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What a way to escape the chill of a Sydney winter. RSYS Rear Commodore Karyn Gojnich, members Vicki Kornman, Pia Hattersley and I recently travelled to Darwin to compete in the NT Women’s Regatta 2024.

Hosted by Darwin Sailing Club, it was a fabulous regatta in a balmy 31 degrees, with 0-15 knots of breeze over the 3 days of racing.

The club supplied us with one of their 3 Elliott 7s, which all of us were familiar with. Vicki, Pia and I sailed the RSYS Elliotts for several seasons of Tuesday Twilights. And thanks to Nev Whittey allowing us to come out and train with him and the Youth sailors before we left.

Originally the Elliotts were scheduled to race in their own division however there were not enough team entries to justify this so instead, we raced in Division 1 along with a range of different sized yachts including Darwin Sailing Club’s other two Elliotts.

Our first challenge was, that we had no idea where any of the rounding marks were so we spent the night before the race plotting approximate locations, relative to land marks, from the coordinates provided in the Sailing Instructions, onto a tourist map of Fannie Bay.
Equally challenging was the use of navigation Special Marks for roundings, something we are not used to in Sydney Harbour. No wonder we couldn't find Mark E. And then there were the 3 metre tides and a sea breeze you could set your watch to. The local sailors told me it was the 9 metre tides that were a tactical challenge.



All in all, we had 3 great days of racing and came away with first place in Division 1.

The Darwin Sailing Club and regatta participants were very welcoming hosts. The Race Committee, led by PRO Ed Vincent, ran a very professional regatta in often challenging conditions, supported by hard working volunteers on and off the water. The on-land events were great fun too.

Fiona McManus, the Regatta Chief Officer, who has been instrumental in building women’s sailing and youth training generally at DSC, provided a few interesting facts from the Regatta: 3 generations racing on one yacht, 4 crew members with either a daughter or a grand-daughter racing on another and with one yacht having a combined age of 70 while another was 400 years.

If you have ever been to Darwin you will know that the view of the sunset from the Club is legendary and worth a visit. Even better, if you get the chance, do the NT Women’s Regatta.

Article written by RSYS Member, Kim Ketelbey