It was a challenging start to the Sandringham Yacht Club’s premier multi-class event today as Port Phillip saw a glass-out on Day 1 of the Sail Sandy Regatta.
The majority of classes achieved a single race in extremely light conditions, while the Green Fleet was able to finish three races, the one-design J24 fleet finished the day without completing a race, and the foiling classes including the kitefoilers and WASZPs had racing abandoned due to light winds.
Sail Sandy has always been a key milestone in the Victorian sailing calendar and has been running now for 22 years, neatly positioned as an unofficial starting point for the summer and the lead up to major national regattas.
Sandringham Yacht Club sailing manager James Sly, who is also acting as the principal race officer this weekend, said the regatta was an important part of the club’s sailing program.
“Sail Sandy is in its 22nd year, we’re looking forward to getting underway back in the October slot which is when we normally run it and holding a good regatta for all the competitors that have come along and supported us,” Sly said.
“The weather was beautiful today, just not for sailing unfortunately, the weather in Melbourne hasn’t been so flash over the last three days, yesterday was really windy and two days before that there was a heap of rain, which has caused a heap of current, up to four knots of current coming out of the Yarra.”
With just a single race on the board for the majority of classes, there remains a lot to play out on the final day tomorrow, however some sailors have already made their mark.
Indented Head and Sorrento sailor Aidan Simmons kicked off the weekend with a race win in the ILCA 4 class, while Mornington Yacht Club’s Jack Eickmeyer took the race win in the ILCA 7 fleet and Sorrento’s Riley Cantwell won in the strong ILCA 6 fleet.
Sandringham’s Jon and Leo Holroyd in ‘The Antz Pantz’ won the opening race in the 17-strong Tasar fleet, while Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry took the race win in the nine-boat International 14 fleet.
Simon Wilkins took the win in the Aero 9 fleet, Peter Milne took the win in the Aero 7s, and Grant Robinson finished on top in the Contender fleet.
In the International Cadet and 29er fleets it was a double for the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, with Lulu Di Sciascio and Chloe Allen in ‘Wildcard’ winning the opening Cadet race, and Elliot Hughes and Khan Harris Moore in ‘Discount Yachting’ winning the 29er race.
Mordialloc’s Corrado Dorrington took the opening race win in the Open Skiffs/Bics, Sandringham’s Sam Henderson took the Optimist Open win, Black Rock’s Caspar Thompson won the Optimist Intermediate race, and Sandringham’s Oliver Leighton sits atop the Green Fleet standings with three wins from as many races.
Racing will continue from 10am local time tomorrow with no race able to start after 3pm, which the race committee hopes will be enough time to make up the lost races.
For full results and more regatta information, head to www.syc.com.au/sail-sandy
