Over the years, I have competed in at least 10 Milang-Goolwa's on my race sailboard. Then the lake dried up, and the race had to be postponed, but fortunately, the drought broke and the water came back. SAKSA has a great history of running kiting events at Milang, and now that the event is back on again, what do you think about asking The Goolwa regatta club allowing kitesurfers to compete? The whole weekend at Milang for the race is always a great time, because they have bands, lots of food, and heaps of yachties, so maybe we should be in there too.

Milang - Goolwa Race
Milang to Goolwa 2012
Freshwater Classic
IT'S ON!
At last, after a 4 year wait, the Milang to Goolwa Freshwater Classic is on again. The event will be run on the weekend prior to Australia Day 2012

We will cruise to Milang on 21 January and race back to Goolwa on 22 January.

Please let all your sailing friends know the Race is on and once again it will be the freshwater event of the year not to be missed.

Please watch this page for further announcements:


www.gryc.com.au/

I'd be keen for sure.

The normal seabreeze at that time of year starts to kick in quite early, normally from about 1000 onwards. The first class of yacht kicks off at 0900, and the sailboards were let loose at about 1100. It's great fun because you overtake 200-300 boats! It used to be the biggest fresh water sailing event in the world. I remember sailing up next to a trailer sailor near Clayton, and the guys passed me a icy cold XXXX beer! The gusty winds only occurred around Clayton, but would be much better handled by a kite. The record was set by either a cat or a sailboard and it was around 1 hour, 20 minutes. Straight line distance is about 58kms, via Pt Sturt, so you would have to be prepared to kite for up to 3 hours. My experience with a kite is mainly on a twintip, and sometimes a surfboard. As this is a marathon, what would be the ideal setup?

muirs said...

Gusty much?

Either way, great to have water back down there! Freshwater Classic will be awesome, I'm more likely to be sailing in it.
I'm under the impression that the Alexandrina Classic (Goolwa-Milang race) run by the Victor & Milang Regatta clubs is being held in Feb and the wind would be a better direction.
Looking forward to a couple of big weekends at the Milang pub...

Where is the finish line exactly? Is the Clayton weir now open? or does the race finish at Clayton?

coastflyer said...

The finish line is normally east of the Hindmarsh Island bridge

Yeah, I was afraid you were gonna say that. There is a minor problem for kiters to cross under that bridge - there is not enough room.
I inspected the bridge when I was kiting around there a couple of years ago and I'm pretty sure its impossible to cross with a kite, no matter how you approach it. (please - feel free to prove me wrong - did anyone try crossing?)

So if kitesurfers were ever allowed to join the race, they can't go all the way.

Having said that I'd love to take part in it, so I hope issues such as this one can be resolved.

i'd be keen if the other juniors entered. . .

Danny

The down wind/cross wind events sound like much more of a kite friendly environment. It also sounds like you know what your talking about and who to get more information from. Any chance you can do the leg work for the SA kiting community and find out how a kiter could enter in these events.

Then post it so the rest of can make an informed decission. This far out from the event there may be a few kiters able to book it in. Might end up a great day out on the water.

martynbone said...

Think a few of us will be planning a few trips to Milang for some flat water/family fun goodness. The racing sounds like a great idea if the kiters are allowed to enter. Keen to give the yachts a run for their money (even the windsurfer)

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