Three renowned coaches have been announced as finalists for the National Coach of the Year Award, with the winner to be announced on November 3 at the Australian Sailing Awards.

A highly sought-after coach, Ben Durham has produced some impressive results over the past few years.

In 2023, Durham continued coaching the Australian Sail GP team who had another outstanding season, finishing first Overall in the third Season of Sail GP. A major focus of this season for him was coaching the female athletes through the Women’s Pathway Program, with Durham helping to integrate Nina Curtis, Tash Bryant and Lucy Copeland to the team.

Durham took part in the TP52 Super Series for the 2022 Season, coaching the South African ‘Team Phoenix’ to 2nd place overall. In addition, Durham also coached the Swedish ‘Artemis Racing’ to 2nd place in the RC44 Cup in Oman.

Furthermore, Durham has volunteered his time over the past 12 months to support youth match racing events like the Warren Jones International Youth Match Racing Championships.

Ben Durham

Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) ILCA Coach, Brody Riley, has developed a core group of six ILCA sailors over the past two years who now compete at state, national and world championships, with some of his athletes since progressing to National Youth Squads.

In the 2022-23 season, Riley worked with the ILCA 6 Victorian State Champion Casey Imeneo, coached a team of sailors at the ILCA 6 Laser Youth World Championships in Texas and coached the ILCA 7 Australian Sailing Futures squad in Europe in partnership with Australian Sailing Team.

In addition, Riley also coached his VIS squad to first, second and third overall Male at the 2023 Australian ILCA Nationals.

Brody Riley

Madeline Salter has proven herself a remarkable coach over the last year, with her coaching focus through the 2022-23 season primarily on youth teams in Keel Boat events, Secondary School Team Sailing and Australian Sailing Youth Development Squads.

At the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia (CYCSA), Salter built a Youth Sailing Program from the ground up, including both a Development and Performance training squad. Early success ensued in December 2022, with the Youth team finishing fourth overall and second Youth Team in the South Australia Sailors League Regatta. The team then finished fourth in the Youth division at the Asia Pacific Championships under Salter’s guidance, qualifying them for the 2023 Sailing Champions League World Championship in Germany in September 2023.

In addition, Salter has taken on the role of acting coach of the Australian Sailing Pathways athletes while their head coach is overseas, overseeing the training of three classes.

Madeline Salter

The winner of Coach of the Year will be announced at the 2023 Australian Sailing Awards in Sydney on November 3. For more information on the National Awards as well as ticket availability, click here.