Sailing Velella to Victory at the Moreton Bay Seawind & Corsair Rally 2025
After 6 weeks sailing Velella (our Seawind 1200) on the Great Barrier Reef, Nicola and I returned to Brisbane on the Friday afternoon just in time to join the Brisbane 2025 Seawind Regatta. The Meet and Greet at RQYS, which kicked off the regatta was a lovely way to meet Seawind owners we didn’t know and reconnect with others.
Saturday morning and event 1 tested ours and everyone else’s light wind skills, with the fleet sailing to Horseshoe Bay at Peel Island for lunch. Yachts with carbon fibre sails and crews with racing experience performed best. Following lunch, event 2 brought stronger winds (20-25kn), allowing the yachts starting at the front of the fleet (including us) to hold their positions in front of the yachts with later start times (based on handicaps). This resulted in the finishing order of events 1 and 2 being very different, with 6 yachts tying for the overall 3rd position based on order only.
After a slight delay while we all waited for a storm to pass, a terrific day of sailing was celebrated in the RQYS Long House at Canaipa Passage. It was a fun evening socialising with other Seawind owners, sharing stories and experiences.
With Velella being the oldest (2002) Seawind in the regatta, and probably the heaviest, we were super surprised and honoured to be announced the winner of the regatta overall. Our new Seawind jacket will come in very handy! Although we have done a lot of cruising, including two circumnavigations of Australia, this was only our second Seawind regatta. Inspired by the camaraderie, and the opportunity to test our boat and ourselves against others, we’ll be back for more!
Velella has been in our family since we took delivery of her on Sydney Harbour in 2002. She was in the bareboat charter fleet until our first circumnavigation of Australia in 2012. We then purchased Velella from my mother and since 2016, Velella has supported our family business which combines sailing with marine science where hundreds of people have experienced the joys of sailing a Seawind. Our Seawind 1200 is a fabulous cruising yacht and we have just proved that she can be competitive in regattas.
Thanks to Seawind Catamarans, Multihull Central and Barracouta Sails for supporting this great event, and we look forward to the 2026 regatta.