The CYCA YSA team are currently placed second behind the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s Youth Development Group sailors in the annual Interclub Challenge regatta after the first two rounds of fleet racing on Sydney Harbour in Elliott 6 sports boats, with the Squadron’s teams on top on each day of the regatta.
Spread over three days of racing in June and July, with up to six races each day, the final of this important youth regatta will be sailed on Pittwater on Sunday, 5 July. This will be a challenge to the Sydney Harbour sailors as they will be competing in unfamiliar Force 24 keelboats.
The Interclub Challenge regatta brings together up-and-coming young sailors from the youth development and match racing squads from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. Many of them will meet many times over the next few years as they compete in various Club, State and National match racing events.
Each club may nominate two teams which may change over the three days of racing, the teams being made up of a mixture of youth and intermediate sailors. In the case of the Squadron, the 23 members of the Youth Development Group, most of them Laser dinghy sailors, are being rotated to give each a day of competitive fleet racing in keelboats, each boat having a crew of four.
After two rounds of racing, hosted firstly by the CYCA and the RSYS, the Squadron has 42 points on the low scoring system, with the CYCA on 63 points and the RPAYC on 86 points.
In the first round, conducted by the CYCA on 7 June, the RSYS teams captained by Jordan Reece and Amy Lee (with an all-girls crew), finished in the two top places, followed by the CYCA teams skippered by Henry Kernot and Kurtis Poole, and the RPYAC teams skippered by Jack Nairn and Tom McClelland.
The RSYS conducted the second day of the Interclub Challenge regatta last Sunday, 21 June, a challenging day for both competitors and race officials who had to reset the regatta course in the Neutral Bay/Kurraba Point/Kirribilli area three times. All six races were sailed, the wind changing from SW to NE and then N, freshening from 5-10 knots to 10-15 knots.
Once again, the young Laser sailors from the Squadron’s Youth Development Squad quickly adapted to the Elliott6 yachts, with Nick Howe’s team finishing at the top of the leader board with 9 points, followed by Henry Tilly’s team on 13 points. Over the six races, Nick and his crew won two and placed second twice while Henry and his crew also won two races.
The CYCA’s Tom Koerner finished a close third on 14 points, followed by two RPAYC teams, Shaun Hannan on 16 points and Oscar Stranack on 20 points. In sixth place was CYCA’s Gabbrielle McClymont on 21 points. Tom and Shaun and their crews each won a race.
At the end of the day, the RYSYS teams’ total was 22 points, CYCA 35 and RPAYC an improved 36 points.
