I've sailed out of the Goolwa club a few times back when I raced 18 foot catamarans. And had a long evening at the club's bar just a couple of months ago! They're a friendly bunch down there.
The most action tends to occur off the start and at the buoy roundings when the boats will tend to bunch up and life gets a bit hectic. There's also more activity with spinnackers going up or down depending on the mark. The afternoon sea breeze down there will tend to die down over the course of the twilight races.
The club has a mix of fiberglass trailer sailers and a fleet of traditional wooden racing boats (Restricted 21's) styled on 'couta' fishing boats that have been restored and are racing regularly. The boats going under the bridge look to be Restricted 21's and were likely built somewhere between 1900 and the early 1950's. The boat with SA03 on the mainsail is sailed by a friend of mine from my cat sailing days.
There's a couple of big fleet races early in the new year that will attract lots of boats: dinghies, cats and trailer sailers. There is also a wooden boat festival held in March that gets good support.
PS: for those not familar with Goolwa, the boats are racing in freshwater at the very bottom of the Murray River which is Australia's longest river system. The river mouth is about 3 or 4 miles downstream from where these boats are racing. There is a barrage and lock system to create a large freshwater lake system which is held at about 3 feet above sea level.
Last edited by southlander; 12-06-2015 at 09:48 PM.
Reason: Factual corrections and update