Australian 13ft & 16ft Skiff National Championships at Manly 16ft Skiff Sailing Club

Australian 13ft & 16ft Skiff National Championships at Manly 16ft Skiff Sailing Club - Day 4

by Adam Lucius 10 Jan 22:35 PST 7-14 January 2023

It literally was a day for the ladies as girls ruled and showed the strength of female sailing at the official Australian 13ft and 16ft Championships' Ladies Day celebrations at Manly on Tuesday.

A function featuring some of the country's finest women sailors was followed by the fourth and fifth heats of the nationals, which saw three young women standing at the head of the 13s pointscore tally by the end of the day.

EBIX (Jemma Hopkins & James Hopkins), Bartley Construction (Taylor Springett & Hugh Skeen) and Botany Scaffold (Sophie Hart & Bella Divola) hold down the first three spots at the halfway point of the regatta after dominating the early races.

Ebix (Jemma Hopkins & James Hopkins) and Bartley Construction (Taylor Springett & Hugh Skeen) on day 4 of the 2023 Australian 13ft Championships - photo © SailMedia

It was the perfect exclamation point on a red-letter day for female sailing, with many of the girls partying well into the evening as celebrations continued back at the Manly club. Ladies Day started with a morning tea forum titled Inspiring Girls and featuring Manly foursome Jessica Iles, Sarah Lee and Alanna and Georgia Clancy. Host Lisa Darmanin then took to the microphone to interview former Manly junior and current Sail GP star Lucy Copeland and Zoe Dransfield, back in the skiff fleet after stints in the 29ers and 470s. Young female sailors were encouraged to ask questions and took the opportunity with both hands.

"Lisa received a lot of the questions and you could see the girls were so impressed that someone could go right through the juniors and onto the world stage," Iles said. "Sailing is unique in that you can approach people who are state or national or world champions and have that close connection with them. "There are not many sports where you can get to learn from the best in the business. "But I think the thing that impressed me the most was that at the end of the day there were a number of teenage girls who have been sailing in the juniors and are now interested in sailing in the 13s."Like all sports, the challenge is keeping girls in sport from a certain age and hopefully events like these encourage that ongoing participation."

Clancy added: "When we were coming through the juniors there were a few of us and not many transitioned into the senior classes, but hopefully now with some good guidance and good role models we can see even more come through.

"The club is doing a good job in promoting the classes and you can see that with the number of girls coming through in the 13s."

Skiff Girls Alumni – Tash Turner, Fiona Walker, Clare Hozack & Lisa Damanin on day 4 of the 2023 Australian 13ft Championships - photo © SailMedia

Ladies Day festivities then moved onto Celebrating Women on Deck, with Manly alumni Clare Hozack, Fiona Harris and Tash Turner discussing how the 16s has evolved and the future of women in the class.

Hozack, who sailed skiffs between 2003-11 and was the sixth woman registered in the 16s class, recalled the early challenges and struggles. She said: "I was both discouraged and heavily supported by my male peers - from telling me I'd be too small and too weak to ever sail a skiff, to donating their prize money to support me going to Europe in my dinghy, and the club giving me boat storage for free. "Hubble had me steer every race Nathan Wilmot couldn't make it for years and the worst I did at any level, including nationals, was third. "But because I was always a fill-in, I don't actually know what I could have achieved, but it was good to show the fleet, which only had one other female skipper back then, that women were perfectly capable of handling it."

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the tremendous send-off given the 13 and 16 girls as they headed out for heats four and five of the Australian Championships. When the spray settled, three local females - Hopkins, Springett and Hart - held down the top three spots on the overall pointscore tally.

In the 16s fleet, Dransfield (Southerly), Georgia Clancy (Outback Marine), Capital Brewing Co (Iles), Eva Attwood (MH44), Matilda Lang (Edenda), Shead (Marilyn Sorensen), Skiffropes.com (Amy Hargrave), Weathertex (Jess Rivers) and Bella Group (Georgia Steenson) are flying the flag for female skippers and crew.

The Regatta resumes Thursday with two races, followed by another two races on Friday with the Champion to be named on Saturday.

Further information can be found at www.manlyskiff.com.au and skiffs.org.au

Results after Day 4:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
13ft Skiffs
1	35	EBIX	Jemma Hopkins	M16SSC	ABN	3	1	2	1	7
2	38	Bartley Construction	Taylor Springett	M16SSC	ABN	1	6	4	2	13
3	41	Botany Scaffold	Sophie Hart	M16SSC	ABN	2	2	11	3	18
4	46	Fluid	Donald Rowlinson	M16SSC	ABN	6	3	6	4	19
5	43	CyberTechGroup.org	Theo Franklin	M16SSC	ABN	7N	10N	1	5	23
6	15	Sheerline	Owen Gillmeister	M16SSC	ABN	8	5	5	6	24
7	32	Plonk Cafe	Avril Richardson	MH16SC	ABN	4	4	8	9	25
8	16	Livewire	Issac Robbins	HKSC	ABN	10	11	3	11	35
9	9	#9	Angus Stewart	HKSC	ABN	9	7	9	12	37
10	40	Cheeky	Zackary Wyatt	HKSC	ABN	15	9	7	7	38
11	37	Dutchess	Amy Bentley	M16SSC	ABN	7	14	12	8	41
12	44	Awol	Andrew de Montfort	M16SSC	ABN	12	13	10	13	48
13	45	QED	David Tulk	M16SSC	ABN	11	10	16H	14	51
14	31	ABICO	Zachary Brakenbury	M16SSC	ABN	16N	16N	13	10	55
15	27	Black Cat	Byron Lowe	HKSC	ABN	13	12	16F	15	56
16ft Skiffs
1		IMEI	David Gilmour	M16SSC	ABN	4	6	2	4	16
2		Sail Racing	Felix Grech	M16SSC	ABN	1	3	12	2	18
3		Typhoon	Nathan Wilmot	M16SSC	ABN	2	1	10	6	19
4		Moonen Yachts	Daniel Turner	M16SSC	ABN	5	2	5	8	20
5		Noakes	Dave O'Connor	StGSC	ABN	32	5	1	1	39
6		Eric's Storage	Harry Lawson	MH16SC	ABN	6	4	14	17	41
7		Botany Access	Chris Thomas	M16SSC	ABN	10	12	9	14	45
8		Skelcon	Henry Makin	B16	ABN	23	10	8	7	48
9		Red Pumps Red	Tyler Dransfield	M16SSC	ABN	12	19	4	15	50
10		Tribeca	Ben Bradley	StGSC	ABN	15	9	6	20	50
11		Sutech Building Consultants	Michael Koerner	M16SSC	ABN	7	7	15	23	52
12		Dominos	Michael Quirk	B16	ABN	8	20	16	13	57
13		Cunninghams	Nick Connor	M16SSC	ABN	29	11	11	9	60
14		Musto	Hugh Stodart	M16SSC	ABN	11	17	21	12	61
15		SKE Electrical	Scott Babbage	B16	ABN	19	35	7	3	64
16		Light & Wonder	Matt Meaney	B16	ABN	9	24	24	11	68
17		Infinity Rigging	Lachlan Steel	StGSC	ABN	17	16	18	18	69
18		Southerly	Zoe Dransfield	M16SSC	ABN	3	8	30	32	73
19		Fluid Building	Clint Bowen	M16SSC	ABN	14	13	25	27	79
20		NHS Building Supplies	Tom Dawson	B16	ABN	49F	28	3	5	85
21		Outback Marine	Georgia Clancy	M16SSC	ABN	16	27	26	16	85
22		Chubbs	Jesse Dransfield	M16SSC	ABN	26.5	18	20	24	88.5
23		RW Retail	Carlton Smith	DPSS	ABN	20	31	17	21	89
24		Red Pumps	Bruce Savage	M16SSC	ABN	36	25	13	19	93
25		Noakes Blue	Ryan Ewings	StGSC	ABN	24	21	22	26	93
26		CMG Property Maintenance	Michael Vincent	MH16SC	ABN	21	26	27	28	102
27		Shebang	Anthony King	M16SSC	ABN	22	30	29	25	106
28		Kamikaze	Richard Williams	MH16SC	ABN	30	34	23	22	109
29		Nozomi	Andrew Chapman	B16	ABN	25	29	49F	10	113
30		Toogara	Josh Tasker	StGSC	ABN	33	15	35	30	113
31		Employment Hero	Will Divola	M16SSC	ABN	18	22	32	41	113
32		Capital Brewing Co.	Jessica Iles	M16SSC	ABN	13	23	42	36	114
33		Firestopping Manly	Alex Hart	M16SSC	ABN	26.5	38	28	29	121.5
34		P Leahy	Mark Willson	MH16SC	ABN	34	32	33	33	132
35		MH44	Eva Attwood	MH16SC	ABN	36N	19N	41	37	133
36		Edenda	Matilda Lang	DSC	ABN	28	36	39	31	134
37		Bartley Construction 16	Nathan Lilley	M16SSC	ABN	35	33	31	35	134
38		Konami	Rod Carter	B16	ABN	38	45	19	43	145
39		Wichard	Zac Heyes	B16	ABN	37	40	34	34	145
40		FIREBALL	James Downey	M16SSC	ABN	40	37	38	38	153
41		Man Flu	Nicholas Stabback	MH16SC	ABN	39	43	36	42	160
42		Shead	Marilyn Sorensen	MH16SC	ABN	42	41	37	44	164
43		Skiffropes.com	Amy Hargrave	MH16SC	ABN	45	39	40	49F	173
44		Weathertex	Jess Rivers	B16	ABN	44	42	49F	40	175
45		XXXX Gold	Neale Jones	B16	ABN	41	44	48N	44N	177
46		Erics Removals	Joshua Theunissen	MH16SC	ABN	43	46	49F	49C	187
47		Joe Walsh Rigging	Craig Doran	M16SSC	ABN	49N	49C	44	45	187
48		Bella Group	Georgia Steenson	B16	ABN	49C	49C	49C	49C	196