By Felicity Carlson
NSW IODA OptiChicks 2026 was hosted by RPAYC on 26–27 September, bringing together young female Optimist sailors from clubs across Sydney for a weekend of sailing, friendship, fun and inspiration.
At the heart of OptiChicks is a simple but important goal of bringing girls together, keeping them in sailing and showing them the many different pathways the sport can offer. Across the weekend, the girls had opportunities to sail with and learn from girls outside their own clubs, spend time with older female sailors and mentors, and see where a life in sailing might take them beyond their Optimist years. Racing sailor RPAYC Commodore Julia Horsnby was honoured to formally open the OptiChicks weekend, welcoming the girls with an inspiring talk on leadership pathways, what leadership means and on the joy of sailing for life.
On the water – from RPAYC OptiChicks Lead Coach, Belle Holdsworth
The girls arrived on Saturday, set up their Optimists and got their beds ready for the sleepover that night before kicking off the weekend on the water. Saturday afternoon was spent in Optimists participating in fleet (Green/Intermediate/Open) specific training, with help from Female Mentors who were once OptiChicks themselves. The afternoon was warm and sunny, with a light Northerly coming down Pittwater, it really was “Perfect Pittwater” as past Commodore Rob McClelland says!
Off the water
After Saturday’s Opti sailing, the girls returned to the Club for showers, activities and dinner before one of the highlights of the weekend — our Women in Sailing panel.
Hosted by Olympic silver medallist Lisa Darmanin, the panel featured Katie Spithill, Emma Rankin and Eva Attwood, who shared their very different sailing journeys and spoke openly with the girls about racing, confidence, friendships, setbacks, opportunities and where sailing has taken them.
The girls were completely engaged, asking plenty of their own questions, and had the very special opportunity to hold Lisa’s Rio 2016 Olympic silver medal which they quickly discovered is VERY heavy!
One of the messages we wanted the girls to take away was that there isn’t one pathway after Optis. We encouraged them to stay in sailing, say yes to opportunities, support one another and make friends with girls from other clubs, because the girls they race against now may well become their teammates, crew, travel companions and lifelong friends in years to come.
Australian Sailing and SheSails supported the event, with Eliza Kirby from Australian Sailing joining us over the weekend to capture stories and give the girls a little insight into another side of the sailing world media and storytelling.
Saturday night finished with some downtime, activities and a movie before the OptiChicks sleepover at the Club, giving the girls plenty of time away from the racecourse to simply have fun and build friendships.
Sunday on the Elliott 7s – Belle Holdsworth
After the girls’ sleepover on Saturday night, Sunday morning brought a slight weather change, shifting from hot and sunny to slightly colder temperatures, with a Southerly breeze and some light rain. The girls spent the morning on the Club’s Elliott 7s, sailing with girls from other fleets and clubs, while an experienced Mentor joined them to guide and pass on knowledge. We sailed down to the big pond, completed some sailing around a windward/leeward course and finished off with a fleet race with all 7 boats we had out. The girls were buzzing when we came back ashore and they all did a fantastic job on the Elliotts, with some of them stretching outside their comfort zone to try something new!
Belle reflected:
“It was a privilege to be a part of such a special event and to see the next generation of female sailors coming through. I was actually an OptiChick myself and took part in this event some years ago, so to now come back and be the one running the event was a really special full-circle moment for me. It was great to see the girls enjoying the same experiences that I once did, while also having the opportunity to help create a weekend that they can hopefully look back on in years to come. Seeing the girls getting involved, trying new things, supporting each other and having fun on and off the water made the weekend particularly rewarding.”
Belle also extended a huge thank you to all the Female Mentors who helped with the on-water operations: RPAYC members Annabelle Sampson, Victoria Lin, Sienna Brown and Sophie Hart, joined by Astrid Nixey, Mina Ferguson, Bridget Conrad, Sara Bruce, Stella Hurley and Gretel Payne from fellow clubs around Sydney.
Sunday concluded with lunch and prize presentation, led by Commodore Julia Hornsby where every OptiChick received an award recognising something noticed about her over the weekend. These weren’t simply about who was fastest, girls were recognised for qualities including perseverance, courage, sportsmanship, friendship, improvement, leadership, helping others and being willing to have a go.
It takes a village
An event like OptiChicks happens because an extraordinary number of people quietly make things happen behind the scenes.
A very special thank you goes to Belle Holdsworth, our OptiChicks Lead Coach, who took responsibility for the on-water program, coordinated our wonderful group of female mentors and brought an incredible amount of organisation, enthusiasm and positive energy to the weekend. As a former OptiChick herself, having Belle return to lead the next generation made this year’s event particularly special.
Morag Leith, Marion Enander and Felicity Carlson coordinated the weekend, supported by our wonderful volunteer mums Anna, Nadene, Rachael and Oh, who jumped into everything from registration and catering to activities, supervision, the sleepover, set-up and pack-down.
An enormous thank you also goes to Adam Hellyer and the RPAYC Sailing Office, who worked through seemingly endless logistics, boats, RIBs, facilities and last-minute changes to turn all the planning into a functioning weekend.
The event involved almost every corner of RPAYC, and we are incredibly grateful to the whole Club team for getting behind it from the Commodore, the Sailing Office and on-water support to Facundo and the Food & Beverage team, Brendan Rourke and Brontë Job with communications and promotion, through to the staff supporting the Clubhouse, security, cleaning and facilities across an overnight event.
Lachie, Brett, Ian, Jonny, Marc, Ted and Marcus provided a huge amount of practical and behind-the-scenes support, alongside the many parents, RIB drivers and volunteers who simply stepped in wherever something needed doing.
James Hill from Mainsheet Media captured the weekend both on and off the water, while Eliza Kirby from Australian Sailing joined us across the weekend to photograph, capture stories and help share the OptiChicks experience.
With thanks to our supporters
We were incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful group of sailing organisations and businesses get behind OptiChicks and the next generation of female sailors.
A huge thank you to NSW IODA, RPAYC, SheSails, Australian Sailing, Helly Hansen, Zhik, North Sails, Whitworths Marine & Leisure, Lake2Lake Dinghy Specialists, Shoreside, Solahart and Boost Juice for supporting the weekend through funding, equipment, prizes, products, promotion and opportunities for the girls.
We hope every OptiChick went home with not only a few goodies, but new skills, confidence, friendships and perhaps a bigger idea of where sailing might take her.
Passing the baton
This year’s event was very much built on the generosity of the wider Optimist community.
– Felicity Carlson, OptiChicks 2026