Sail Sydney 2023
Chris Tattersall
Photo by Beau Outteridge
Last week we had 24 DBSC members compete at Sail Sydney across all three ILCA classes. Nine sailors were in the Olympic classes section, and Fifteen sailors competed in ILCA 4’s and 6’s across the Open section. There were some brilliant results, some key learnings and positive improvements, and above all…some highly competitive and enjoyable racing on Sydney Harbour.
Photos by Sara Bruce and Dan Costandi
Special thanks to Josh Becker and Daniel Costandi, who were our on-water coaches. And a shout out to Healy Ryan who won the ILCA 6 Open Regatta!
Daniel Costandi gives a brief recap of the regatta:
Sail Sydney saw a wide range of conditions, however no day stayed under 30 degrees with one day almost cracking 40, which added to the challenge of decision-making in the extremely shifty Harbour conditions. It required the sailors to really think about their race plans and how they would attack the course.
For the 4.7 and Open Radial classes, the race committee one day set a course right under Shark Island which had the sailors going to either side of the island. The few sailors that went the riskier way made gains on the upwind, something I have never seen happen in DBSC club racing.
In the Olympic 7’s it was great to see Hamish and Quentin mixing it up with the top boys in the full rigs, sadly just falling short of making it to the medal race. In the Olympic 6’s we saw Sara Bruce make the medal race and finish 10th overall. This experience of sailing in a medal race is rare and to finish 7th in that race was a credit to her performance throughout the event. Ali Braden also sailed very well during this event and finished behind Sara in 11th. In the 4.7’s we saw a large group of sailors represent DBSC. It was good to see them all sail very well in such tricky conditions.
Sara Bruce also gives us her account of the regatta:
Sail Sydney 2023 done!!! This was my first experience in an Olympic, female-only fleet and the racing was amazing. I was surprised by how close and competitive it was. I learned so much from the experience, and it was a great chance to test my skills and knowledge amongst high performance athletes. The top 10 sailors at the end of the qualifying series competed in an extra medal race of ~20 mins. Sitting in 10th at the end of the series, I qualified for the medal race. With lots on the line and double points, the top athletes were really going for it. The vibe was so professional the whole regatta, both on and off the water.
I finished 10th overall in the medal race fleet after getting a 7th in the medal race. I’m super proud of how I sailed this regatta!! Big congrats to DBSC sailors Brooke Wilson and Sylvie Stannage in 4th and 5th also in the medal race fleet who finished one point apart, and Ali Braden in 11th, who took out 1st in the qualifying fleet. In the Olympic ILCA 7s, Campbell Patton was 3rd overall, Alexander Bijkerk was 4th, and Quentin Burns and Hamish Crabb came 16th and 17th respectively.