Welcome to the first newsletter for 2025, in which we recap all the action from holiday camps as well as international and national regattas, and look ahead to the189th Australia Day Regatta on 2 February! 

From the President

The summer regatta season showcased how our sailors enjoy testing their skills and competing in a sport they love. Regattas are a proving ground for skills honed during training, and seeing our sailors tackle challenges with determination, sportsmanship, and a sense of fun makes our club special. Sailing demands resilience and adaptability, and our youngsters embodied these qualities. We look forward to a fantastic year ahead filled with great sailing, exciting regattas, and good times on and off the water!

From the Commodore

With the suspension of club racing over the Christmas period, the club switched to holiday camp mode with healthy numbers of participants taking to the water in Optis, Quests and Zests. Thank you to Belle and all the instructors for their massive effort to smoothly run these camps, which are vital to the club’s continuity and successful operations.

A huge congratulations to HHSC Instructor Max Fisher who completed his maiden Sydney to Hobart on board Denali, despite the boom snapping on day two. Well done on a peak achievement — and inspiring the younger instructors!

Below: Max (third from the left, back row) on board Denali during the Sydney to Hobart 📸 Contributed

While club holiday camps were underway, various racing fleets left to compete in some major regattas.

The Australian 9er National Championships at Lake Cootharaba was attended by 29er crews Harper Spacey and Henry Szenczy, as well as Lucia Harper and Harry Darmenia. We hope to see the class expand at the club this year. 

This week, two of our coaches, Nathan Byrne and Tom Quinlan, are at RQYS for the 18 Footers Australian Championships. Good luck boys!

Read on for the highlights from the ILCA and Optimist fleet nationals!

Club racing

Club Australia Day Regatta events will be held on Sunday 2 February this year — see: HHSC_Season_2024-2025_Calendar.xlsx

Results - Hunters Hill Sailing Club

Learn2Sail

Last week, we hosted more than 40 sailors for our first January camp and we have another 40 this week!

January campers in action 📸 Belle Parker

Upcoming Try Sailing and Learn2Sail events 

Register on the club website’s events page https://www.huntershillsailingclub.org.au/events for upcoming events and please promote our Try Sailing and Learn2Sail programs to your community networks! 

Try Sailing: 

Saturday 22 February (9-11am)

Optimist Fleet

Asian and Oceanian Optimist Championship

Astrid, Sijia, Luca, Paddy and Vicki (pictured below) attended the Asian and Oceanian Optimist Championship in Hong Kong over the Christmas holidays with the Australian team. 

During the intense, 10-day event, they competed against 135 entrants in challenging sailing conditions, with swells and shifting winds. Each morning they rose early to reach Clearwater Bay Marina, a beautiful but somewhat isolated area. 

Clearwater Bay Marina 📸 Alessio De Giosa

This was the first IODA international experience for all of them, and they excelled, bringing home medals in various divisions, interacting with kids from other countries, and building friendships. A highlight for all was trading regatta T-shirts between teams, which kept them celebrating well past their bedtime on the last day!

Optimist Nationals Recap

HHSC had 16 open fleet sailors, eight intermediate sailors and green fleeter Miles at the Optimist National Championship from 10-17 January at RQYS. It was a very successful regatta for the race fleet, with 11 sailors making the gold fleet, Zac coming second overall, and Vicki and Astrid taking out first and second Australian females respectively and qualifying for the European Championships. Luca was second in the under 12 years old age category and Milton came third in the intermediate fleet. Three girls qualified for the Asian Championships — Sijia, Emma, and Kirra. 

ILCA Fleet

ILCA Open & Youth Championships Recap

The ILCA 2025 Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championships ran from 1-8 January at RQYS, with Healy Ryan, Sylvie Stannage, and Jack Restuccia competing in the ILCA6 class. Congratulations to Healy for coming seventh overall and first in the under 17 age category. Zac Howell, Alex Parker, Sophie Borner-Harrison, and Milly Thorne all raced ILCA4s, with Zac, Alex, and Sophie all making the gold fleet. 

Regatta conditions were very challenging the first two days with a storm taking out the ILCA 4 fleet in race one and winds of 40 knots! The next day also saw heavy wind with 25-30 knots and made for some difficult qualifying conditions. The final day of qualifying and the three days of finals was champagne sailing weather with sun, wind and waves all in the sweet spot. RQYS put on a very well organised regatta, with daily morning coaching sessions, plenty of volunteers and an amazing venue at the club and offshore. 

During the regatta, Sylvie addressed the ILCA Solidarity Squad girls on balancing sailing with academic and professional life, sharing amusing slides and anecdotes about high school and university life, and competing on the world stage. She was very well received — good stuff Sylvie!  

Final results were:
Zac Howell: 13th overall and 6th U16 boys; Alex Parker: 31st overall and 14th U-18 boys; Sophie Borner Harrison: 38th overall and 7th U18 girls; Amelia Thorne: 31st overall (silver fleet) and 4th U16 girls.

ILCA race fleet 📸 Jason Borner

Sylvie and the ILCA Solidarity Squad girls 📸 Chris Stannage

ILCA Regattas Open for Registration

Note that the club is hosting the Metropolitan Championships in March — all welcome, especially Opti kids who might like to try an ILCA 4 on home waters! Entry and details are below.

2025 NSW & ACT Masters: 1-2 Feb 2025, South Lake Macquarie ASC   

2025 Oceania & Australian Masters: 21-24 Feb 2025, Westernport YC

2025 Metropolitan Championships: 8-9 March 2025, Hunters Hill Sailing Club

School Programs and Community News

Thanks to funding from Hunters Hill High School, the club has received four new RS Quest mainsails and 6 new gennakers this week! This upgrade will be installed in coming weeks, and the old sails either restored for spares or repurposed. 

The Quests have become the workhorse of the club and school programs, with around 200 sailors enjoying them this season, not including club members who sail or race them! Keeping them shipshape and safe through constant maintenance is a challenge, and we are most grateful for Hunters Hill High School’s support!

Community News

Members would have been concerned to see a deliberate campaign of tree killing took place across the Horse Paddock. Eight large trees were drilled and poisoned, and a further 20 trees felled around Christmas. Gladesville Police are investigating and the Save Our Shores community group has again been at the forefront of bringing this issue to the public’s attention.  The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, as owners of the Horse Paddock, has now installed cameras in the area. If any members have any information or perhaps CCTV vision of the area, please contact Gladesville Police. 

Boats and Gear for Sale

Do you have a boat or sailing gear to sell? Send your pictures and advertisement text to: Newsletter HHSC for inclusion on our new Member Boats For Sale page.

Newsletter

We welcome feedback and contributions via: Newsletter HHSC 

Have a great photo you’d like to share for use in the newsletter or on the club social media accounts? Send to photos@huntershillsailingclub.org.au or drop into the club’s Photos Whatsapp group which you can join here.