Fourth Women's Regatta hosted by VYC11
Chris Tattersall
Diana Chen reports on last Saturday’s event. All photos courtesy of the Vaucluse Yacht Club.
The 4th annual Women’s Regatta was held on Saturday 22 March, hosted by Vaucluse Yacht Club. 32 competitors from 11 different clubs battled it out on Sydney Harbour on a glorious autumn afternoon, with a shifty breeze from the south/west which tested the skills and patience of the sailors. DBSC was well represented with 10 competitors across the ILCA4 & ILCA6 fleets. Results as follows:
ILCA4
Harper Spacey – 1st overall, 1st 15-21 age category
Charlotte Jenkins – 2nd overall, 2nd 15-21 age category
Zoe Allen – 5th overall, 5th 15-21 age category
Lucy Balderstone – 9th overall, 1st Under 15 age category
Isabelle Wilkins – 10th overall, 3rd Open age category
ILCA6
Sara Bruce – 1st overall, 1st 15-21 age category
Diana Chen – 6th overall, 4th Masters age category
Kate McHugh – 7th overall, 5th Masters age category
Pia Hattersley – 12th overall, 8th Masters age category
Tory Epworth – 15th overall, 11th Masters age category
The day began with yoga on the deck, followed by breakfast, workshops in strategy/rules/fitness/nutrition; and ended with an inspirational Q&A with Vanessa Dudley, Carolijn Brouwer, and Evie Hasseldine. Events like this are important for females at every stage of their sailing journeys, whether those include competing on the world stage, or maintaining fitness and friendships in club racing. It is a show of solidarity in one of the toughest sailing classes there is, and an inspiration to keep at it, as sailing is for life.
We hope you can support your partners, mums and daughters to learn to sail or get back into sailing as we’d love to see more females on the water, especially in an ILCA/Laser.
Special thanks to:
Vaucluse Yacht Club and all their volunteers for hosting a great event
Friends and family of the competitors, especially Van Allen who provided support on and off the water (and all the parents that give up so much of their time to chauffeur the younger sailors every week)
DBSC members that helped get us to the regatta (John Vasey for towing in the morning, and Dan Costandi for getting his mum back in a boat and racing)
Clare Alexander for being a groundbreaker in the development of this event
