on their port quarter, for most of the 486 nautical miles to Darwin.

Designed to act as a feeder race for the increasingly popular Darwin to Ambon International Ocean Yacht Race, the fleet should arrive off the Darwin Sailing Club at least eight (8) days before the start of that race. The Ambon Race will

start on Saturday, August 2.

The three nominated divisions are Racing, Cruising Division, and Mandatory Cruising Division. Cash prizes are being awarded for all three divisions.

Most of the entries are expected to be from the international cruising yacht fraternity, many of whom now make Gove a port of call after their westward passage across the Gulf of Carpentaria. Located in the northeast comer of Arnhem Land, in Australia’s Northern Territory, Gove is the port for the giant bauxite mine operated by Nabalco at nearby Nhulunbuy. Cruising yachties who have visited Gove

have always reported enthusias tically on the warm hospitality prof fered by the people of this remote mining community.

One definite contender in the race will be Evens, the former 1954 Sydney to Hobart winner. Now re-named Evergreen, she has been restored to her former glory by local yachtsman, Bill Gibson of Gove. In her first serious long-distance race since her halcyon days of the ’sos, Evergreen took out second place in both Line and Handicap Honors in the 1985 Darwin to Ambon Race.

The entry fee for this exciting race across some of Australia’s most remote northern coastline is a mere SA3O. Entries close on Friday, July 11, 1986.

For a formal Notice of Race, entry form and Sailing Instructions, prospective entrants should contact the Gove Yacht Club, P.O. Box 935, Gove, 5797, Australia, or telephone (089) 87-5347.