The CYCA Youth Sailing Academy has taken the overall lead in the 2018 Interclub Challenge after a strong showing at their home event, claiming both Boat of the Day and Club of Day awards with a 1st and 3rd finish.
After the opening round in Newcastle the week prior, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron took out the top spot, claiming victory by three points from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, with the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club a further three points behind and finally Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club one point behind in fourth.
With a strong southerly predicted for racing on Sunday 10 June, seven teams make their way to Rushcutters Bay for Round Two. The CYCA Race Committee, led by YSA Administrator Pam Scrivenor, started on time in Athol Bay with the breeze ranging between 5-17 knots throughout the day. The seven development teams handled the Elliott 7s carefully around the race course with the RSYS 1 with Jack Littlechild at the helm, showing another strong start taking out the opening two races and finishing second in Race 3.
From there, CYCA 2, helmed by Hugo Stoner with Tom Barrington, Nathan Gulliksen, James Watson and Harriett Psaltis dominated the afternoon, winning four races in a row, although retired from the final race after an incident on the start line.
With each club allowed to enter two teams at each Interclub event, the overall series requires consistent results by both teams. The CYCA Youth Sailing Academy’s second team of Darcy McCracken, Angus Malcolm, Hugo Leeming, Emma Byrne and Tony Harrison finished 3rd overall which saw the CYCA return to the dock as Club of the Day as well, taking the overall lead in the series by a staggering 23 points from the RPAYC who have moved into second place.
Round 3 of the Interclub Challenge will be hosted by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron on Sunday 17 June 2018.
