Metung Yacht Club (MYC) recently hosted competitors in the Flying Dutchman 2026 Australian championships regatta, and ran it concurrently with their own Etchells 2026 East Gippsland Championship.
The regatta was held on Lake King over the January long weekend, with 13 boats entered, including two New Zealand teams.
The sailors competed on an Olympic-style triangle course, with one nautical mile legs and two returns.
Two young sailors from MYC paired up with visiting FD sailors to compete. Wayne Smith paired up with Michael Wood on Woosh and Charlie Edwards paired with Nick Meijer on Circus Oz.
Another MYC sailor, Mark Henger, paired with New Zealand based Matt Bismark to contest the championship. The pair are the 2025 Australian and New Zealand champions.
Unfortunately a broken mast in race five saw them retire. Henger and Bismark finished sixth on the series board.
The championship was won by Mornington-based pair, Matt Draper and Thomas Stuchbery.
In the Etchells contest, it was mostly MYC boats lining up at the starting line.
After three days and six races, the Etchells 2026 East Gippsland championship was won in convincing fashion by 2024 champion Ireland Girl, crewed by Jack Abbott, Xavier Winston-Smith, James Mclennan and Hamish McKendrick.
Runner-up was the locally-based Kelpie, owned by Bentley and Toby Conn, who had Jack Felsenthal and John Warren as crew.
Into third place sailed another local boat, Leading Edge, with Fred Haes, Jeff Rose and Will Crooke on board.
By Jeanette Severs
