2026 Musto Australian Optimist Championship at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania - Day 4
by Jane Austin / RYCT Media 14 Jan 00:08 UTC
9-15 January 2026
Walter Heeley was all class on the first day of the three-day finals' series in the 2026 Australian Optimist Dinghy Championship in Hobart today.
Heeley won both races and finished the day on nine points, 15 points ahead of his closest rival and last year's winner, Will Rogers, on 26 points.
Heeley, from the Woollahra Sailing Club (WSC) in NSW, finished the qualifying series in first place overall and has dominated racing in the Open Gold Fleet with five wins from seven races, and is in the prime position going into the final two days of racing.
Charlie Purt (South of Perth Yacht Club) and Seb Tucker (WSC) are in third place (28 points) and fourth place (29 points) respectively.
Sijia Deng from the Hunters Hill Sailing Club in NSW is in ninth place overall on 39 points and is the leading female in the fleet.
The River Derwent offered more of the same sailing conditions today with a south-south westerly breeze shifting slightly east during the afternoon leading to choppier conditions and a steeper wave state for the 150 strong fleet.
Fabio Moeller from the Fremantle Sailing Club has maintained his lead in the Intermediate Fleet and is currently on 15 points with a first and a fourth place today.
Huon Jones from the Maroochy Sailing Club in Queensland has held onto second place after a second in the first race of the day and dropping his 18th place in the following race to finish the day on 28 points.
Jozee Fowler from Southport Yacht Club in Queensland is in third place overall making her the leading female sailor, making her the leading female sailor in the fleet of 42 boats, with recent good results putting her just ten points behind Jones after a shaky start to her series.
William James from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania also moved up the point score today to be in fourth position with the help of a win in the last race to finish the day on 47 points.
Isabel Yu, Anne Edwards, Humphrey Hager and Jack Sturm are all sitting on equal 48 points and are in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth places, with a UFD for Yu and Hager in Race Six today proving costly to their overall scores.
In the Open Silver Fleet, Luca Von Bibra from the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron is leading on 104 points after another consistent day on the water.
Tasmania's Lachlan Prior is in second place on 115 points, with Summer Newman from the Brighton and Seacliff Yacht Club in third place overall and the first female in the fleet, also on 115 points.
In the Green Fleet, Ace Hill from the Sorrento Sailing and Couta Boat Club in Victora, is leading with consistently good results seeing him drop just four points to be on 18 at the end of the day.
Hamish King from the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron is in second place on 21 points after scoring his first race win, while Jack Jones from Maroochy Sailing Club has held onto third place on 24 points.
Florence Gartrell from the Mornington Yacht Club in Victoria is the leading female sailor in the Green Fleet on 61 points.
Six races remain for both the Open and Intermediate Fleets with two days left in the championship and a second discard will kick in after 11 races have been completed.
With four races to sail, the top contenders will need to keep a squeaky-clean score sheet and ensure they race competitively while avoiding the Jury's yellow flag and keep on the right side of the busy start lines.
The event concludes on Thursday the 15th of January 2026.