Sport
6 November, 2025
Challenging conditions greet sailors at annual regatta
The Stawell Yacht Club held its annual Sailing Regatta on Lake Fyans last weekend with competitors travelling from South Australia, Southwest Victoria, Langwarrin and Melbourne.
WRITTEN BY TONY HILLIER
Light winds on Saturday made for some tough racing conditions for the competitors. One wrong tack or gybe while sailing the set course meant you could lose ground quickly and end up at the back of the field with little chance of clawing your way back into the lead group.
Both Monohulls and Catamarans were well represented, with a variety of designs being sailed. By using a well-tested international handicap system, boats of different designs can race against each other and finish at different times, but ultimately, the winner is calculated by how well each design boat has been sailed on the day.
With three races being sailed on Saturday and another two on Sunday, competitors had to maintain consistent performance to ensure they could be in the winning group.
By the end of Saturday racing in the Catamaran class, only two points separated the first three boats, with Mark Richards from Torquay sailing a Hobie 14 being in first place on four points, Steven Cobden sailing his Taipan on five points and Robert Lott from Romsey on six points.
After two more races on Sunday, the eventual winners in the Catamaran class were Steve Cobden on six points in first place, Mark Richards in second place on seven points and Robert Lott in third place on nine points.
In the monohull class, Impulse sailor Johnathon Pulham from Cheltenham was extremely consistent, winning three of the four races and ending up on three points. Second place was taken out by Stawell sailor Ross Bennett on eight points, and Horsham sailor and Stawell YC member Steve Marcroft took out third place on 10 points.
Huge credit goes to Lou Hollis, who spent long hours in the rescue boat to take some excellent photos of the Regatta.
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