Albert Sailing Club's annual winter regatta for monohull dinghy classes was sailed on Melbourne's Albert Park Lake over the 23th and 24th June weekend. 70 boats sailed a series of six short course races across the three sailing sessions.  Jonathon Pulham from Albert Park Yacht Club in his Impulse Red Hot Chilli was the overall Regatta champion with top three finishes on Yachting Victoria yardstick  in all six races. Ron Fergusson from Albert Sailing Club brought his OK dinghy de ja vu out of retirement to finish second overall. In the junior classes the overall yardstick winner was the Open Bic Popeye sailed by Hamish Cowell from Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron with Matty Goss in the Optimist Assassin second junior overall.

This was a regatta where light wind skills and patience were required. The first 3 races were sailed in 2- 5 knot breezes, and the last three races late Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon in 5 to 10 knots. . The host club's race management and duty crew did well to fit in six races, with only 3 short postponements waiting for a breeze to arrive.

The largest fleet among the adult sailors was the Sabre class fleet, where there were a number of heat winners. The lake sailors finished on top in the Sabre class with Peter Ellis from Sugarloaf Sailing Club in the northern Dandenongs first overall with Geoff Saliba from Albert Sailing Club second overall and Geoff Dresser from Black Rock third.

The Division 6 grouping of 23 juniors in the Optimist class and 8 juniors in the Open Bic class boats made for the most hectic starts across the weekend. There were recalls in  a number of the races, and for the final race a "U" flag start had to be deployed after 2 general recalls. The junior Optimist sailors performed well, demonstrating the value of the weekly VIODA (Victorian Optimist class) training sessions being held across winter on Sunday afternoons from Albert Sailing Club. Matty Goss from Sandringham/Royal Brighton was the clear Optimist class winner with four firsts and two seconds. Callum Simmons from Indented Head Yacht Club on the Bellarine Peninsula finished second Optimist, Frank Cantwell from Royal Geelong third, and Haylee Archer fourth overall.

The Regatta is sailed as part of Albert Sailing Club's winter sailing season which continues with club races on Saturday afternoon's till late September. Full Regatta results and details of the winter program can be found on www.albertsc.org.au