Video: Sailing regatta on land! Signature Australian Madness
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Blue sea, blue sky, wooden yachts - what a beauty! Imagine that you live in the heart of the driest continent in the world, but you really love sailing regattas … What to do? Go far away to the sea? No, this is not the Australian method. Much more fun and original - to conduct sailing regatta directly on land! No, these Australians are definitely crazy.
Perhaps, the most unusual sailing regatta in the world takes place on August 20, annually since 1962. It was then that the local eccentrics from the Rotary club (Rotarians are a rather strange social movement, whose symbol is a gear, and the slogan is "Service above ourselves") gathered in the town of Alice Springs and decided not to go to the sea. And to do a regatta right here - in the sand of a local long-dried rivulet called Todd. The name of the races - Henley-on-Todd - refers to the famous Henley-on-Thames regatta.
The sailing vessels participating in the races have a metal frame, a banner on it and several people carrying this structure. The sail is a complete props. After the regatta, there are still troughs running: water is poured in the racing trough and the thinnest member of the team is sitting. In the final stage of the races, special trucks with cannons participate: they drive and shoot bombs from flour anywhere. They can even get into the municipality, which has happened many times. Regatta participants are traditionally divided into two teams - "Pirates" and "Vikings".
Do you also think that this is complete madness? And the people like it. Henley-on-Todd sailing regatta attracts thousands of guests from all over the world, including celebrities who are happy to rush in troughs along the dry river. Among them, probably, was once the great British science fiction writer, Sir Terry Pratchett - he portrayed cheerful Australians and their crazy sailing regatta in the book "The Last Continent".
The participants of the regatta move quite briskly, even though the sea is 1,500 kilometers away: the Australians are a strong people! In the entire history of competitions, there was one case when they were canceled. This happened in 1993: due to flooding. Indeed, what an idiot would float on a river if it was full of water!
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