Wednesday 4th September saw the Cruising Yacht Club of Hamilton Island’s first race of the Twilight Series for 2019/2020. Not only that, it was the launch of the She Sails race, which the club has incorporated into their Twilight Series. The first and fifth Wednesday of each month is a She Sails Race, where the club encourages each team to have a female skipper and crew on board and they will compete for a separate She Sails trophy at the end of the season. 
 

The race saw 7 vessels in total, with 6 out of the 7 competing within the She Sails race. 
 
The evening saw extremely light winds, with wind dropping to 0 knots at times, and the fleet also pushing tide on the way home. Due to the conditions, the race was shortened with only 4 of the 7 vessels completing the race. Several boats had to pull out of the race due to the challenging conditions.
 
Line honours of the evening went to Sunrise, an Elan 37 owned by Michael and Kathy McCarthy. Second place in the She Sails race went to Rhumbmaid skippered by Amanda Black, with The Panther in third position. 
 
Skipper Kathy was joined by team members Sue Whelan and Roxy Miller and the team were excited to take out the honours of first place. “She sails and sees whales by the sea shore on Sunrise at sunset today!” Kathy later posted on her Instagram account along with a photo of the happy winners. 

The CYCHI are excited to see more females being involved in sailing and with the success of the first race we can’t wait to see what comes next!