The weekend of 18th and 19th February saw the 9th running of the Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta on Anderson Inlet. A total of 38 boats entered over the weekend, with a couple of regular participants coming down from NSW to sail. We were blessed with beautiful weather: temperatures in the mid-20’s – thankfully not as hot as initially forecast – and winds from the S to SE on the Saturday around 14kn and 10kn on Sunday. The infamous inlet current was fierce on race 1, but slackened off for subsequent races. Anderson Inlet itself shone like a jewel. The sea was so blue it was easy to imagine we had been transported to Fiji or the Cocos Islands!
LIST OF ENTRANTS
| Boat Type | Boat Name | Skipper Initials | Boat Type | Boat Name | Skipper Initials | |
| Sailfish | Bruce! | GB | Mirror | TL | ||
| Mirror | Lille Fugle | DB | Mirror | CM | ||
| Sailfish | Krista | DB | Mirror | Kokomo | LM | |
| Sailfish | Jacks Toy | BC | Sailfish | Goofey Bird | IM | |
| Gwen | Aquaris | AC | Sailfish | Jaguar | PM | |
| Sailfish | Janus | CC | Sailfish | Cobra | KO | |
| Sabre | Sibbo | JC | Minnow | JP | ||
| Sailfish | BC | Sailfish | The Grub | BR | ||
| Aquanaut | AC/DC | GC | St Kilda 8 | Maggie | MR | |
| Moth | Skeeta | GC | Impulse | Zephyr | SR | |
| Sabre | Custard | RF | Sabre | My Time | TR | |
| Sailfish | Hustler | JF | Sailfish | Brumby | MS | |
| Finn | Mickey Finn | CG | Skerrie | Arctic Tern | WS | |
| Impulse | AH | Sabre | White Lady | CS | ||
| Sailfish | Goofy Footed | WJ | Mirror | Lillian | ES | |
| Fireball | Bombora | JL | Sailfish | Dingo | MT | |
| Moth | Empire | MK | Mirror | Nemo | HO | |
| Cherub | Sandman | IK | Sailfish | Super Trooper | DW | |
| Shearwater | Shearwater | TL | Skerrie | Sjospray | SW |
Photos from the weekend are here – thanks to Andrew Young for these. Please contact simon.wilson@bigpond.com should you like a hi-resolution version of a photo.
Two races were held on the Saturday afternoon, the second race being declared the “Regatta Race” and the Ginn Cup awarded to first place. Warren Jones took line honours on Sailfish “Goofy Footed”. Two further races were held on Sunday, with the best 3 of 4 going to determine 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for the weekend series. Award presentations followed and a list of both race placings and ‘best in category’ awards is below.
On the Saturday evening, the regatta dinner was a sell-out success with around 90 guests catered for by our kitchen maestro Susan, with fantastic help from members and the Inverloch Venture Scouts. A selection of raffle prizes were drawn throughout the evening, a premium BBQ set was auctioned off, and a few sailing trivia questions presented by Matt, kept us all entertained whilst we enjoyed a tasty meal, good company and lively conversation!
PRESENTATIONS & AWARDS
| Award | Owner | Boat Type, Name | Presented By |
| Category Awards | |||
| Best Presented Racing Dinghy of an Australian Design, Plaque | Mark Rimington | St Kilda 8, “Maggie” | Leigh McNolty (SGYC) with Ian Turnbull (Rotary) |
| Best Presented Racing Dinghy of a non-Australian Design, Plaque | David Baskett | Mirror, “Lille Fugle” | Leigh McNolty with Ian Turnbull |
| Best presented Australian Sailfish, Perpetual Award | Ian Milton (Sailed by Warren Jones) | Sailfish, “Goofy Footed” | Leigh McNolty with Ian Turnbull |
| Best Presented ‘non-racing’ Sailing Boat, Plaque | Tony Landy | Shearwater, “Shearwater” | Leigh McNolty with Ian Turnbull |
| Best Moth Original or Restored, Perpetual Award | Matt Kiely | Skiff Moth, “Empire” | Leigh McNolty with Ian Turnbull) |
| Youth Trophy, Perpetual Award | Rowan Fairlie | Sabre, “Custard” | Leigh McNolty with Phil Clark (Bendigo Bank) & Ian Turnbull |
| People’s Choice, Plaque | Tony Landy | Shearwater, “Shearwater” | Leigh McNolty with Lyn Seymour (Lions) |
| Lions Best Overall Boat, Plaque | Mark Rimington | St Kilda 8, “Maggie” | Leigh McNolty with Lyn Seymour |
| Bendigo Bank Junior Encouragement Awards | Edith & Otis, Polly with AC, Bohdi & Rowan, Archie with GC | Simon Wilson (SGYC) & Phil Clark | |
| Race Series | |||
| Ginn Cup (1st Place Regatta Race) | Warren Jones | Sailfish, “Goofy Footed” | Simon Wilson |
| 1st Place (Overall race series) | Shaun Ritson | Impulse, “Zephyr” | Simon Wilson |
| 2nd Place (Overall race series) | Craig Ginnivan | Finn, “Mickey Finn” | Simon Wilson |
| 3rd Place (Overall race series) | Jim French | Sailfish, “Hustler” | Simon Wilson |
| Jack Carroll Memorial Trophy, (1st Sailfish, Overall race series) | Jim French | Sailfish, “Hustler” | Simon Wilson |
| Gwen 12 Challenge Cup (1st, Overall Race series) | Andrew Chapman | Gwen 12, Aquarius | Simon Wilson |
The 2023 Judging Panel Report by Leigh McNolty is available here.
The regatta weekend is very much about having fun, so Andrew Chapman’s donation of four ‘classic’ sailing club shirts went to sailors and crews who had ‘entertained’ (or perplexed, depending on one’s point of view!) us over the weekend. The lucky recipients:
- “Most People To Rig A Boat award”: Tony Landy plus 5 helpers on “Shearwater”
- “Best Capsize and Sinking award”: David Lawrey and Ian Knell on Cherub “Sandman”.
- “Most Entertaining Fill-in award”: Pete Kiely sailing on Matt’s Skiff Moth, “Empire”. Pete gathered a large crowd of onlookers before dinner!
- “Time Warp award”: Edith Stretch and Brother Otis on Mirror “Lillian”. Edith got her Saturday morning music recital timing mixed up with sailing and turned up late!
Putting on an event like this requires a lot of inputs – people’s time and labour, funding, in-kind donations and a large amount of planning and patience! Thank you to all our sponsors, our community partners, spectators, participants and of course, SGYC members. Without your combined support we wouldn’t be able to run this regatta.
We look forward to doing it all again in February 2024 and to welcoming everyone back to the 10th Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta.
Simon Wilson
Commodore |SGYC Inverloch