Audi Victoria Week: Facts and figures that will blow you away

Audi Victoria Week Passage Race. Image copyright Andrea Francolini/Audi Victoria Week.

by Di Pearson

Audi Victoria Weeks sails into Port Phillip this week and the facts and figures from the largest sailing event in the southern hemisphere are sure to blow you away.

The numbers

· 441 yachts crewed by more than 4000 sailors – a fleet 4 times larger than the 2009 Rolex Sydney to Hobart and the biggest fleet of any regatta in Australia

· If you were able to parallel park the fleet you would need a street more than 4km long – twice the length of Bourke St

· If all the masts were stacked vertically end on end they would reach 5200 meters into the sky – more than twice the height of Mt Kosciusko

· If all of the sails were laid out flat they would cover more than 220,000 square meters – an area 3 times larger than the MCG stadium footprint

· The fleet will carry more than 235,000 meters of rope – enough to stretch from Victoria to NSW or Melbourne to Mulwala

· When the fleet sails into the inner harbor of Corio Bay, the displacement of water is sufficient to rise sea levels by half a millimeter

Historical facts

· First held in 1844 and officially established in 1858 - Audi Victoria Week is Victoria’s oldest sporting event

· Predates the America’s Cup (1854)

· 17 years older than the Melbourne Cup (1861)

The Audi Victoria Week program commences in Melbourne with the Audi Docklands Invitational and the Audi King of the Docklands, prior to the fleet setting sail for Corio Bay in the historic Melbourne to Geelong passage race. The free program of activities includes live entertainment, roving performers, food and wine, art and craft markets, a free William Angliss Institute ‘Go Sailing’ program, the Bay FM fireworks spectacular and lots more along the Geelong waterfront.

Audi Victoria Week is proudly supported by Audi, the Victorian State Government, City of Melbourne and City of Greater Geelong.

Audi Victoria Week