Women Skippers bound for Hobart and beyond

Southern hemisphere summer and sailors from around Australia and beyond are gearing up for the annual Christmas dash to Hobart, with the 73^rd edition of the Sydney to Hobart (S2H),  the 35^th running of the Melbourne to Hobart (M2H) Westcoaster and the most recently added event, the 11^th Launceston to Hobart (L2H) race.

This year will see record numbers of women at the helm and as boat owners for both the Sydney east coast race and the Melbourne west coast event.

On the ‘wild side’, the Westcoaster fleet will see 11 boats amongst the 22 boat fleet, testing out their skills and equipment in preparation for the March start of the double-handed Melbourne Osaka Cup 2018.  Female helms are well represented amongst the Osaka entrants, with four female co-skippers racing on board three Osaka-bound boats.

Joanne Breen will skipper her S&S 34 Morning Star from Hobart.  Annette Hesselmans will be racing with her brother Andrew on their Radford 12.2 Red Jacket based at Hobson’s Bay Yacht Club (HBYC). Sue Bumstead will be co-skipper on Grant Dunoon’s Moody 54 Try Booking from Royal Brighton Yacht Club (RBYC).

On the east coast, the Sydney to Hobart has six boats entered with nominated female helms. Visiting Clipper Round the World race boats with female skippers, Australian Wendy Tuck on Sanya Serenity Coast and Nikki Henderson on Visit Seattle will contest the S2H race as part of the All Australian leg of the Clipper event.

Local owner Zoe Taylor will be at the helm of her recently purchased Cookson 12 G.O.

Previous 2003 Osaka entrant and return entrant for 2018, Sibby Ilzhofer, will skipper her Farr 47 Dare Devil to contest this year’s S2H race fully crewed. Sibby’s previous Osaka saw her onboard the Hick 50 Funnel Web with her then husband Ivan McFadyen.

In 2015, Funnel Web was sold to Lisa Blair who renamed the boat Climate Action Now and recently completed an epic journey to take out the World Record as the first solo woman to circumnavigate Antartica. Co-skipper Libby Greenhalgh from the UK, a veteran of the successful all female Team SCA for the 2014-15 Volvo Round the World race and a founder of the Magenta project will join Lisa for the race. Together they will lead a team of four professional sailors who will mentor four less experienced sailors, to be the first all female team for 16 years and the only all-female team in the 2017 Sydney Hobart.

Amongst the four emerging sailors chosen to complete the Climate Action Now crew, former Victorian and now Queensland sailor Karen ‘Kaz’ Young was thrilled to be chosen from 170 applicants. Having followed Lisa’s Antartic circumnavigation via her blog and Facebook, Kaz was further inspired by Lisa’s speaking engagement in Mooloolaba on her return. Kaz takes up her story.

‘I am heading to Sydney on the 18 December for five days of intensive training with the mostly international crew.  We have Christmas day off and then we're racing!! So excited!!!

My background in sailing started with sailing in dinghies in Melbourne, progressing to keelboats and participating in Port Phillip bay races, including Range series, ORCV Winter Series and three Australian Women's Keelboat Regattas. I also crewed on the Adams 66ft ‘pocket maxi’ Helsal 11 with awesome people including Noel May, Neville Rose and Simon Dryden, building ocean miles in Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) Bass Strait races, including two Melbourne to Hobart Westcoasters and a Melbourne Vanuatu race. I also volunteered on the ORCV committee helping out with race management for a few years.’

‘With the arrival of kids and moving to Queensland, I did not have the opportunity to sail a lot, but over the last few years, I have competed in Port Douglas Race Week Regatta and completed all levels of the Women's Keelboat Skills Development program at my home club Mooloolaba Yacht Club. My goal now is to buy a boat to race locally, compete in major regattas and events and encourage more women to be involved in the sport! I dream of competing in the future in the two-handed Melbourne to Osaka Race on board my own yacht to promote more women’s sailing.’

With entries for the forthcoming 2018 Melbourne Osaka Cup closed in June 2017 and now only 100 days to the start, Kaz may be adding her name to the registered expressions of interest for the next scheduled event in 2023.

The arrival in Hobart of boats from three separate ocean races at this time of the year, along with the city being in festival mode, makes attendance in Tasmania’s capital, a not-to-be-missed event. The round the world Clipper fleet is joining in the Sydney Hobart race, but this year, Melbourne will provide a buzz in its own race village, hosting the designated stopover for the Volvo Round the World race 2017-18  from 27 December. From the world’s oceans, several Australian women from the successful all female Team SCA in the 2014-15 Volvo Round the World race, will be arriving on board various boats with mixed crews. Local Sophie Ciszek from Mornington Yacht Club is on Mapfre, Stacey Jackson on Vestas 11th hour and Liz Wardley on Turn the Tide on Plastic, the only boat crew with a 50-50 mixed crew of five males/five females led by the only female skipper in the race, Britain’s Dee Caffari. Dutch sailor and Australian resident Carolijn Brouwer is also a crew member on Dongfeng.

The leadership demonstrated and the mentoring opportunities provided by our current female sailors will no doubt translate into more women participating in iconic events both at home and around the world and encourage more women to consider boat ownership.

Fair winds and great sailing to all our sailing sisters getting out there and taking on the world of ocean racing. 

We will follow your progress with much interest as you inspire and challenge others to participate and push themselves beyond their own boundaries to achieve their dreams.

As Sir Chay Blyth, paratrooper, adventurer, sailor and founder of the British Steel Challenge captured so eloquently - ‘Seize the opportunity in the lifetime of the opportunity’ 

2018 Women Skippers and Navigators Race

The ORCV and the AS Women and Girls in Sailing (WGIS) are once again offering the ORCV Women Skippers & Navigators Race which will be run on July 8th as a return race from Blairgowrie to Melbourne following ,the Winter Series Race 2 Melbourne to Blairgowrie Passage race on the previous day.

"Our local female keelboat sailors will have the opportunity to meet and compete with and alongside the Osaka girls – a great inspiration for our local Women & Girls in Sailing (WGIS) and the ORCV Ocean Girls. The WSNR has become a very popular and competitive event amongst our local female sailors, with WSNR divisions awarding trophies in IRC, AMS, EHC and double handed for those with greater than five boats. New helms to the race are encouraged by the provision of a Novice Skippers trophy which must be indicated on the entry form. For those navigators wishing to submit a Log, a Navigator’s Prize will be awarded for the best log". ("Australian Sailing"; July 31, 2017).

This event will provide further opportunities for women keelboat sailors to participate more actively in keelboat racing beyond “round the sticks” racing and will provide exposure to other skill areas including navigation, weather, radio procedures and crew management.

Race documents can be downloaded here: Coming Soon

2015 WSNR- Girls Having Fun

There was no wind in inner Corio Bay early Sunday morning but with a forecast of good northerlies in Port Phillip, the Race Team of Christie Alberts and Amanda Wakeham supported by Robyn Brooke and George Shaw, delayed the start for one hour and used the alternate startline to get the race underway.

L-R Marg Neeson- Owner/Skipper of Wild Child, Anne Florence Plante and Phillipa Webley

L-R Julie Gibson and Norma Malouf aboard Blaise Pascal

Anne Florence hard at the Navigator's role aboard Wild Child.

Norma at the helm of Blaise Pascal

L-R Mark Sahar, Norma Malouf and Nick Woodley- Owner of Balise Pascal

Thank-you to all the boat owners and mentors who supported this event and  their female skippers, navigators and radio operators!

Send us your photos or share with the Ocean Racing Club on facebook!

2015 Women Skippers and Navigators Race Leads off N

ew Passage Series

With only the final race of the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s (ORCV} Winter Series 2015, the Geelong Passage Race, left to run on Saturday 12 September, the Ocean Girls group are gearing up to take over the running of the boats for the return passage race from Geelong to Sandringham for the third edition of the Women Skippers & Navigators Race (WSNR) on Sunday 13 September, which will see the women take on key roles of helm, navigator and radio operator.
In an exciting new development for Yachting Victoria (YV) Women & Girls in Sailing (WGIS) Committee, the WSNR will lead off a new passage series, the Port Phillip Women’s Passage Series (PPWPS). Following on from the success of the Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series (PPWCS) over the last three years, the five host clubs Hobson’s Bay Yacht Club (HBYC), Royal Brighton Yacht Club (RBYC), Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron (RMYS), Royal Yacht Club of Victoria (RYCV) and Sandringham Yacht Club (SYC) have each provided a passage race event over the season from September to May to establish the six race series.
Lynda Brayton, Chair of Ocean Girls and ORCV committee member is thrilled at the new development and the opportunities that it opens up for female sailors. ‘Some of my best learning experiences in sailing have been whilst on passage and this will be an excellent opportunity for the girls to spend extended periods of time on the helm, consider tactical decisions and practise manoeuvres without the pressure of boats in close proximity and the need to round the next mark in a hurry!
Lynda has not always been enamoured with passage racing. ‘In my early twenties, I used to busy myself reading The Age on the Geelong passage race for the now ‘Festival of Sails’ event!’
Here she recalls how she was ‘borne’ into sailing -
‘We were brought up with a love of water and the yacht club was like our second home. I started sailing as a 12 year old with my Dad and sister, starting on the foredeck and I still enjoy the pointy end.

WISC © Steb Fisher

More enjoyment on the pointy end! © Steb Fisher

My first venture into the ocean was a yacht delivery with my brother-in-law and the new boat owner to Sydney. I disembarked in Huskisson at Jervis Bay, 100nm south of Sydney due to protracted sea sickness. It was not until some time later, when I went to Hamilton Island with my sister, her husband and friends for a week’s yacht charter that my dreams about sailing were restored.
After a break from sailing due to shift work, I rediscovered my love for the water when Andrew ‘Slaggers’ Slagmolen from HBYC invited me to go sailing on his Northshore NSX 36 The Bookmaker. I learnt much from the crew including Kate Ribton-Turner and was invited to do a King Island race with them. I left my mark when I decorated the deck with red Gatorade!
A couple of years later I was invited by a group of girls from Royal Geelong Yacht Club to join them for the Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta (AWKR) on the Beneteau 47.7 Savoir Faire skippered by Robyn Brooke. My friendship with Robyn has endured and she has become a great influence in my sailing life, opening the door to bay and ocean racing with the" gentleman of the sea" George Shaw on board his J44 The Secretary.
Back at Hobson’s Bay following club racing on ‘stripped-out’ The Bookmaker, I saw an opportunity to invite myself aboard a comfier vessel with a lovely galley - David ‘Stoops’ Stoopman's Beneteau 44.7 Samskara. Stoops invited Slaggers and ‘Cammy’ to do the passage from Port Vila back to Australia and I cheekily said they couldn't go unless I could go too. Luckily they all agreed and I flew over to meet the crew and their families post the Melbourne to Vanuatu race. Cruising back from Vanuatu to Mackay via Ken’s reef and seeing many whales revelling in the ocean, has been a highlight of my sailing experiences - an amazing opportunity.

Samskara © Alex Mckinnon

With Samskara in Mackay, it was imperative to do Hamilton Island Race Week (HIRW) - a week of fun and racing convinced me that regatta racing is addictive! I have now clocked up three ‘Hammos’, one Airlie Beach Race Week, two Geographe Bay Race Weeks in WA and a few more AWKRs. Back home, the creation of Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series (PPWCS) three years ago, provided a stimulus at HBYC for the establishment of the ‘Women on Water’ (WOW) training program and these opportunities have certainly progressed my racing and helming skills.

"The Bookmaker" crew © Alex McKinnon

My confidence for ocean racing has also grown with numerous passages up and down the East Coast of Australia, two Melbourne to Launceston races (Spirit of Freya and Ingenue), two Melbourne to Hobart races (The Secretary and Samskara) and a challenging Port Fairy race along with some shorter offshore races.’
What are the best parts of sailing?
‘People you meet and places to go! There is something special about the bond you form with the people you sail with – the shared challenge and the destination parties during a regatta or after a big ocean race. Getting to see amazing sights from the water like Skull Rock, Refuge Cove and the Pipe Organs and marvelling at nature - the sunrises, the sunsets, whales and the dolphins.
My Dad used to say he had salt water running through his veins. I feel like I have inherited an affinity with the water - especially when it isn't a confused sea! It is relaxing and helps to clear my head after a busy time at work and it is great to be outdoors and part of a crew.’
And the worst parts of sailing?
‘The sea sickness! Just when I am sure I have it sorted I find myself in a confused sea again. Recently, when delivering Nick Foa's Gibsea 372 Jinot to Lakes Entrance, I discovered that spending more time concentrating on the helm helped me greatly. Bring on more passage sailing!’
How did you become involved with the ORCV?
‘I volunteered to assist race management after the Melbourne Hobart race three years ago and was invited to join the ORVC Committee. The ORCV provides a range of unique races and great training opportunities run by very experienced yachties, activities that I can personally highly recommend. In 2013, the Ocean Girls group was established for female ocean racers to provide camaraderie, support and mentorship for all female sailors and the Women Skippers & Navigators Race was created. This year sees the women not only running the boats, but also running the Race Management for the event, with Royal Geelong Yacht Club member Christie Alberts as Race Director, ably supported by Amanda Wakeham, race officer and judge from RMYS and Margaret Whitbread waiting in the tower at Sandringham Yacht Club to record finish times. Thanks to ‘Gentleman George’ and very able seawoman Robyn Brooke for providing The Secretary as the race management boat, ensuring flexibile alternative start lines in the event of a glass-out in Corio Bay.’
Lynda’s parting advice for all those competing in the WSNR. ‘The passage race from Melbourne to Geelong is a great ‘dress rehearsal’ for the WSNR - you get to sail the course the day before you turn around and do it in reverse. My personal goal for the race this year is to improve my steering under spinnaker and interchange with my usual foredeck buddy Megan. Beware the foredeck as you close the for’ard hatch - watch you don’t catch the toggle on your PFD and inflate it in your face mid-race!
Girls, if you have not yet organised your boat and crew to come and join this fabulous celebration of women’s sailing, get started now. Come and meet the Ocean Girls and our sponsor Sue Bumstead from Custom Yacht Covers for a great party Saturday night at Geelong and bring the boats home on Sunday with your female buddies and the support of your mentors. Entries close on Wednesday 2 September, so click here now for Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions and Online Entry.
Your WSNR entry automatically enters your boat into the new Port Phillip Women’s Passage Series (PPWPS) giving you a good start in the six race series. Notice of Race for the series will be online soon. Three races to count which allows you to choose from a variety of races to different destinations over the coming season.
Good luck and fair winds! See you in Geelong.