State championships at Rhyll

Over the Labour Day long weekend, the sleepy township of Rhyll, with its laid-back yacht club nestled in the base of the cliff, was abuzz with sailing boats.

The club hosted the state championships for both the Pacer and 125 sailing dinghies.

Visiting boats also travelled from all over the state to enjoy the wonderful waters of Westernport.

The weather conditions over the weekend proved to be ideal for racing (although hot when off the water).

At first, the uncharacteristic northerly gave the sailors an easy 10 knot breeze, but other racing sessions tested the sailors and their boats with gusts reaching 20 knots.

The final Monday session saw a light breeze, reminding sailors how tricky the high flowing tides of Westernport can be.

With a total fleet of 33 boats, the horizon was awash with bright colours as the boats launched their spinnakers for the down-wind legs.

The Rhyll Yacht Club skilfully facilitated the races, with four sessions held across the weekend.

These sessions needed to be carefully timed around high tide to allow the boats to launch and recover safely.

Recent changes to the boat ramp by Better Boating Victoria now makes launching and recovery of sailing dinghies at low tide impossible.

While the weekend went extremely smoothly, this was only possible due to the tireless efforts from the club's volunteers.

The regatta took six months of planning, with two teams headed up by Phillip Island locals.

Murray - with a team of 16 - took charge of all off-water activities, ensuring the visitors were all organised and supported.

While Malcolm - with a team of 15 - sorted out all the on-water racing activities.

As the Rhyll Yacht Club is only a small club, they were able to also rope in some additional helpers from the Newhaven Yachting Squadron and Albert Park Yacht Club.

The club is incredibly grateful for their support and for the race management boat offered by the Newhaven Yachting Squadron.

If you are interested in exploring the very family friendly sport of sailing, any of the sailing clubs on the island will welcome you.

Rhyll Yacht Club has sailing scheduled over the Easter weekend so drop in and say hello, the local sailors would be more than happy to discuss the best way to get into sailing.