Rain and wind squalls hit women match racing sailors

Experience gained as crew in the Australian open match racing championship sailed on the River Derwent earlier this week paid dividends for women skippers Amanda Scrivenor, Stephanie Hazard and Olivia Price when the Australian women’s match racing championship started today.

Helming the RYCT’s Elliott 5.9 sports boats, each finished with three wins in an uncompleted first round-robin on a day that saw heavy rain squalls bringing winds in the high 20 knot range during the afternoon. “The poor girls got a belting” said RYCT sailing manager Richard Scarr.

Scrivenor and Price were members of Evan Walker’s winning crew from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in the open championship while Hazard, from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, led the only all-women crew to finish fourth overall.

All three showed their excellent helming skills yesterday, finishing unbeaten in the three match races they each sailed. Two other crews won two of their three matches – Lucinda Whitty from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and Nina Curtis from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney.

Danielle Bowater, from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. had one win in her three matches, as did teenage Tasmanian skipper Lucy Shephard. Fellow Tasmanian Lisa Blackwood lost all of her matches, as did the two Queenslanders Jessica Hansen and Sophie Lahey.

By Peter Campbell (Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania)