2019 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND

On the weekend of the 16th & 17th March, Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club hosted two back to back Swan River Sailing events; The 2019 Womens and Youth State Keelboat Championships.

2019 Womens State Keelboat Championships

Saturday, 16th March 2019

In it’s 26th year, the Womens State Keelboat Championships was hosted by Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, just four days after the launch of Australian Sailing’s #SheSails campaign. This year six teams of women raced a series of five races on the morning of Saturday, 16th of March to decide the title of the 2019 Womens State Keelboat Champions!

Significant training efforts were put in on the Foundation 36 Yachts at Swan River Sailing HQ in the lead up to the event by the teams from Fremantle Sailing Club, Royal Perth Yacht Club and Hillarys Yacht Club. No doubt the teams from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club were also putting in the hard yards with their growing supportive program of #WomenWhoSail including their Womens Development & Advanced sailing squads and associated programs.

The racing on the day went Fremantle Sailing Club’s way with Nia Jerwood and crew (Amanda Casebier, Carolyne Bush, Miriam Elizabeth, Kimbra Bridges, Kate Lathouras, Monique De Vries & Julie Olsen) scoring a 1,1,2,1=5, narrowly beating defending Champion Adele Jackson and her Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club team (Chelsea Hall, Elise Manners, Hayley Clark, Kaiella Taylor, Lucy Syme, Lucy Alderson and Maddie Woodward) on 2,1,1,2=6.

The racing for third place was extremely close with Chelsea Bradford and her team from Hillarys Yacht Club actually holding bronze at the bottom mark of the final race, but, in an unfortunate rounding, were relegated to a sixth. Fi McCabe and her Royal Perth Yacht Club team (including Anneka Thomson, Bella Whitehurst, Chrissie Payne, Fiona Laing, Larissa Roy & Vera Waldby) ended up on the podium in third place.

An honourable mention definitely goes to the team from Hillarys Yacht Club, championed by Deborah Fisk and helmed by Chelsea Bradford, also consisting of Gail Riley, Ilona Malinowska, Laraine Brindle, Magdalena Urban, Marie Conboy, Sonia Johnson & Sue Osborne, who were out a total of SIX times on the Foundation-36s at Swan River Sailing HQ prior to the event!

Filling up the final two places on the day were the remaining two Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club teams; with Sandy Anderson & crew (Anna Sobczyk, Bernie Lenny, Desley Beattie, Emma Reynolds, Jennie Fitzhardinge, Kate Gould, Nadia Geary Chiang, Natalie Waddell, Odette Glisson & Penelope Strauss) concluding the day in fourth place and Jenny Spearman & crew (Bronwyn Rose, Caroline Gibson, Deb Henderson, Joanna Marcinkiewicz, Lara Moltoni, Leonie Rochford, Robyn Johnston, Sharon Squires-Hensen & Susan Parker) finishing up in fifth.

The day would not have been possible without the efforts and support from the Staff at Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, namely Sharon Skinner & Debbie Blaauw, which we kindly thank them for; the team at Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club are always so helpful, efficient and hospitable! And, of course, we cannot thank their team of volunteers enough for their time and efforts;

Start Team: John Taylor (Race Officer), Sandra Whelan, Steve Ward & Mark Donati.

Mark Layers: Rob Hubbard, George Vaskovics, Johnathon Strauss & John Anderson.

A special thanks also to Jenn Suffield (Chief Umpire), Richard Goldsmith (Umpire) & Michael Taylor (Maintenance) for assisting on the day as well!

The teams competing in this year’s Womens State Keelboat Championships were very diverse in age and skills, and, as event organisers, Swan River Sailing were proud to see such a great, invested and keen group of women coming together sailing all in the one place! It was a fantastic morning full of competition, paired with camaraderie, and welcoming post-sailing hospitality (thanks RFBYC!) after a hard-fought event and skilful demonstration by Western Australia’s female sailors.

The 27th edition of the Womens State Keelboat Championships will be held on Saturday, 21st March 2020, back to back with the Youth State Keelboat Championships again – with a host club yet to be confirmed. More details to come….

 

 

2019 Youth State Keelboat Championships

Sunday, 17th March 2019

 

In it’s 23rd year, the Foundation Youth Cup received a name change, to align with other previously established Swan River Sailing events and to coincide with the Womens State Keelboat Championships; the Foundation Youth Cup was renamed the Youth State Keelboat Championships.

Held the day after the Womens State Keelboat Championships, the Youth State Keelboat Championships were held on Sunday, 17th March 2019 also hosted by Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club.

A sell-out event saw six clubs represented across nine teams including a large delegation who came up from The Cruising Yacht Club of WA.

Light winds from the South East saw Race Officer John Taylor and his team take the racing into Melville Waters and squeeze in three full races before a fourth was abandoned.

With an exciting start, Marcello Torre and his team from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club took out the first race before Will Boulden, also from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, took the second and Alistair Young and his team from Fremantle Sailing Club took the third, with the end result being Boulden 5,1,2=8 taking the title on a countback from Young on 4,3,1=8. Narrowly missing out and finishing in third place was Defending Champion, Conor Nicholas, and his team from South of Perth Yacht Club who ended up on 9 points (2,2,5=9).

Ethan Prieto-Low was set to represent Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, but needed replacing at the eleventh hour due to emergency surgery for Appendicitis… resulting in an early morning call up for Will Boulden, who ended up taking out the event.

Final Standings as follows;

1st Place

Will Boulden – Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club

 

2nd Place

Alistair Young – Fremantle Sailing Club

 

3rd Place

Conor Nicholas – South of Perth Yacht Club

 

4th Place

Marcello Torre – Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club

 

5th Place

Murray Buchan – Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club

 

6th Place

Chris Charlwood – Fremantle Sailing Club

 

7th Place

Ryan Sherburn – East Fremantle Yacht Club

 

8th Place

Ethan McAullay – Royal Perth Yacht Club

 

9th Place

Harry Williams – The Cruising Yacht Club of WA

 

Again, the dedicated team from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, especially Sharon Skinner & Debbie Blaauw from the On Water Group, were helpful, professional and supportive in hosting the 23rd Annual Youth State Keelboat Championships. The assistance provided by the Club’s volunteers was yet again second to none – we’d like to thank;

Start Team: John Taylor (Race Officer), Sandra Whelan, Deb Henderson & Christiane Clyne
Mark Layers: Rob Hubbard, George Vaskovics, Jonathon Strauss & Tony Vlachou

Another special thanks also to Richard Goldsmith (Chief Umpire), Jenn Suffield (Umpire) & Michael Taylor (Maintenance) for assisting on the day.

It was fantastic to see over sixty local under 23-year-old boys and girls across 9 teams competiting to find the top Youth Keelboat team in the state! If this competition was any indication on the talent emerging in Western Australia then we are very much looking forward to the next few years and, hopefully, seeing a number of these sailors compete in iconic World-Class events like the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta, which will celebrate its’ 18th year in 2020.

 

The 24th edition of the Youth State Keelboat Championships will be held on Sunday, 22nd March 2020, back to back with the Womens State Keelboat Championships again– with a host club yet to be confirmed. More details to come….