2026 ICWDR – Report

This year we celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the Australian Sailfish and it all went nearly completely perfectly. The weather behaved, we had lovely sunny days with light to moderate winds, we had great opportunities to catch up with old friends both on and off the water, and we all had fun!
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You can find the pictures from the weekend here:
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Friday
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Our original plan was to have a social sail on the Friday but as it turned out that didn’t quite work out as we had hoped. For various reasons a few people who had expected to be there in time on the Friday couldn’t make it and while the wind was perfect for old blokes on old boats the tide had other ideas. In the end five of us hit the water late morning and headed off in the direction of Point Smythe. However when we got there we discovered that the run out tide was so strong that there was no way we could head up the Inlet as we had originally planned. I was literally standing still at the channel marker facing upstream, so we abandoned that plan and just had a bit of a sail around instead.
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Friday night saw all the Sailfish mob gather at the Esplanade Hotel for a 70th Anniversary dinner together. The pub looked after us all really well and it was a great chance to sit around and catch up with people, some of whom we hadn’t seen for years, if not decades, but who all knew each other thanks to their involvement with the Australian Sailfish.
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Saturday
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A perfect start to the regatta, winds light to moderate, sunshine and a run out tide that hit low tide about half past three, so no worries about leaving gear on the beach. While quite a few of the Sailfish mob had dropped their boats off on Friday afternoon there were still a lot of other boats arriving on Saturday morning so we arranged ourselves along what quickly became know as Sailfish Alley to make room for all the others.
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Registration, followed by getting all those boats down onto the beach, lunch and then a race briefing for the afternoon session. Sailfish were to be first division off followed by two other divisions separated on Yardstick.
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Bentley on 874 led us home in Race 1 followed by Steven on 3400 and Chris on 1918. While that was the result for the Sailfish it was also the result for the overall placings, so a great effort by those three to sail better than yardstick.
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Race 2, same lovely sailing conditions, very similar result. Once again Bentley led the Sailfish home, this time from Jim French on 1806 and Steven Floyd on 3400. And once again Bentley was first in the overall placings, this time from Rob Hartnett (ex Sailfish skipper, just sayin’) in a Sabre and Jonathon Pullman in a Moth.
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Racing done for the day it was time to pack up and get ready for the Regatta Dinner, but first the Wonthaggi Brass Band was there to entertain us.
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Dinner was excellent, the club really turned it on, with good food and lots of it. There were prizes, there were quizzes, there was Simon being the MC and of course, with that many people in a tin shed, there was lots of noise!
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Sunday
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Another perfect day in Inverloch. The locals tell me it is always like this but I was here last year when the wind was blowing dogs off chains.
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Race 3 was ‘interesting’. Light winds from the east meant a clean and easy start but on the last lap, just after the front four Sailfish had rounded the wing mark the breeze faded out and then swung nearly 180 degrees. Of those following that top four Brian picked it first and headed off to grab the new breeze. I was next to realise what was happening and just got away with it, but behind me there was carnage. The combination of a strong run out tide, near dead calm then swinging winds caused some heartache. This time Chris Cleary on 1918 led the Sailfish home followed by Jim French on 1806 and Rob Champion on 1375. But the overall results went to Dan Bentley on a Flying Ant followed by Rob Hartnett in a Sabre and Craig Ginnivan in his Finn.
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Race 4, the wind had settled down and normal service was resumed. Bentley on 874 once again led the Sailfish home, followed by Steven Floyd on 3400 and Brian Carroll on 3461. Overall regatta placing were Bentley once again, followed by Steven and in third place Craig Ginnivan in the Finn.
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That was it for the sailing, then it was down to the presentations and the packing up bit. Unsurprisingly Bentley, with three firsts and a dropped 7th place won the Sailfish division and the Jack Carroll Memorial Trophy. He also took out the overall Regatta, winning the Dennis Ginn Cup. And how good was it that the Sailfish trophy was won by someone under 60? Second in the Sailfish was Steven Floyd with two second places, a third and a dropped fourth. This was also good enough for Steven to take second place in the overall placings as well.
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Best Presented Australian Sailfish – 2218 Westerly, built by Chris Cleary and sailed this year by John Dowzard.
Chris Cleary on the left and John Dowzard on the right. [By Greg Barwick, Inverloch, 14 February 2026]
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Best Presented Moth – 8797 Hot to Trot, built by John Dowzard many years ago, restored by Richard Milton and sailed by Christian Knott
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Overall Best in Show – 2042 Gwen 12, Aquarius, restored and sailed by Andrew Chapman
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People’s Choice – 92 Finn, Mickey Finn, restored and sailed by Craig Ginnivan
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Who was there?
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Please note that I haven’t listed our long suffering partners in the list below, as I am more likely to get those names wrong! But many of them were there, supporting us in our weird addiction.
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Those with Sailfish were:
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John Fairfax – 534 Slippery Sam
Bentley Conn – 874 Lucy
Rob Champion – 1375 Mrs Vicious
Jim French – 1806 Hustler
Chris Cleary – 1918 Janus
Greg Barwick – 2028 Bruce!
Mark Teasdale – 2200 Finn
John Dowzard – 2218 Westerly
Brett Ramsdale – 3274 Grub
David Thomas – 3314 Sally
Ken Maynard – 3334 Gonzo the Great
Dale Watson – 3365 Super Trooper
Steven Floyd – 3400 Gargle Blaster
Brian Carroll – 3461 Jack’s Toy
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Joining that lot was Australian Sailfish number 2 Debonair.
Debonair, Australian Sailfish number 2. [By Hayden Ramsdale, Inverloch, 14 February 2026]
This was Jack Carroll’s original Sailfish and the first one to use the sail plan that has been the standard ever since. Debonair is now off to a new home at the Albert Park Yacht Club where it will be on display with Olive, the very first Inverloch 11 footer, precursor to the International Moth.
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Plus we had 582 parked in Sailfish Alley and another one turned up that had detachable timber wings, although neither of those joined us on the water.
Australian Sailfish 582. If you know more about this one get in touch! [By Hayden Ramsdale, Inverloch, 14 February 2026]
A Sailfish with wings, sounds good to an aging body. If this is you do get in touch. [By Hayden Ramsdale, Inverloch, 14 February 2026]
To help celebrate 70 years, those of us on the water were also joined by:
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Lynnette Thatcher
Chris Drury
Hayden Ramsdale (who took a lot of our photos)
Ken O’Brien
John Vaughn
Peter Scott
Paul Murphy
Craig Conn
Chris Leyland
Brad Ginnivan
Craig Ginnivan (sailed his Finn)
Ian Urban (sailed a Moth)
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All Sailfish sailors at one time or another and that they all made the effort to be there is greatly appreciated. As John Dowzard said to me “we didn’t realise what strong bonds we were forming all those years ago”.
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And that is it for the Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta for 2026, see you there next year when we get to do it all again!