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Thats right, The Victoria Harbour Schools Sailing Championship this year packed 102 races into two school days to select Victorias best secondary school sailing team. And the winner in the final race of the series, by just one point, and determined by the last two boats in the last race was St.Bedes over last years winners Haileybury.  St.Bedes will go on to represent Victoria at the Nationals in July in Adelaide.

The eighteen schools selected for the State Championship included past multiple winners St. Leonards and new entrants including Melbourne Grammar, Brighton Grammar and new sailors including SEDA,a vocational schools program in Aquatics with participants from Life Saving Swimming and Sailing.

Victoria Harbour at Docklands again provided both a great sight for sailing and a great site for the regatta.   It was a great sight , as students, their coaches, club officials, parents and the public aboard the refurbished Sydney ferry, Lady Cutler cheered their teams at close quarters.  And it was a great site for the promotion of sailing as the three fleets of six boats with their team based coloured sailed kept the action going, right in front of the office windows of the Melbourne business district, and the pedestrians of the Docklands precinct.

The St Bedes team was captained by James Sly, a member of the Victorian Junior Sports Team of the Year, an award he won from all sports in Victoria, as part of a successful 29er campaign over the last few years.

The high speed action for the two day was coordinated by Andy Hunting, a  past successful schools teams sailor. It was Andys great organising skill together with a fleet of 18 YV Pacers from the Boat Shed that enabled quick changeovers and continuous racing in a round robin format from 10am to 4pm each day. The breezes helped too, a light northerly for the first day and even lighter southerly for the Friday.

The regatta was organised by Yachting Victoria and hosted by the quickly developing Docklands Yacht Club who are working towards a greater future role in hosting teams racing regattas. It enjoyed the support of Yachting Victorias team from the Boat Shed, headed by Rod Austin, and a star studded team of YVs Race Officials headed by International Race Umpire Bill Bell.

The Victoria Harbour Schools Sailing Championship is in its third year and is sponsored by Lend Lease and the City of Melbourne. This years event certainly built on its already successful reputation as a great venue for presenting sailing to the public. Yachting Victoria is working to build the success of schools teams racing in Victoria even further with a number of clubs now offering regular weekly coaching and competition programs for local schools.

Overall final results were

1. St Bedes College

2. Hailebury College

3. Mentone Grammar

4. Firbank Grammar

5. St Leonards College

6. Trinity Grammar

7. St Michaels Grammar

8. Woodleigh

9. St Leonards B College10. McKinnon Secondary College

11. Xavier College

12. Kardinia International College

13. Melbourne Grammar

14. Peninsula School

15 Geelong Grammar

16 Brighton Grammar

17 Toorak College

18 SEDA/Mordialloc Secondary College