Trevor Neate’s current Morning Mist boat.
Trevor’s father, Alf, with the first Morning Mist boat.
The Festival of Sails, the oldest and largest keelboat regatta in the southern hemisphere, brings a touch of nostalgia this year for Mornington Yacht Club’s Rear Commodore Trevor Neate. While the event has continued to run annually from Melbourne to Geelong for 181 years, 2024 marks the return of the Mornington to Geelong passage after a four-decade hiatus.
Mornington and Blairgowrie yacht clubs both have a history of taking part in the race to Geelong from the Mornington Peninsula through the 1960s to the ‘80s. This year Safety Beach Yacht Club joins the fleet departing from Mornington Yacht Club at Snapper Point on January 26.
Trevor recalls as a 12-year-old watching his father Alf set out for Geelong during a regatta in the 1970s, the proud owner and skipper of a 10.3m keelboat named Morning Mist. A glass reinforced plastic sloop designed by Sparkman & Stephens and constructed in Perth by Swarbrick Bros, the newly purchased S&S – its designers since famed for repeat America’s Cup success – was one of only two in Australia at the time. Fellow club member Peter McIntyre owned and raced the second S&S boat, Morning Matilda.
Growing up with the Mornington Yacht Club as his second home, Trevor’s lifelong passion for sailing saw the young teen enthusiastically join various crews in the annual race to Geelong. Trevor remembers the excitement of the regatta, with boats embarking from Mornington, Blairgowrie and Melbourne all seeming to converge in Corio Bay simultaneously, from which point the race was well and truly on.
This year, the tradition resumes when Trevor races his own 10.9m keelboat Morning Mist, the latest in a long line of Neate family boats sharing the original moniker. Competitors set sail for Geelong from Mornington Yacht Club at 9am on January 26. For more information, visit festivalofsails.com.au or morningtonyc.net.au
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