| GIRLS RULE REGATTA Palm Beach Catamaran Club
Palm Beach Catamaran Clubs annual “Girls Rule” Regatta held last weekend has grown from a regatta billed as a bit of fun (by the blokes of course) to a major event. The women skippers included Linda Renouf a 4 times North American Nacra champion and two European nationals, Katya and Ricarda Roemer, both aiming to steal the silverware away from the local women, most of whom would normally crew. The locals weren’t ready to be “rolled” easily though. Fresh from some very hot competition at the Fiji World titles and the recent National titles where some veteran sailors. Sarah Roberts, Ainslie Gordon and Robin McCormick each took out wins in the Hobie 16 class, while Sam Duchatel was right in contention until some very sloppy crew-work (a hapless bloke skipper of course) resulted in a capsize. It was Linda Renouf though sailing with Upu Kila who strung together a very consistent set of results to take first place in the Hobie 16 class from a fast finishing Ricarda Roemer sailing with Anthony Duchatel. Right on their heals where Sarah Roberts sailing with husband Jamie and Robin McCormick sailing with her son and youth world champion Michael, coming in equal third. While there was a strong focus on the large Hobie 16 fleet it was impossible to ignore the spectacular Formula 18 Hobie Tiger steered by Katya. There are no women currently steering this high performance catamaran in Australia and so Katya’s 3 “line honours” wins was a real eye opener. It was great to see some father and daughter teams having a go. Young Molly Blackburn was out there with her dad John and a close friend as was Simone Machan with her dad Guy. Also great to see the only regular Hobie 18 still going around Pittwater with Sophie Tebbut steering (do you think they need a Tiger?). The women at Palm Beach have made a huge difference to the competitiveness of the club at State and National regattas and its clear that this importance is growing. Palm Beach Sailing Club encourages sailors from beginners to experienced to join them at training on Saturday mornings followed by club racing in the afternoon. To find out more just look at www.pbsc.org.au.
Palm Beach Sailing Club Girls Rule Regatta - RESULTS 23/02/08
Note 1: Only first 3 races counted for regatta
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