The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club shines at Australian Sailing Awards

by Brendan Rourke on 10 Nov 2017 The 2017 Australian Sailing Awards recognizes the efforts, determination, spirit, passion, and love of the sport sailing. The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club was a finalist in six categories including five Hall of Fame inductees in this year’s awards program and if there was an award for the club with the most finalists it would be The RPAYC.

With a full house at the Hyatt Regency the awards for RPAYC commenced with Club Coach of the Year announced as our own Head Coach, Thomas Spithill, continuing his success at the YNSW Awards, to take out the national award.

Thomas has been The RPAYC Head Coach for eight years. He has dedicated countless hours to training and coaching kids and youth on top of his own sailing achievements.

Thomas has enjoyed Intermediate and Youth Development Coaching success, with many representing Australia and the Club around the world in 470s, Vipers, 29ers, Optimists, Spirals, Volvo 70s, 5.5m, Lasers, Elliotts, and most recently winning the inaugural Fareast 28R National Championship this weekend. He has regularly assisted Australian Sailing to develop training courses and online material. For many of his students he is not only seen as a great coach but a leader and inspiration to achieve their goals.

One of Thomas' great contributions has been to integrate non-sailors to the Club. He has developed a program that works closely with Soldier On, a community organisation that assists war veterans and their families, which is now being delivered nationwide. Through his work with Soldier On, Thomas and his brother James helped bring the 2018 Invictus Games to Sydney. Thomas organised and implemented the launch event, which commenced the countdown to the Games.

In the categories of Sports Promotion, RPAYC was represented by Lisa Radcliff as well as the administration team of the club. A great effort form club members and the club to be finalists in this category.

In the category of Youth Sailor the duo of Annie Wilmot and Natasha Bryant represented the club for their dedication and hard work which resulted in the ultimate result for Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot when they won the Youth World Sailing Championships sailing in the girls'29er class. With the category with the most nominations and finalists displaying the strength of youth sailing in Australia and future champions. The winner went to Finn Alexander.

In the highly contested category of Club of the Year, RPAYC was up against Royal Freshwater Bay in WA and Geelong Yacht Club in VIC, both clubs are also leaders in their states.

Having been awarded the Yachting NSW Club of the Year, MIA Club Marina of the Year in 2017 and the Clubs NSW Clubs and Community Award for Disability, Welfare and Social Inclusion in recognition of its integrated disabled sailing program, the Club was well position to take the top prize but was beaten to the post by Royal Freshwater. To be recognized at a State winner and national finalist is a tribute to all at the RPAYC and their endless hard work.

There are two premier awards each year that of Male Sailor of the Year and Female Sailor of the Year. The duo of Annie Wilmot and Natasha Bryant were also finalists in this prestigious award. The names of previous winners range from World Champions, Olympians and masters at their sports.

It was with great pleasure and outstanding cheer that that Annie and Natasha’s names were called out as this year’s winners alongside the Male sailor Glenn Ashby, America Cups Winner just showing the talent of awardees.

In early 2017, the duo experimented with the Olympic 49erFX class and, despite experiencing a steep learning curve, they were soon rewarded with impressive results. In June 2017 the pair narrowly missed a podium finish, placing fourth at the 49erFX Junior World Championships in Kingston, Canada.

A couple of months later Natasha and Annie were against the best senior competitors in the world at the 49erFX World Championships in Porto, Portugal. In a tough fleet of 56 boats, they finished 40th and benefited greatly from the big-event experience.

“The 2017 Australian Sailing Awards was a night we will never forget. Being nominated amongst amazing sailors was a trill. Being award the Female Sailor of the Year prize is an honor that is not lost upon us. To have our names follow directly after our friend and mentor Lisa Darminin is particularly special as she had afforded us so much of her guidance along the way.

We train to be great and we race to win, however we sail for the love of the sport that we both share.

We are forever grateful for the support we receive, overwhelmed by the messages of congratulations, and excited to share or our dream amongst our sailing community”.

The final awards for the evening saw a number of Club members inducted into the inaugural Australian Sailing Hall of Fame. This initiative has been proudly developed by Australian Sailing in partnership with the Australian National Maritime Museum.

The Australian Sailing Hall of Fame recognises the greats of our sport, those who inspired many and those who have contributed so much to make sailing what it is today.

In its infancy, the Hall of Fame is in 'catch-up' mode and a phased approach to inducting nominees will be applied. In 2018 and years to come, all nominations received in previous years will be considered for induction. Ultimately to applaud the achievements of our inaugural Australian Sailing Hall of Fame Inductees and acknowledge their outstanding contribution, passion and dedication to sailing.

Representing RPAYC were

The Team of Australia II

Sailors

• Colin Beashel OAM
• Phil Smidmore OAM
• Hugh Treharne OAM

Dual Gold Paralympics Medalists

Daniel Fitzgibbon OAM and Liesl Tesch AM

In 2016 Daniel Fitzgibbon OAM & Liesl Tesch AM became the first Australian sailing team/crew to defend a gold medal at either the Olympics or Paralympics. Their determination and sheer hard work is testament to what can be achieved despite life's challenges.

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Daniel Fitzgibbon OAM and Liesl Tesch AM created history when they become the first ever crew to win back-to-back Paralympic gold medals in sailing. Their achievement of winning gold medals in both London and Rio also made them the first Australian sailing team or crew to defend an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal.

The 2016-2017 Sailing Season has been hugely successful for the Club as it celebrated is Sesquicentennial (150yrs) Birthday, all of the finalists and Hall of Fame inductees and staff are an inspiration to the Club and fellow members always calling the RPAYC the best Club in the world.