(From the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) web site - www.cyca.com.au/)

As Sydney’s autumn skies shone and provided some interesting wind conditions, eight teams competed in the Marinassess Women’s Match Racing Regatta, with the CYCA team skippered by Lucinda Whitty winning the regatta.

Of the eight teams competing, two international teams from Italy and USA raced giving them valuable racing experience in the lead-up to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Women’s Match Racing World Championships being conducted in Auckland this week. The international skipper Sabrina Gurioli (Italy) currently holds an ISAF women’s match racing ranking of 15, with Liz Baylis (USA) holding an ISAF women’s match racing ranking of 11.

CYCA fielded five highly competitive teams with skippers Sam Boyd, Kirstin Norris, Josie Roper, Lucinda Whitty and Ebony Young at the helm, with the sixth team from Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club skippered by Nicky Souter.

The regatta commenced on Saturday with a delayed start due to light and fluctuating wind conditions. Racing got underway in the afternoon with Nicky Souter and Liz Baylis shaping up as the women to watch. Day Two saw a challenging day of racing, again due to fluctuating westerly conditions, which caused the need for rounding marks to be changed and an abandonment of a flight. CYCA’s Lucinda Whitty took the lead from the outset winning all flights of the round robin. Due to the late start on Saturday, no finals or semi-finals were conducted. The winner of the regatta was determined by points scored for all flights during the round robin flights.

Lucinda Whitty said of her win “This weekend’s regatta was a great experience for myself and my crew. Thank you to Jenni Bonnitcha and the Youth Sailing Academy for the training they have provided, which made us very competitive throughout the regatta. The regatta was well organised and thanks to my crew, Kat Stroinovsky, Bonnie Nixon and Bex Dunn for their dedication in achieving the win!”

Jenni Bonnitcha, Youth Sailing Manager and Principal Race Officer commented on the race “It was great to see such strong competition between CYCA Squad members and International Competitors. It is a tribute our coach, Evan Walker that we have such strong and world class women’s youth squad. Our race umpires were truly tested on Saturday with some penalties being administered during the pre match racing, but are commended on their fair calls.”

Other standouts of the racing regatta included first time skippers Kirstin Norris and Josie Roper, with Ebony Young having made her first ranking during this regatta with a strong performance. Sam Boyd backed up her strong performance in the Harken International Women’s Match Racing Regatta, by finishing 5th in the Marinasess Regatta, behind the competitive international teams from Italy and USA. She is now ranked 41st on the ISAF rankings.

Final Placings were:
1st – Whitty (CYCA)
2nd – Souter (RPAYC)
3rd – Baylis (USA)
4th – Gurioli (ITA)
5th – Boyd (CYCA)
6th – Roper (CYCA)
7th – Norris (CYCA)
8th – Young (CYCA)