Regatta Report - Sail Melbourne 2025

The 4-day regatta at the end of November, saw our elite young sailors from DBSC head south to Melbourne for a World Class event that included many current Laser Olympians from foreign countries, as well as Australian dual gold medalist, Matt Wearne.

DBSC member final results

Our members performed exceptionally well. In the “7’s”, Campbell Patton, Julian Taylor and Healy Ryan were top 10 contenders. Zander Bijkerk had some bad luck with gear failure but was certainly around the pointy end for the regatta, and Hamish Crabb also had a great result.

In the ILCA 6, Sylvie Stannage finished 13th overall and Sara Bruce sailed well to finish 25th. Elouise Morgan bounced straight out of her study den to finish 44th out of the strong fleet of 53 boats.

In the 4.7, Olivia Aitken had a fantastic result stepping onto the podium for 3rd.

Full results for Sail Melbourne 2025 are here.

Conditions varied from light air to a honking 25 knot breeze that Port Phillip is renowned for in the final race.

Campbell Patton qualified for the final days’ 10-boat ‘shoot out’, having beaten Matt Wearne in one of the qualifying races, and he finished 8th overall which was a top effort. After the regatta, Campbell commented on the new Olympic scoring format and his program to achieve Olympic selection for Bermuda:

They are trialling a new Olympic format which has us doing shorter races but a few more per day, so day one we got three races. Day Two we got two races (in lighter air) and Day Three we raced a tiring four races and before they made the split for the final series. I was lucky enough to squeeze into the top 10, which gave me a shot at moving up the leaderboard.

So, this is how the final series works (and this is a proposed new Olympic format) ; instead of a medal race for the top 10, the points of everybody in the top 10 get consolidated so that 10th cannot be more than 18 points behind third and third can’t be more than nine points behind first. This gives everybody a ‘potential’ chance at a medal. The format has my approval, though I may be slightly biased because I benefited from this and finished seventh in a super light first final series race and eighth in a super windy second finals race in the fickle Melbourne conditions.

As for my ongoing Olympic campaign, it’s ramping up. I’m using the Aussie summer regattas to kickstart next year, where I’ll be competing in Hyeres, Kiel and LA World Cup events as well as the Worlds in Dublin, all in the first half of the year. My biggest limitations have been funding and a back injury but I am planning to work harder next year on both of these. I am not sure where I will end up basing my training in 2027, but most likely I’ll be between LA and Europe to keep up with competitors.

2027 is a key year because that is when I have to qualify Bermuda for the Olympics. This can be done at either the World Sailing Championships in Brazil or the Pan American Games (in Peru).

- Ian Tudball

Campbell Patton doing battle. Photo courtesy Sail Melbourne.