Geographe Bay Race Week 2026 - Day 4
by TP72 Nautical Imagery 20 Feb 04:28 UTC
14-20 February 2026
Having spent Wednesday's layday enjoying the gastronomic delights of the Margaret River region, our intrepid Raceweek seafarers reconvened at Geographe Marina bright and early on Thursday morning, marking the beginning of Day 4 of racing. A light 2-3 knot easterly wind had settled in overnight, promising a warm day and potentially a long, slow day on water.
However, help was at hand...
As the race committee boarded the start boat for the journey out to the race area, a mysterious, confident and bearded figure could be seen joining the throng of officials.
Soon after, the Division 1, 2, 3 & 4 boats had revved up their engines and exited the marina, forming a conga line behind the Challenger start boat and making a beeline for the end of the Busselton Jetty - then a call came over the VHF channel.
"It looks like we have a north westerly breeze coming in off the Cape." That mysterious figure (seen earlier) was none other than regatta maestro and famed WA 'wind whisperer' Ron Jensen - and guess what? Ron was right!
Before the tailenders could arrive in the start area, the highly skilled mark laying team had dropped in a mile long windward-leeward course and our well-caffeinated Race Officer 'Dubbo' White, had put Division 1 into sequence! By half past ten all four fleets were off and racing in a gentle 5-8 knot breeze and heading to the top marks.
All was going well until the rising air temperatures began to summon an early seabreeze which then began fighting the zephyr coming off the Cape - of course, chaos ensued!! Whilst the frontrunners were nearing the bottom gate in a steady nor' westerly, the breeze across the rest of the course began to peter out. In the interest of everyone's sanity, a decision was quickly made, and the shortened course flag went up.
Division 1 finished in good time with Divisions 2 (the Super 30s) and 3 (S 97s) also in the mix, but Division 4 had more than a few problems but everyone got back down the course (eventually!) with the Spacey 27s mounting a rear-guard action and elegantly drifting across the finishing line before midday, just as two short blasts of the start boat horn signalled the raising of the AP.
By this stage of proceedings, all nine divisions had taken to the water and you could literally 'feel the serenity' of the Geographe Bay 'glass off.' Once again, Ron came to the rescue - "Don't worry, the north westerly will be back."
Whilst crews ate a well-earned lunch, hydrated and cooled off in the tranquil waters of the Bay, the breeze began creeping in across the racetrack yet again, with the building 5-10 knot 'Cape Westerly' set to fuel yet another amazing afternoon of sailing.
The various fleets began lining up for a start just after 1 pm and were soon gallivanting towards Cape Naturaliste on the afternoon's scheduled passage race. Racing took the fleets from a Jetty start out towards Dunsborough before a graceful kite run back to the turning mark in front of the clubhouse and then back through a series of marks along the picturesque Geographe coast and back to the finish at the end of the Jetty.
All the fleets finished in good time, helped home to the marina by the seabreeze that came in as scheduled at 4 pm - unbelievable!!!
Sadly, tomorrow brings Raceweek 2026 to an end but not before one final passage race in the morning and presentation lunch at the Geographe Bay Yacht Club.
Stay tuned for more updates and photos. Visit www.gbyc.com.au/raceweek