2010 REGATTA...

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Outback Spirit - Lake Eyre Yacht Club Regatta Lake Killamperpunna, Cooper Creek, from the 5th - 9th July 2010

2010 Results:
Unique Australian History - The Birdsville Track Race!

The Lake Eyre Yacht Club made history on 8 July 2010 by being the first in the world to conduct a yachting event along a road, in fact Australia's most iconic road the Birdsville Track!
The race developed from an idea the evening before to give the participants a taste of the type of cruising adventure that led to the formation of the Club that the Commodore would lead any willing participants on a sail through a heavily treed swamp to the Birdsville Track . Then an attempt would to be made to sail along the Track as far as possible. Participants first gathered at Treasure Island where a group photo was taken at Bob's Bluff. They then followed in single file through the swamp south of the island to the southern end of the Track's crossing of the Cooper. By this time excitement was building and another group photo was taken at the MV Tom Brennan, the punt that Tom Kruse used in the film "Back of Beyond".
Here the rules were laid out and Cath Hew appointed as time keeper on the assumption that her boat would finish first:

• There would be an off the road start
• Boats were as far as practicable to keep between road markers (it was later found that a small island had to be cicumnavigated using the road side ditch)
• Dragging, paddling and carrying were permitted but only when water was too shallow (found to be less than 50m of entire race)

[It is most likely that this event can never be repeated unless the Cooper floods to 1974 levels as, in 2012 following the reopening of the crossing, the SA Dept Transport built the Track higher effectively forming a dam which will burst through in narrower but deeper sections next flood.]

Presentation Night:

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David Godfrey
Jeff Southall
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Yacht club sails into history with a desert regatta The Age July 7, 2010 THE internet, a thirst for adventure and floods have put desert sailing on the global map. More than 200 people and at least 60 boats turned up for the Lake Eyre Yacht Club's first sailing regatta yesterday in remote desert country 845 kilometres north of Adelaide and a stone's throw from the Queensland border. Commodore Bob Backway organised the race when it became clear that floodwaters from Queensland and rare local rain would fill dry creeks and saltpan lake beds for the first time in 20 years. "It is so good to see so many people wanting to come and enjoy themselves in the desert. We've put desert boating on the map,'' Commodore Backway said. ''The internet has brought all these people together,'' he said of the club's origins online, pointing to the adults and children camped for the three-day regatta on a pastoral lease beside the lake, which is where the creek crosses the famous Birdsville Track. ''If you were here last year this would all be windblown sand; it was just barren,'' he says. Commodore Backway's wife, Doreen, says Lake Eyre is where they will sail next if it gets enough water. ''Everyone wants to sail below sea level on Lake Eyre so, when we can, that's what we'll do.'' AAP (Liza who was at the regatta)

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