Flying Dutchman Australian Championship 2026 - Day 3, Race 4
by Jeanette Severs 30 Jan 10:09 GMT
24-26 January 2026
With three races completed over two days, sailors contesting the Flying Dutchman 2026 Australian Championship were assured of a series.
And after two days of racing, there were a few sore bodies and a fair bit of gear damage being repaired - including on spinnakers and sails.
Race officer Dean Robson was aiming for a final three races on day three, with many sailors hoping for at least two - and three results giving each team the option of dropping one race in the series.
They were also contending with another racing fleet of Etchells contesting the 2026 East Gippsland Championship, on the same windward/leeward course.
Flag up for race four in the Flying Dutchman 2026 Australian Championship was 1055 on Monday, January 26.
Novice FD sailors John McDougall and Glenn Stewart sailed All so pointless AUS342 to the start line, considered the conditions, then returned to shore. The pair had sailed only four times in FDs prior to the Australian championship regatta.
As McDougall and Stewart said later, they considered the conditions beyond their experience sailing FDs and were content with their decision to return to the shore.
In all, 11 FDs contested race four.
Race four was set on a course axis of 85 degrees, in a steady 15 knots, with rolling seas.
The windward/leeward returns were over 1.0 nautical miles, with a wing mark that made the first return a triangle.
Series leader Freight Train AUS001 led the windward gate rounding, with fifth-placed Power AUS7 on their heels. Both skippers are past winners of the FD Australian championship.
Matt Draper on board Freight Train was partnering with Thomas Stuchbery. This regatta was Stuchbery's first time aboard an FD, although he's a state champion in the 505 class.
Rafe Heale, on the helm of Power, is also a World and Australian champion in the Mirror class, and was partnering with accomplished 420 sailor, Tom Watson, on the wire. The pair have sailed together previously.
Following them around the windward mark were Ian McCrossin and Peter Bevis, combining for only their second regatta together, sailing Lupicus 60 AUS33.
The first New Zealand boat was in fourth position, with Mark Henger and Matt Bismark on board PPK NZL7, followed by Blu Tak AUS338, helmed by Gary Cameron with Darren Hocking on the wire.
Cameron and Hocking were in the water for about an hour the previous day, during race three, battling to right their FD in high seas, strong winds and tangled sails and lines. The pair were keen to keep contesting, given their race three result could be dropped if six races were completed.
Behind Blu Tak was the second NZ pair, David Gibb and John Bailey, from Nelson Bay, using their own NZL112 sails and borrowing Lupicus from Ian McCrossin.
It took Draper and Stuchbery less than four minutes to traverse the wing and make the leeward gates, leading the fleet in a strong position.
Heale and Watson were second around the leeward gates, 50 seconds behind the leaders.
They were followed by Cameron and Hocking, who were holding off Henger and Bismark and McCrossin and Bevis. Before achieving the leeward gates, McCrossin and Bevis passed Henger and Bismark; the NZ pair then decided to tack away from the fleet.
Next past the leeward gate and maintaining sixth position, was the other NZ pair, Gibb and Bailey.
At the second pass around the windward gates, Draper and Stuchbery unfurled Freight Train's spinnaker still well ahead of Power. Heale and Watson on Power AUS7 were being challenged for second place by Henger and Bismark on PPK NZL7 whose earlier decision of choosing their own line to tack had paid off, moving them up the fleet.
Then it was a race to the finish line.
Freight Train powered through the race to finish first, well ahead of the fleet.
Sailing into second place was Power, only seven seconds ahead of PPK.
Following them was McCrossin and Bevis in Lupicus 60 AUS33, taking advantage of a failing spinnaker on board Blu Tak AUS338.
Even though Bevis on Lupicus 60 and Hocking on Blu Tak both shifted their weight forward to gain as much speed as possible, the failed spinnaker on board Blu Tak saw Lupicus 60 surge past in the closing stages of the race, to finish in fourth place.
Moving up the fleet, David Ham and Finn Buckley, on Green Eggs and Ham AUS32, relegated Lupicus NZL112 to sixth.
The result for the championship was still open on the series board, subject to another race (or two), as the wind picked up.
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