DBSC Strongly Represented at the 2025 ILCA NSW & ACT Masters

Ian Tudball reports from Lake Macquarie:

29 DBSC members competed at the NSW & ACT Masters on 1st & 2nd February, held at South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club.  Our contingent ensured that DBSC was the best represented club at the regatta by far.  The turnout reinforces what a diverse club we are for male and female members aged 13 years to 78 years! It was particularly exciting to have four of our female masters members at the regatta: Katie McHugh, Diana Chen, Pia Hattersley and Tory Epworth.  It was Pia and Tory’s first “away from home” regatta, and we hear it will be the first of many! 

The strong representation created some significant logistics to accommodate and transport all DBSC sailors and boats. Take a bow David Newman for organising these logistics.  In a stroke of genius, Dave collared his Melbourne sailing dad, Peter, to combine a Sydney holiday with driving boats from Sydney to the regatta site for our members!  Many thanks, Peter, for helping us with these logistics. 

Photos from Steve London:

South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club is a super friendly club set in a stunning location.  They effortlessly ran a highly professional regatta with 6 races in generally moderate 12 knot breezes.  There were a few squirts up to 15 knots that did see our heavy weather ace, Pat Levy, floating upside down when he was highly placed in Race 1.

A big contingent also drove up from Victoria to enjoy the lake sailing and strong competition in NSW.  The fleets included the current female Olympian from Samoa, Vai Ripley, and a number of past World and Olympic Champions.  To name just a few: Brett Beyer, Stuart Wallace, Col Beashel, Bruce Savage, Tim Alexander, Steve Gunther…and our own Martin White. 

Our sailors had spent months practising for the event, and many had enjoyed a Santa present of a new sail and then raided their piggy bank for some coaching by Zander Bijkerk and Campbell Patton in the lead up to the regatta.  Zander also provided on-water support and briefings during the regatta for members who subscribed to the coaching program.  The feedback from all sailors in the group was that Zander’s tips and general coaching demeanour were AAA grade.  Scott Hunter (one of Zander’s pupils) achieved a highly impressive scorecard on Day 2 in his fleet with a 1st, 1st and 3rd.  He acknowledged Zander’s tip of starting with a clean lane and patiently extending on starboard and waiting for the right shift before tacking, as a key ingredient to his success that day.

The social aspect is also half the fun of a Masters Regatta, and the photos below can do the talking on this point.

Next on the campaign agenda for Masters sailors is the Masters Nationals at Westernport Yacht Club in Victoria.  A number of our members will be heading down south for this regatta, ready to do themselves and DBSC proud once again!

Some noteworthy performances at the NSW Masters as follows:

ILCA 6
Masters (Over 45): Scott Hunter 1st, Alistair Sutherland 2nd, Kate McHugh 3rd
Female Masters: Katie McHugh 2nd
Legends (Over 75): Peter Heywood 1st

ILCA 7
Apprentice (over 30): James Tudball 1st, David Newman 2nd
Overall: James Tudball 3rd

Other special mentions:
Hadrien Bourley sailed a “personal best” regatta, finishing 8th overall in the ILCA 7. 

Katie McHugh won a cube for 2nd Masters female, which marks 26 years since her last cube, when she sailed Lasers in a previous stage of life.

A special encouragement award was given to Tory Epworth (showing a great effort finishing every race).

A thank you again to David Newman for all of his work, Zander Bijkerk for expertly coaching a number of our sailors… and Martin White for chartering his RIB. Also a thank you to our commodore, Steve London, who is always there to give assistance with various regatta activities, including tracking down a lost centreboard for the author of this article… whose memory ain’t what it used to be.   

All DBSC members results:
ILCA6 Blue: Masters & Grand Masters
Scott Hunter - 1st Master / 4th overall
Alistair Sutherland - 2nd Master / 12th overall
Kate McHugh - 4th Master / 1st Female Master / 2nd Female / 15th overall
Brad Cox - 5th Master / 16th overall
Scott Finlayson - 14th Grand Master / 21st overall
Roberto Blum - 2nd Apprentice / 26th overall
Kerryn Smith - 18th Grand Master / 27th overall
Diana Chen - 8th Master / 3rd Female Master / 29th overall
Pia Hattersley - 13th Master / 6th Female Master / 37th overall
David Murphy - 14th Master / 38th overall
Victoria Epworth - 17th Master / 7th Female Master / 43rd overall

ILCA 6 Yellow: Great Grand Masters & Legends
Martin White - 8th GGM / 8th overall
Pat Levy - 10th GGM / 10th overall
Peter Heywood - 1st Legend / 11th overall
Ian Tudball - 13th GGM / 18th overall
Mike Morris - 24th GGM / 24th overall

ILCA 7
James Tudball - 1st Apprentice / 3rd overall
David Newman - 2nd Apprentice / 6th overall
Hadrien Bourely - 4th Apprentice / 8th overall
Rod Barnes - 4th GM / 9th overall
Mike Dunne - 5th GM / 13th overall
Murray Stone - 2nd Master / 16th overall
Steven London - 3rd Master / 17th overall
Nick Pellow - 4th Master / 18th overall
Jason Wilkins - 8th GM / 19th overall
Stephen Reid - 9th GM / 20th overall
Tim Heath - 11th GM / 23rd overall
Maxim Djura - 7th Apprentice / 25th overall
Geoff Boscoe - 14th GM / 28th overall

FULL RESULTS FOR THE REGATTA CAN BE FOUND HERE: https://laser.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NSW_ACT-Masters-2025-Final-Results_V2.pdf

Photos from Ian Tudball: