As many as 87 boats entered with 80 facing the starting line at the 50th Victorian Sabre Championships held over the weekend of 15th and 16th February 2025 at Mt Martha Yacht Club on the southern end of Port Phillip Bay. Due to the 25 to 35 knots winds and big seas on Saturday, racing was postponed until Sunday. Saturday was then used to run a forum by an expert panel of top Sabre sailors sharing their expertise, with a focus on the mid and end fleet sailors.
On Sunday, Race Officer Mark Foster and the crew drawn from the 50 Mt Martha volunteers ran four consecutive races, each one using a U flag start to reduce the likelihood of time-wasting general recalls. It was testing 15 to 25 knots conditions: fronts coming through and big changes in wind speed and direction. Plenty of capsizes with some less experienced sailors wisely opting to head for shore.
At the end of the racing series, after a one race drop off, three skippers stood on 11 points: Hamish Cowell (current Sabre National Champion) from Blairgowrie YS, Mark Bloom from Darling Point SS in Qld and Alan Riley (four times Sabre National Champion) from McCrae YC. Each skipper had finished in top placings in the recent Nationals held in Perth in January 2025. Some classy sailors there.
The three-boat tie was resolved using the Racing Rules of Sailing A8.1 Series Tie. This put Mark Bloom first, Hamish Cowell second and Alan Riley third. Winner of the Ladies trophy was Phillipa Danks from the three Danks sailing family entrants. Overall results can be seen here.
Since this was the 50th year of Victorian Sabre Championships, a special trophy was awarded to the sailor who finished 50th. The trophy was called the Fettell award after Rex Fettell OAM who designed the Sabre over 50 years ago. Rex is also known for designing the popular Minnow.
With 80 boats on the starting line, the Victorian Sabre Championships is arguably the largest single state championships start in Australia. The fleet continues to grow for many reasons including the class inclusive culture. Sabres are relatively inexpensive and particularly well suited to Port Phillip Bay wind and waves conditions. This regatta included sailors from 14 to 82 years of age, over 25% of the fleet were female sailors and 36 trophies were awarded across six age divisions. Trophy winners can be seen here and photos from the event here.
Roll on the next 50 years.
