Only 11 days until the start of the epic Goolwa to Meningie race from the end of the Murray river across the lower lakes of the Murray system in South Australia. Racing starts in Goolwa, from 8am for monohulls with cats starting at 11am, we race up the Goolwa channel, across the top of Lake Alexandrina, through the creek called the Narrows to Lake Albert and across lake Albert to finish at Meningie. This is the most adventurous off the beach race in Australia, at about 70km long its also the longest. The lower lakes throw up some serious chop to test your stamina and plenty of wind once the sea breeze settles in, for that reason would be single handed skippers must be experienced and wear helmets, all competitors must wear a high vis top, a torch and whistle as these lakes are up to 20km wide and would take some searching. For people thinking of doing this race for the first time, there are some definite things to avoid, I'm happy to point out the strategy to stay out of trouble and where not to get too close to shore. This part of the river and the lower lakes are about as full of water as they ever get and the carp numbers for some reason are also very low. So if your an experienced, adventurous sailor, looking for a full on race, that doesn't need to have a rescue boat within sight at all times come and have a crack at this fantastic race. Here's a video from a few years ago, the race doesn't always start with wind like this but every race I've done has ended with wind like this
https://youtu.be/eamfqNzcF08