Race Day 5 PPWCS -Mild weather for the last day of the Women's Championship Series - BLISS - at Royal Brighton Yacht Club

Race Day 5 of the PPWCS, which is also the RBYC BLISS Regatta, was sailed Sunday 1 May on a mild autumn day.

The 14 skippers and their crew enjoyed the short course windward / leeward format in 8-12 knots and flat water.

Competitors completed all three races within the finishing window, despite the variety of boats competing. Thanks to PRO Lou Hutton and the RBYC race management team for meeting the joint challenges of a shifting breeze and a wide range of performance handicaps.

At the prize giving afterwards competitors were enthusiastic about the day, with the short legs keeping crews very busy, especially around marks.

It was pleasing to see some boats and skippers who were new to PPWCS and BLISS, as well as the participation of 3 Dragons. The Dragon Fleet at RBYC has been a strong supporter of women's sailing throughout the season.

The outstanding performance of the day was Kate Jenkins and crew on Cartouche, who won all divisions of BLISS (PHS, AMS and ORC) as well as the Associates Cup (for RBYC boats and skippers).

The PPWCS winner for the day was Liah Hunter on Hartbreaker, with Cath Beaufort in Up N Go second, and Katie Holyroyd on Serious Yahoo third.

Afterwards, competitors were treated to a glass of champagne by sponsor Pommery, and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere ashore. Prizes were provided by Yachtmaster, K2 Physiotherapy, Nutrimetics and RBYC.

Winners of the overall Port Phillip Women's Championship Series will be presented their trophies at the Victorian Sailing Awards on 9th September at Sandringham Yacht Club.

Race Day 4 of the Port Phillip Women's Championship Series - Val Hodge Trophy - Royal Yacht Club of Victoria

Race Day 4 unfortunateky was still affected by the Covid pandemic with may boats not able to enter due to many crew members sick or in isloation.

The 5 boats that did race however, all contained 100% female crew – with around 26 girls being on the water which was a fantastic achievement.

RYCV are looking to present an under 35 year old Trophy next year to encourage more younger women to compete on the day and in the Series

Race Day 3 of the Port Phillip Women's Championship Series - Women in Sailing Challenge - WISC 6th March 2022

WISC to be held at Sandringham Yacht Club was cancelled due to bad weather.

Race Day 2 of the Port Phillip Women's Championship Series - Jennifer Goldsmith Perpetual Trophy Sunday February 20th 2022

On Sunday February 22^nd, 18 boats headed out to take part in the Jennifer Goldsmith Perpetual Trophy Race, the second race day of the Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series at Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron.

The course selected was 7.7 nm and included a triangular lap around the RMYS Course area followed by a beat, run, beat to the finish. Although conditions were light to begin with and there was fear of postponement at the start conditions improved to 7-9 knots, minimal swells, and crystal-clear visibility throughout the day, leading to smooth manoeuvres and generally good outcomes for all.

It was great to see teams from across Port Phillip competing, including the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron’s GenOA Team. This team is made up of members of Royal Melbourne’s Generational Outreach and Access (GenOA) Committee, a newer initiative to the club focusing on the holistic engagement of under 35-year old’s. This all under 35, all female and primarily novice team, lit up the course in High Visibility orange uniforms. Nadine Tabak, team skipper and committee chair, shared that the five girls in their team “had a fantastic day out on the water with music and smiles all around, with their only bad manoeuvre coming about from laughing too much while trying to tack.”

As a part of the Port Phillip Women’s Series the three divisions raced it out together for the illustrious Jennifer Goldsmith Perpetual Trophy. Teams gathered at Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron post-race for presentations, with each team walking away with a bottle of wine and winners receiving fantastic gifts, all thanks to the Goldsmith family.

RMYS Skipper Phoebe was the winner of the Jennifer Goldsmith Perpetual Trophy on the day coming first in PHS and AMS on Ryujin.

Bullet skippered by Robyn Ragauskas took 2^nd place in AMS and PHS with RMYS Monica Jones on Salamander III coming third in AMS and Up n GO skippered by Cath Beaufort third in PHS.

For the overall PPWC Series, the three divisions including all female, female helm or mixed crew, were also calculated from the same results.

The All-Female Division 1 title PHS and AMS was taken out by Robyn Ragaskas of SYC on Bullet with the Mixed Crew Division going to Sal Balharrie on No Man’s Land and first place in the Female Helm Division to Monica Jones on Salamander III. The Series is hotting up with Bullet and Serious Yahoo both on equal points for the all-female division coming into the 3^rd race day to be held on March 6^th at Sandringham Yacht Club.

A big thank you is due to both the Goldsmith Family and the many volunteers that contributed to the creation of this successful event.

The next race in the Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series the Women in Sailing Challenge (WISC), will be held at Sandringham Yacht Club on March 6^th as part of the International Women’s Day Celebrations.

To enter the PPWCS and/ or WISC as a casual entry click on the link below.

PPWCS /WISC Click here to enter

Full PPWCS series scores can be found here.

Photos courtesy of Dave Hewison

Beautiful blue skies, sunshine and a light breeze for the 1^st Race of the Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series

After a Gale Force Saturday, Sunday turned out to be a great day to go sailing! There was plenty of sunshine, blue skies and a light breeze from the Southwest for the first race of the Port Phillip Women's Championship Series- the Shirley Freeman Memorial Trophy and Alice Varady Cup.

Boats from HBYC, RYCV, RMYS, SYC and RBYC arrived at the start on time and were all enthusiastic to be racing against each other again.

The race was a 10 nm course long windward that went past the Gellibrand Shoal to P2 and a long downwind leg to follow. There was a consistent light breeze within Hobsons Bay but as they went past the shoal and up to the top mark P2 mark the wind abated to less than a few knots which brought mirror like conditions on the water.

The crews seemed to not be too concerned by the lack of wind all just happy to be out on the water again. It was a slow 3 - 4.5-hour race for all with the larger faster yachts finishing the race in light conditions and the smaller yachts being more fortunate with the 15-knot sea breeze arriving later and benefiting from this with the results.

The winner on the day for the Shirley Freeman Trophy for PHS was James of Vanuatu skippered by Edel Doyle of Hobsons Bay Yacht Club and Karina for the Alice Varady Trophy skippered by Julianne Gibson again of Hobsons Bay Yacht Club.

The winners in each of the 3 Divisions for the Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series were for the women only crew Serious Yahoo (AMS) skippered by Katie Holroyd and Up n Go skippered by Cath Beaufort from RYCV.

The Mixed Crew division for both AMS and PHS was won by Harmony skippered by Maureen Dickins HBYC and the woman helm only division (AMS) was won by Le Cascadeur skippered by Leo Eeckman from Hobsons Bay Yacht Club and PHS division by James of Vanuatu skippered by Edel Doyle of HBYC.

Thank you to the Hobsons Bay Yacht Club for their Volunteer race management and to Williamstown Sailing Club for supplying the media boat and driver.

After the Race the crews gathered at HBYC for a Novemberfest of Schnapps, German Sausages, live music and great company. Yachting Victoria’s Vice President Debbie Parker and Australian Sailing’s Sue Phillips presented last year’s trophy’s which added to the great atmosphere.

Serious Yahoo from RBYC were the overall winners of last year’s PPWCS Trophy pictured below.

Bullet skippered by Robyn Ragauskas from Sandringham Yacht Club won the Mixed crew Trophy for AMS and PHS for 2020-21, with Liah Hunter and her crew of Ca Bouge won the female helm only division for 2020-21.

A special Thank You to Sally Neilson and her team of volunteers for once again a great day at Hobbos!

The next race of the She Sails Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series is the Jennifer Goldsmith to be held at Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron on February 6^th, 2022.

Registration and further information at the following links

https://www.shesails.org.au/ppwc/

For full results see link below

http://www.topyacht.net.au/results/hbyc/2020/prex-mas/sf/series.htm?ty=09727

Race report: Rod Austin HBYC

Photos: Dave Hewison

Shirley Freeman Trophy

The first race of the Port Phillip Women's Championship series is being held this Sunday 28th November at Hobsons Bay Yacht Club.

Start time 11.00am followed by presentations of the winners of the day and last year's winners of the PPWCS at 2.00pm at the Club house. If you are not able to race come and join us for the party afterwards!

See below link to the Sailing Instructions in Appendix A on HBYC website.
 

https://hbyc.org.au/race-documents

Refer to Section A3, of Appendix A, this includes the Shirley Freeman and Alice Varady Trophies.