At the weekend’s South West Regatta Warrnambool City Council raced against the Moyne Shire Council for the Councillor’s Cup. 

Moyne won the race, with a time of nine minutes and 13 seconds, seven seconds ahead of the Warrnambool crew.

Moyne mayor Mick Wolfe said his team had the upper hand, as they had “five or six practise sessions” unlike Warrnambool, who didn’t practise at all before the race.

“It was a great race but we should have beat them by 100 metres,” Cr Wolfe laughed. 

The winning team took home a paddle trophy.

The Victorian St Ayles Skiff Championships and the Australian Whaleboat Racing Championships were contested.

On Saturday there was a wooden boat expo showcasing exquisite hand-crafted vessels, including a Huon pine whaleboat and a Herreshoff dinghy.

There was also a novelty race where a whaleboat raced against a St Ayles Skiff and a dragonboat to see which was the superior vessel. The dragonboat proved to be the fastest. More than 150 competitors took to the water on the Hopkins River near Proudfoots Boathouse across the weekend.