Girlsail 2015 @ DBYC

by Kate Harper - DBYC

76 Girls from 9 schools met at Davey’s Bay Yacht Club (DBYC) on a foggy Friday morning to participate in Girlsail. The 38 teams travelled from as far as Apollo Bay and Geelong.

Laser, 420, Optimist, Minnow, Int Cadet and Sabre sailors paired up to sail in Pacers as part of Girlsail, which was organised by Toorak College (TC) in association with DBYC on Friday 20th February 2015.

Girls were located on ‘changeover’ ribs anchored in the DBYC harbour and rotated through their rounds in quick succession.

The organising team ran two courses, enabling for plenty of quality sailing for all competitors. 

In Division 1, the morning sessions saw just enough wind to allow preliminary rounds to be completed.  The afternoon provided consistent light winds to enable the two final series races to be completed. 

In the Div 1 Gold Fleet, Apollo Bay SC took the early lead, but were out sailed in the finals rounds by the St Leonards team of Alice Silverster and Jessica Butters, with Toorak College pair Sophie Jackson and Jess Harper finishing a close second.  In Division 1, St Leonards take the overall team’s award with their teams placing in 1st, 3rd and 4th. 

Division 1 Silver Fleet was won by the Firbank team of Bea Harris-Hart and Indigo Brighton-Knight.

In Division 2, due to some lighter winds on the course area, saw all preliminary rounds completed by mid afternoon and one finals series race completed.

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Division 2 Gold Fleet was won by Chloe Harper and Ella Sayers from Toorak College.  In 2nd were the Geelong team of Emily Webb-Ware and Anna Gwuzdz.  Once again it was down to the last race for the top placings to be determined.

Division 2 Silver Fleet was won by the Toorak College team of Immi Webber and Milli Meldrum.

A great effort by a team of volunteers from DBYC, TC, Yachting Victoria (YV), Frankston Yacht Club, and individuals including; Lou Hutton, Cindy Tillbrook, John Middleton, Bill Bell, Alison Dale, Mel Hitchen-Haw, Geoff Eldridge, Ian Wall. 

Sam England was the guest speaker, who was the recent Women’s Worlds Moth Champion and who also played a large part in developing Girlsail with TC and DBYC 9 years ago.

Special thanks to YV, Ranelagh Yacht Squadron and DBYC who supplied the pacers.

A fantastic day of sailing for all competitors in near perfect conditions.    All girls created the perfect school day memory; boats, water, sun and fun! Next Year there will be the 10th Girlsail regatta.


Article from Yachting Victoria:  by Kate Harper DBYC 2015