Two Great Options

This coming weekend the 7th and 8th of March there are two great opportunities to get your Sailfish out on the water.

If you are on or near the South Coast of NSW, or if you fancy a drive :-), there is the Wallagoot Lake Boat Club Regatta. This is an annual regatta on Wallagoot Lake timed to coincide with the Canberra Day long weekend each year. A few of us have made the trip in previous years and it has not disappointed on or off the water.

2026 WLBC Regatta

For those of us in Central or Western Victoria that are looking for something a bit closer to home, this year the Ballarat Yacht Club is hosting a new event. The Wooden Boat Day on Sunday the 8th of March is set to coincide with the annual Ballarat Begonia Festival. There will be chances to check out classic wooden boats and  there will be sailing. I understand that there will be a clockwise lap of the lake at 11am followed by lunch at the club and then an anti-clockwise lap of the lake. So if you are nearby and would like a day of social sailing rather than racing this might be the outing for you.

2026 Ballarat Begonia Wooden Boat Festival

I hope we will see you at one or the other.

And just some advanced warning, the Lake Boga Easter Regatta is now just four weeks away, there will be more on that soon!

2026 Paynesville Classic Boat Rally

The weekend of 27th February to 1st March saw the Paynesville Classic Boat Rally, an event that we enjoy once every two years down on the Gippsland Lakes. For the first time, this year saw the inclusion of a Classic Dinghy Regatta as part of the Rally, with two races on the Saturday and one on the Sunday.

The Australian Sailfish was there and the following is the report from our newest roving reporter, Rob Champion:

The Paynesville Classic (Biennial) Boat Rally hosted by the Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club was a roaring success attracting boats of all sorts from the Enterprize (tall ship) to trailerables of many vintages, to old timber 18 footers, to small dinghy’s, to model boats, to power boats, to rowing boats, boats of many shapes and sizes.

As usual, click on any image to see a larger version.

Like something out of a James Bond movie waiting to race off to Monaco! [By Rob Champion, Paynesville, 28th February 2026]

18 foot skiff Scot in the foreground with a bowsprit possibly longer than a Sailfish. [By Rob Champion, Paynesville, 28th February 2026]

A few of the model boats on display. [By Rob Champion, Paynesville, 28th February 2026]

Just a few (??) of the many attendees at this years Paynesville Rally. [By Rob Champion, Paynesville, 28th February 2026]

A St Ayles skiff and something a bit smaller, just a taste of what was there. [By Rob Champion, Paynesville, 28th February 2026]

Enterprize making her way across the lakes using the iron sail. [By Rob Champion, Paynesville, 1st March 2026]

Timber dominated, but fibreglass and metal was represented as well. And the place was packed with visitors, particularly on Saturday. Hardly a parking place anywhere to be found. There were lots of displays and events organised by local community groups and catering was sensational

Sailfish reps were James Robinson (son-of-a-gun, Jim) on recently acquired Yellow Peril (3234), Brian Carroll (son-of-a-well-known-gun) on Jack’s Toy (3461), Rob Champion on Mrs Vicious (1375), and on Sunday David Thomas on Sally (3314). James was also on deck over the weekend as a member of the GLYC support team.

Our four brave Sailfish skippers at Paynesville this year, sporting the latest in sailing fashion. Rob Champion, Jamie Robinson, Brian Carroll and David Thomas. [By unknown, Paynesville, 1st March 2026]

It’s amazing how many onlookers and sailors come along at these events to admire the ‘fish and say “I learned to sail on one of these when I was a kid”, or “my brother had one” or “a mate had one”.  I had a dozen or so say something like this to me over the weekend and I wasn’t really standing around near Mrs V for any length of time.

“I used to sail one of those”, admirers checking out Mrs Vicious. [By Rob Champion, Paynesville, 1st March 2026]

Not a bad view, Gippsland Lakes in the early morning. [By Rob Champion, Paynesville, 28th February 2026]

This year the Rally included a dinghy regatta for the first time with two single triangle races on Saturday afternoon and a two-triangle race on Sunday. Sailfish dominated the numbers: probably only a dozen or so boats raced with all ‘fish (3 Saturday, 4 Sunday) competing. With short, quick races a good start was vital.

Brian showed the way in Race 1 with a near perfect port end start although James picked a good line with a bit of tidal current coming into play and was hot on his tail at the first mark. Brian held on from James and Rob. In Race 2 Rob took a leaf out of Brian’s book and used a port start to get away and win from Brian and James. The start of Race 3, on Sunday, was similar to Race 2 with Rob off the line in front. Unfortunately for Brian he headed for the wrong mark which set him back a long way. Rob went on to win from James, Brian and David. Rob ended up with the silver tray for Division 1.

It’s a pity more dinghy sailors didn’t race. I would thoroughly recommend considering the 2028 Rally and we could dominate with a big “swim” of ‘fish.

So there you have it, sounds like we need to be making plans for 2028 🙂

Just in, a few on water shots of our Sailfish at Paynesville on Sunday the 1st of March, enjoy!

Rob on 1375 getting serious for a race start (I think). [By unknown, Gippsland Lakes, 1st March 2026]

Jamie on 3234 Rob on 1375 obscuring David on 3314 behind him and Brian on 3461. [By unknown, Gippsland Lakes, 1st March 2026]

And either Rob is practising a race start or the others are taking a more leisurely approach. [By unknown, Gippsland Lakes, 1st March 2026]

Jamie on 3234 around the start boat. [By unknown, Gippsland Lakes, 1st March 2026]

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2025 at the Wallagoot Lake Boat Club Regatta.

It is just after the race start and there are Lasers, there are Maricats, there are Sabres and in amongst them are the Australian Sailfish. On 874 we have Bentley, Ian is on 2192, Warren is on 2182 and Rob is on 1375.

In 2026 the Wallagoot Lake Boat Club Regatta is on Saturday and Sunday the 7th and 8th of March. This is a stunning venue with great sailing and a friendly welcoming club. If you can fit it into your schedule it is well worth the trip.

Details here:

2026 WLBC Regatta

Photo by Tony Hastings, Wallagoot Lake, 8 March 2025.

A busy few weeks ahead

While the 2026 Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta is done and dusted, there is still a lot happening out there for the Sailfish to be involved with.

Next up, this coming weekend the 27th of February to the 1st of March, we have the Paynesville Classic Boat Rally incorporating the Gippsland Lakes Classic Dinghy Regatta, you can see more details here:

2026 Paynesville Classic Boat Rally

Then the very next weekend, the 7th and 8th of March, we have two events. Firstly, for those that love a drive and the south coast of NSW we have the Wallagoot Lake Boat Club Regatta. This is a great venue and a welcoming club, well worth the visit, details here:

2026 WLBC Regatta

And on Sunday the 8th we have a new event on Lake Wendouree at Ballarat. The Ballarat Yacht Club is holding a sailing day to support the annual Ballarat Begonia Festival. This will be a chance to get out on the water for a social sail with a twist.

At 11 am we will set out from the club and sail a clockwise loop of the lake followed by lunch, then after lunch we will sail an anti-clockwise loop of the lake to finish up the day.

And that’s just March!

Sailfish are in the news

Last Tuesday, Brett, Leigh and Hayden all sent me copies of the following picture from the Monday edition of the South Gippsland Sentinel Times. Never mind the old bloke on the old boat, what a great article!

 

Then this morning Hayden sent me the following from this week’s edition of the South Gippsland Sentinel Times.

Now that is great publicity for the Regatta and for the Sailfish. And well done to Bentley for leading the fleet home.

 

Race 4 and more!

Here are the last of the race photos from this year’s Inverloch Regatta for you to enjoy.

This year we were also visited by Aki Yoda, a Japanese micro-documentary maker who has generously shared some of his stills as well. These and a few other photos of different parts of the weekend are at the top of the 2026 ICWDR Gallery page to give a taste of what else was going on.

And with thanks once again to Hayden and all the others who have shared their photos from this year.

2026 ICWDR – Photos

2026 ICWDR Race 3 Photos

Are there for your viewing delight.

This was a challenging race, it started light but steady from the east and then after the first four Sailfish had made it around the wing mark the breeze faded right out before swinging nearly 180 degrees. That front four were in the right place at the right time to carry on to the finish. Brian Carroll picked the shift next and dived away from the race line to get it early. Then I noticed what was happening and made a similar move but everyone else behind us was really caught out, no wind, a runout tide and suddenly quite a few that thought they were going to lay the mark, weren’t. There was muttering.

Check out the photos here:

2026 ICWDR – Photos

I hope to have not just Race 4 up tomorrow but some other photos as well, see you then!

The 2026 ICWDR Report is up!

You can get there by either clicking on Events/Inverloch CWDR Reports/ 2026 ICWDR – Report.

Or, you can just click on this link instead:

2026 ICWDR Report

And my apologies for the asterisk at the start of each blank line. It has been done to create a bit of white space for easier reading. There has been a change to the WordPress software and if the line is left blank it removes it, creating a solid block of text.

There will be a better work around, I just haven’t found it yet.

More photos coming tomorrow.

SO much Happening!

If you thought that now that Inverloch was done and dusted for another year things would quieten down . . . . maybe not.

Just next weekend, starting Friday evening the 27th of February we have the Paynesville Classic Boat Rally, and I am told there will be dinghy races. Back in the day the Paynesville Easter Regatta was a must do for dinghy sailors from around the bay. Now it is a must do for lovers of wooden boats of all shapes and sizes, whether they are powered by wind, petrol, diesel or steam (electricity?).

2026 Paynesville Classic

The following weekend there is the Wallagoot Lake Boat Club Regatta. The lake is in a National Park on the south coast of NSW and is a fantastic sailing venue, but watch out for the jelly fish!

WLBC Regatta

What’s that? Wallagoot is a bit too far? Then especially for those of you in the Western Districts (looking at you Peter, Peter Warren and Chris) or if you are still recovering from gunwale bum after Inverloch, then this might be for you. On the same weekend as the Wallagoot Regatta (7th, 8th and 9th of March) Ballarat is holding their annual Begonia Festival and this year there is a sailing component.

On Sunday the 8th of March the Ballarat Yacht Club will be holding an on water event, definitely not a race, unless I get home first. At 11am the fleet will sail clockwise around Lake Wendouree before returning to the club for lunch. After lunch the fleet will once again sail around the lake, this time anticlockwise before returning to the club to wrap up for the day. Sounds like a fun, relaxed easy day out on the water.

Oh yeah, just one more thing, the photos for the second race at Inverloch are up on the website here:

Race 2 photos from the 2026 ICWDR

Enjoy!

Race 1 Photos for the 2026 ICWDR are up

There are some great photos in this lot, individual and group shots, including a very close finish.

And a request, if any of you have a copy of the Group photo that was taken on Sunday can you please forward it for inclusion. We have a couple already but a few people were missed at the ends 🙂

Enjoy, more coming tomorrow.