General Update 

Welcome to 2025! It has been an extraordinarily busy summer of sailing in NSW and the ACT. Congratulations to all the clubs and class associations who have hosted and delivered successful regattas over the past few months, as well as competitors from our region who have experienced success at events across the country. Thank you to the clubs and class associations who have shared their news and reports with us. You can view recent Australian Sailing news, and Club and Class Association news, on our News page.  

Craig, Jess and I have been busy with club visits and Discover Sailing Centre Inspections. In January we visited clubs hosting major events, including Woollahra Sailing Club hosting the B14 and Musto Skiff Worlds, and Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club hosting the VX One Australian Championships. Unfortunately, the wild wind and weather in January postponed a few other club visits, including to St George Sailing Club for the Flying Eleven Australian Championships, as officials elected to keep everyone safe at home while the weather passed through.  

I visited Narrabeen Lakes Sailing Club last month, which has just celebrated its 120th Anniversary! The celebrations come three years after the clubhouse was destroyed by fire at Jamieson Park. Unfortunately, the redevelopment plans for the new clubhouse have been delayed, and the club is working with the local council to find a solution. NLSC has received great community support and awareness, and we will be supporting where possible, to help get their clubhouse back. I also visited Carcoar Dam Sailing Club in January, south-west of Bathurst. The club has over 30 members and is a family-oriented club offering racing and social sailing each Sunday during the warmer months. The club is working closely with Australian Sailing to become accredited as a Discover Sailing Centre, to offer sailing courses and experiences to the Bathurst and Orange communities. Over the next month, I look forward to visiting more clubs in Sydney, along the NSW South Coast, in the ACT and in Newcastle.  

On a sad note, we also learned of the passing of Colin Chidgey in January. Col had a profound impact on the sailing community across Australia, well known and well respected as one of the top race officers who supported clubs and class associations for many years. Col also held roles with Yachting NSW and Yachting Australia as a technical official and competition manager. More about Col here.  

SailGP 

SailGP returned to Sydney earlier this month. It is always a spectacle to see the fastest racing on water take to Sydney Harbour, as well as seeing some of our best sailors compete on home waters. SailGP generates huge interest for our sport, with millions of viewers on the water, on land, and on TV.  

Ahead of the Sydney SailGP, we were given an incredible opportunity to take a group of Australian Sailing female athletes, and support staff, for a Tech Tour of the SailGP Sydney base, courtesy of Accor Pacific. The tour allowed us to meet and interact with the France SailGP Team sailors, hearing their advice to female athletes pursuing a career in SailGP. We also got a chance to hear from female SailGP athletes from other teams about their pathway into SailGP, and the exciting developments in the fleet with the introduction of T-Foils and the Female Training Camp earlier this season.  

I was also invited to the SailGP ‘Champions for Change’ event, hosted at KPMG Sydney on Friday. Champions for Change is SailGP’s high impact thought leadership network, uniting global change makers focused on driving climate action and inclusivity in sport. The event included speakers Nina Curtis (AUS SailGP Team), Jo Grindley (Emirates GBR), Jim Callinan (Fox Sports), Dr Vanessa Pirotta (Wildlife Sydney Harbour) and other speakers from KPMG, Oracle, and Accor Pacific. There were some great takeaways from this event that will be useful for clubs to implement strategies to achieve their purpose, and a more inclusive and sustainable future.   

Save the Dates for 2025 

We are pleased to release the provisional event dates for 2025, including our Sailing Summits, Sailing Awards and Training in Focus. This year, the annual Sailing Summit will be held across multiple locations. We hope that this will provide greater access for club representatives in areas away from Metropolitan Sydney and Canberra.  

• ACT Sailing Summit / Sat 10 May / Canberra Yacht Club 
• NSW South Sailing Summit / Sat 17 May / Port Kembla Sailing Club 
• Sydney Sailing Summit / Sat 14 June / Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron 
• NSW North Sailing Summit / Sat 21 June / Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club 
• NSW Mid-North Sailing Summit / Sat 28 June / Coffs Harbour Yacht Club 
• Training in Focus – LIVE (for Officials) / Sun 20 July / Drummoyne Sailing Club 
• NSW/ACT Sailing Awards / Sat 20 September / St George Sailing Club 
• Youth Sail NSW / Wed 1 – Mon 6 October / Toronto Amateur Sailing Club 
• Sail Sydney / Fri 4 – Mon 7 December TBC 

Further information, including registration for events, will be available soon. 

NSW Regional Advisory Committee 

The NSW Regional Advisory Committee recently had a meeting, sharing insights from clubs and recent events around NSW. Some of the items that were discussed include Club Survey feedback, volunteering at clubs, club membership and participation data, training of more Officials, and planning for YouthSail NSW 2025.  

The NSW RAC meets every 2-3 months, sharing developments, stories and challenges in the sailing community. It is an integral part of Australian Sailing to ensure that community feedback is received, discussed and implemented. The current committee is chaired by Hugh Tait (Toronto Amateur SC), with members Alex Stewart (Hornsby Ku-ring-gai SC), Laurie Hoffman (Balmoral SC) and Michael Lindsay (RSYS).

Yachting ACT Update 

Club Survey Insights – Resources for Clubs 

To further enhance the usefulness of the Club Survey process for the club community, we have narrowed in on the Top 5 Challenges and the Top 5 Priorities as determined by clubs. This has been published in an article that provides further context in the way of available resources or support currently available for clubs, or future work that is in the pipeline to enhance the support available.

February and March are busy with many events! You can view upcoming events via our NSW/ACT Sailing Event Calendar. View the full calendar here.  

ACTION ITEM FOR CLUBS: Add your events to the calendar! Contact nsw@sailing.org.au if you need assistance with adding your events.