Congratulations to our Youth Development Women’s Team of Belle Holdsworth (skipper), Hayley Fisher, Annabelle Sampson, Sophie Aitken and Violette Russell who competed at this years edition of the John Messenger Women’s Match Racing Regatta at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) over the weekend. 

The girls had an awesome 2 days of fun, close and very intense racing. The first day brought perfect match racing conditions in Rushcutters Bay of 10 to 17 knots from the North East. The team had a strong start to the round robin putting 2 strong wins on the board. The team then had 4 tight races against the rest of the round robin opponents which had the team fighting hard right until the finish, and in classic match racing fashion, came down to centimetres. Unfortunately the team were unable to convert the final races and placed them 5th overall, missing the semis by 1 win. 

The second day of racing had conditions similar to day 1 of a North Easterly building from 8 up to 18 knots. The girls took part in the minor places round robin, where the team achieved 2 strong wins including killing a penalty in the first race of the day. Afterwards it was onto the 5th and 6th sudden death playoff against CYCA’s Heidi Ferguson. It was a tight race but ultimately the RPAYC girls had an edge with their upwind boat speed and controlled boat handling which positioned them well for a strong win, meaning they finished 5th overall after the weekend’s racing.

Skipper Belle Holdsworth commented “It was a great weekend filled with fun and intense racing, where we were so proud to represent our club. It was so awesome to see so many girls at the event having a great time and supporting each other on and off the water”.

The team would like the extend their appreciation and thanks to the RPAYC for their ongoing support, Head Coach Rob Brewer for his valuable coaching, the CYCA for making the event possible and fellow RPAYC YD squad members for the countless practice pre – starts and races that took place in the lead up.

The girls now look towards future events in their respective teams at the David Lukins Memorial Match Racing Regatta this weekend and beyond to this year’s edition of our home event, the HARKEN International Youth Match Racing Championships in November.

– Isabella Holdsworth