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The calibre of entries has also been impressive with a large number of the top class racers at the moment choosing to come to Geelong. The event has been on constantly evolving over the past ten years but it is in the past three years through the involvement of Skandia that the event has been able to reach new heights both on a sailing and event front.

'The racing programme was restructured for the 2006 as a result of comments given by our entrant's last year. They told us that it is a long way to come to Geelong for one race. That race is the historic Passage Race so this year we have made some changes that we believe has been really well accepted due to the high number of entries.' said Rob HAMPSHIRE, sailing administrator of the event.

'This year we should see a record number of boats competing in the historic passage race plus there are still the spectator boats. That's a really strong fleet. The restructure means that whilst there are still individual trophies for the Passage Race we have included the Passage Race as the first leg of many of the series races. The APC Logistics National, the Trailable Multihull, the Geelong Radio Cabs Multihulls, the Lou Abrahams Trophy. (SHS, Maxi, Super 30, S80, Teams), the Coca Cola Cruising A Division, Peck and Stokes Cruising B Division and Cruising C Division, the Classics & Thunderbirds. This makes the Passage race an integral part of this year's racing programme.

'We really think we have it right this year. We constantly seek feedback via forums and surveys and we think the strength of this year's entries means that the change has been well received.' HAMPSHIRE continued.

Skandia Geelong Week begins Wednesday 25 January with commencement of the prestigious Scotchmans Hill Series, the much awaited Maxi Challenge and the APC Logistics National Trailable Multihull Championships. Australia Day see the historic Passage Race will again be the feature of the days as a record fleet travel from the waters of Port Phillip to the Corio Bay. As the fleet arrives the action takes off on water of Corio Bay and continues through to Sunday 29 January.