About the Event
Join the Royal Perth Yacht Club for the Great Southern Lime Fremantle to Albany Race afterparty. From 5pm onwards, the club and race participants will be at Wilsons Brewing Co. celebrating the sailors.
About the Race
Royal Perth Yacht Club has a proud history with the Fremantle to Albany Race. It all began last century, in the 1950s, when several Perth yachting enthusiasts began discussing an offshore race, following on from the established Bunbury and Naturaliste Return races. Early obstacles to staging the race were primarily the lack of safety standards, as few boats at the time were equipped with self-draining cockpits and communication with competitors throughout the event was difficult.
Improvements in yacht design in the 60’s including the introduction of marine radio, heralded a new era in offshore racing in Western Australia.
The inaugural Albany Ocean Race commenced at 10am on Friday 15th March 1968, won by Commodore JB Fitzhardinge in “Theanna” in a time of 40 hours, 22 minutes and 18 seconds.
Since the inaugural event in 1968, over 320 brave teams have braved the 350 nautical mile journey and tackled the meeting point of two oceans at Cape Leeuwin, before heading into the Southern Ocean to finish in Albany. This event is unique in that the competitors traverse both the Indian and Southern Oceans and challenges crews to have a high navigational accuracy to hit the ‘corners’ all the way around.
In addition to competitive racing, the event will feature community festivities in Albany, ensuring all participants and visitors are part of this historic celebration.