The Notice of Race has been posted and entries are open for the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s inaugural ‘Ladies of the Sea’ coaching regatta. The two day event on Saturday October 5 and Sunday October 6 is open to keelboats, and one design Elliott 7s, Ynglings and J70s. Boats can participate with an all female crew or female helm with a mixed crew and choose to use a spinnaker or not.

For all participants, across racing and race management, the event will aim to challenge and nurture crews with mentors providing the opportunity for all to enhance their capabilities, build confidence and develop skills on the water.

Racing will be conducted with short windward/leeward courses on Sydney Harbour both afternoons. In the morning, notable Australian yachtswomen will provide coaching sessions and in-boat mentoring. To ease our participants into the day, we will hold Hatha style Yoga sessions on the Club lawns overlooking the harbour.

The event is the brainchild of Squadron Captain and Olympian Karyn Gojnich who was inspired by similar dinghy coaching events in Victoria. “RSYS has run Ladies Twilights on Sydney Harbour for 15 years and our community of passionate female sailors has grown tremendously in this time. During the 2018-19 season we had more than 180 sailors in yachts ranging from 20ft to 50ft most Tuesday nights. The time is right to up the ante with a full regatta including sailors from other clubs. My aim is to develop confidence and skills for Sailors, Coaches, Instructors and Race Officials,” said Karyn.

The Squadron is an accredited Australian Discover Sailing Centre and runs a packed schedule of introductory keelboat sailing courses popular with women of all abilities and ages. “We hold ladies only classes, branded as ‘Ladies of the Sea’ (LOTS), specifically to encourage women into our sport in a nurturing and supportive environment. Graduates are invited to join our Paspaley Tuesday Twilights for a taste of the camaraderie and exhilaration of racing. It is extremely rewarding to see our ladies grow from crew to helm and some eventually become boat owners too,” Karyn added.

The event will wrap up with a formal dinner ‘Inspirational Women in Sailing’ on Sunday evening. Our partner Paspaley will award beautiful pearl jewellery prizes, and we will hear from some of Australia’s most prominent female sailors including Olympians Lisa Darmanin and Lucinda Whitty, Ocean Respect Racing’s Vanessa Dudley and Katie Pellew-Spithill, and Australian Sailing’s Chief Keelboat Instructor Nikkie Jones.