Female Sailors rule the Harbour at the MYC Womens Challenge

by Anne Stockdale on 28 Mar 2013 As is only suitable for a female sailing event, the annual MYC Helly Hansen Women's Challenge on March 24th 2013 dawned as a stunning, sparkling day. Albeit one without wind. There was much discussion amongst the race committee as to courses to set and shortened races but by the time the main event kicked off at 1pm a light nor'easter had set in and the 28 yachts sailed across the start line in perfect Sydney conditions. Entries ranged from the current National Farr 40 Champion to a Marauder 24 and racing was on the Sound of Sydney Harbour over 2 divisions in 2 classes (all female crew and female helm).

The Manly Yacht Club Women's Challenge is an annual event which attracts entries from clubs all over the harbour - and beyond. This is no Ladies Day at the races with a token lass on the tiller while the men run the show, but one of the only racing days in Australia dedicated to the many fine female sailors in our sport. Entrants choose to sail in All Female Divisions or Female Helm mixed crew with both spinnaker and non spinnaker entrants. There was many a male yacht owner left standing on a wharf in Sydney Harbour with a little tear in his eye last Sunday as he watched a bunch of girls sail off to the start line with whoops of joy in his precious boat.

The event attracts some of Sydney's finest sailors and yachts and there is no doubt that these women are skilled, competitive and eager to show what they can do.

One crew sailing a J24, suffered a setback on the Wednesday before the race when they experienced damage to their boat. By Friday they had sourced an alternative and entered Calibre, a Sydney 38, instead.

The Banshee sailed up from Cronulla on the morning of the race, competed, stopped for presentation and then sailed home in that night.

Transfusion had entered all female, but their female tactician could not make it. So a token male stepped in and they sailed as a mixed crew.

The day, sponsored by Helly Hansen, kicked off with All Female crews racing in Manly Cove on seven Access Dinghys. Being the first fleet off with a start time of 11:00am they suffered through very light and variable conditions to have just three boats finish.

At 1pm the warning sounded for Division 1 yachts. Nine yachts lined up for the start of which five were all female crews. There was not much lady like behaviour seen on the one minute signal as the yachts jostled for position at the committee boat end. The same scenario played out 10 minutes later as the fleet of 16 Division 2 Yachts tussled for position on the line. The tangle of yachts at the committee boat end were shown the stern of Okavango Delta (Emma Reid) who were the only ones to opt for a pin end start and got away clean, crossing the entire fleet.

As the Division 1 Yachts reached the top mark, diners at Manly Wharf were treated to the spectacular sight of nine clean spinnaker hoists in quick succession as the yachts headed off to Cannae on a shy run. In Division 2 Torquil (Cathy Kinsella), on their first race with their new rig, tacked early while the remainder of the fleet sailed close to Fairlight - this was to prove the winning tactic of the day as it set Torquil well ahead of the fleet. Wind shifts in Manly Cove meant most of the Division 2 yachts kept their kites in the bags until they had rounded Cannae and then set for a glorious run to Obelisk.

The wind decided to play tricks on the fleet and as the yachts reached Obelisk there was a big bunch up as most sat for a little about 10 metres short of the mark. As the breeze picked up again they rounded easily and while some tacked out into the harbour others sailed under Middle Head. That was to prove the deciding factor of the places for the day as while there was plenty of breeze out in the sound, a massive hole off Middle Head caught a number of yachts out, mostly in Division 2 and split the fleet. As the fleet progressed back to Manly West & East the Nor'Easter settled for the latter half of the race and the fleet was stretched out from Manly to Balmoral.

In the meantime there were almost as many spectator boats following the fleet as a Sydney to Hobart with male owners and crew attempting to communicate telepathically to their yachts sailing without them. Unnecessary of course as all the crews were very much at home and in control and some textbook sailing was seen, including a perfectly executed pole down windward drop from Local Hero at Rocky Point.

A long afternoons racing saw 27 of the 28 yachts finish with just one DNF. Cincinatti Kid finishing just 3 minutes after the cut off time.

In the All Female Crew Div 1, Jenny Danks on Local Hero (Sydney 36) took the handicap win ahead of Nikki Stone on Calibre (Sydney 38) who took line honours. Jan Bartel on Esprit (Archambault 32) completed the podium places. In All Female Crew Div 2, Anni Browning on Cheshire Cat (Catalina 30) won on handicap against fastest on the water Sorrell Lambie in Melody (Swanson Dart).

Michelle Belgiorno took Transfusion (Farr 40) to both the line honours and handicap win in Div 1 of the Female Helm class (with an almost all female crew) ahead of Louise Tillett on Devil's Lair (Mount Gay 30) and Dominique Winn on Copernicus (Radford 12). In Div 2, Cathy Kinsella's Torquil (Adam's 10 modified) also took out both honours ahead of Nicole Butcher on Azlan (Azuree 33) and Marike Koppenol on Ratty Tooey (Northshore 340).

In the combined results, the All Female Crews took out second (Local Hero) and fourth (Calibre) in division 1 and third ( Cheshire Cat) and fifth (Melody) in division 2.

Event website