From the President

What a night! Frost on the Foredeck was a resounding success, and I want to extend a massive thank you to everyone who joined us. The energy was fantastic, the food and entertainment were top-tier, and the community spirit was on full display.

It was particularly inspiring to welcome Australian Sailing CEO and HHSC alumnus Malcolm Page. I hope you all had the chance to see his two Olympic gold medals—a brilliant reminder to our junior sailors of where a passion nurtured right here on the deck can lead!

Beyond being a great celebration, the event achieved a major financial milestone, raising approximately $45,000. These funds are earmarked for our vital hall renovations, modernising our facilities for our young sailors and their families.

Crucially, this money does double duty: building a dedicated capital pool allows us to provide matching co-contributions when applying for major government and sporting grants. This dramatically increases our chances of securing significant extra funding to fulfill the club's vision.

A huge hats-off to everyone who bought tickets, donated cash, or contributed auction items. A full list of acknowledgements is at the end of this newsletter - there are some very generous people and companies there. Above all, immense props to Rebecca Tompkins, Jaye Ryves, and Sophie Hunt for their tireless efforts in making the night such a triumph. Thank you ladies!

The Dream Team ;-)📸 Dave Griffiths

From the Commodore

2026 Optimist European Championships

HHSC was proudly represented by 3 (out of 4) Australian sailors at the recent 2026 Optimist  European Championships at Gdynia, Poland from 24th to 31st July. Congratulations to Emma Tomkins, Luca De Giosa and Sijia Deng for a fantastic effort and amazing results.Both girls finished in Gold fleet - which reportedly is a first for Australia at an overseas regatta - but all sailors had fantastic results and should be proud of their achievements.

Overall results were:

• Emma Tomkins - 43rd Girls Fleet (out of 122 sailors) - Gold Fleet

• Sijia Deng - 48th Girls Fleet (out of 122 sailors) - Gold Fleet

• Luca De Giosa - 86th Boys Fleet (out of 170 sailors) - Silver fleet

See the Optimist report below for the full report.

HHSC 2026 Winter Frostbite series

We’ve managed to complete 3 rounds of the 2026 Frostbite series - despite light and fickle breeze - and we have the final round this Sunday (16th August 2026). Briefing is at 9.00am and racing starts from 9.30am sharp. The presentation will be held after racing and all of the results published on the website after the presentation.

Club racing

The season opener is planned for September 13th 2026 with the traditional shake down /  non-competitive sail. 

The club calendar is up to date until daylight savings (Sunday 4th October) after which we will switch to summer training times. These will be negotiated in your WhatsApp chats so please make sure you keep an eye on these and respond with your availability.

The calendar is here - HHSC_Season_2026-2027_Calendar.xlsx

Learn2Sail

Learn2Sail and Teens & Tweens classes have commenced for Term 3. We have also now opened all our upcoming spring/summer school holiday camps for registration on our events page. 

Upcoming camp dates: 

• Sep 28 - Oct 3 

• Dec 7-11 (T&T only)

• Dec 21-23 

• Jan 11-15

• Jan 18-22

Register here and remember members receive a $125 discount on camps (excluding T&T). 

T&T Learn2Sail  📸 Belle Parker 

Do have any family or friends who would be interested in joining any of the above camps or Term 4 classes? We have also confirmed dates for our upcoming free Try-sailing sessions this term. The registration links and dates are as follows: 

• 0900-1030 Saturday, September 5 

• 0900-1030 Saturday, September 19 

Optimist Fleet

Opt European Championship 🇵🇱 📸 Rebecca/Alessio/GdyniaSailing

HHSC Sailors Take on the Optimist European Championship 🇦🇺⛵️

It was a huge few weeks for three of our HHSC Optimist sailors — Luca, Emma and Sijia — who travelled to Gdynia, Poland, to represent Australia at the 2026 Optimist European Championship.

Racing brought together some of the best young Optimist sailors from across the world. 49 Nations - 292 Athletes - 170 Boys - 122 Girls. 

The Championship  delivered everything from challenging conditions to big competitive fleets, making it an incredible experience for our young sailors.

A particularly proud moment for Australian Optimist sailing came when Emma and Sijia became the first Australian girls to both make Gold Fleet (at the same championship) an outstanding achievement and a milestone for Australian Optimist sailing.

A huge congratulations to Luca, Emma and Sijia on an incredible European Championship campaign. We are very proud to see HHSC sailors competing on the international stage and look forward to seeing what comes next!

Lake Garda Ora Cup - Luca De Giosa 📸 Circolo Vela Arco

Luca winning Race 2 at the Gold Cup 📸 Atlantis Academy

Luca Takes on Lake Garda 🇮🇹

Fresh from the European Championships, Luca headed straight to Italy 🇮🇹 and Lake Garda, where apparently one major international regatta wasn’t quite enough!

First up was the Ora Cup, where Luca battled it out in a huge fleet of 490 boats and managed to qualify for the Gold Fleet — a fantastic achievement in one of the biggest Optimist events around.

Next up is the Gold Cup, another huge 400 boats regatta which, by the time this newsletter goes live, will already be underway. After day1 Luca is sitting 16th overall with an epic win in race 2! 

And because clearly there’s no such thing as enough sailing, after the Gold Cup, Luca will then head straight into a 5-day Atlantis Academy clinic, working on refining his skills and getting even more time on the water.

At this point, we’re not entirely sure whether he’s on a sailing trip or has quietly moved to Lake Garda permanently! 😅⛵️🇮🇹

🏆 Next Up: NSW Team Racing Championship

The NSW Team Racing Championship is fast approaching! On 23 August, teams from clubs across NSW will head to Northbridge Sailing Club for a day of fast, tactical and no-doubt chaotic team racing.

Our HHSC sailors have been training non-stop and are ready to put all that practice to the test. The big question is… can HHSC take out both the Open and Intermediate titles for the 4th year running? 👀🏆

ILCA Fleet

Pic 📸 Photographer

Welcome back to term 3 everyone. Light winds for training dates over the last few weeks but fingers crossed for a bit more for the upcoming Saturday training sessions. 

A reminder to all regarding the Pleasant Sunday Morning Series racing this Sunday, it would be great to see a few more ILCAs out on the harbour for it.

Also, we are just creating our plan for summer coaching sessions. Please check your whatsapp for the polls as we will lock in preferred options in the next few days.

At the end of this term will be the NSW youth event. Australian Sailings’ Youth Sail NSW Registrations are open for the 2026 Coaching Clinic (30 Sept - 2nd Oct) and Championships (3 - 5 Oct) at Toronto Amateur Sailing Club - Website : https://www.sailingyouth.org.au/youth-sail-nsw/ - Event open to anyone under 23 years of age.  

29ers/49ers

Welcome back.

<<DM added - delete as appropriate.>> Any teams ready to blow some cobwebs off? Join Tom & Spencer on the water Sunday for the last of the Pleasant Sunday Morning Series. 

Pleasant Sunday Morning Series - Race 3 - Tom & Spencer learning the ropes 📸 Helena Ward

Pleasant Sunday Morning Series - Race 3 - Tom & Spencer learning the ropes 📸 Helena Ward

Waspz

Pic 📸 Photographer

Frost on the Foredeck - Thankyou to all our supporters:

Businesses who donated prizes:

Asics

AG Oatley Wine

Bar Luca

Baronia Kitchen

Boat Crew Gear

Bonds Flying Roos

Budgy Smuggler

Bushs Meats (Bushy is attending)

Diamond Air Taxis (alia and steve Boyd attending) 

Eagle Rock Yacht Charters (Mel and Adrian attending)

Frontier Touring

Future Classic (Jay is attending)

Hebron Farm

Ironwood 

Love Boats Canberra

MyYacht

Nelson Brand New Zealand Scampi

NSW Waratahs

Rebel Sport & Jenny Child (Jenny probably attending)

The Sports Clinic & Clare Flower

Touch_Wood

Vaikobi 

Vanity Lane

The Village Florist

Vision PT Balmain

The Welcome Hotel

The Wine Room

Families who donated prizes or significant amounts of cash (over 1k?):

The Bonnitcha family

The Boyd family

The Burman family

Tristan Butterworth

The Curtin family

The Howell family

The Hunt family

The Li family

James Luffman

David and Alison Malory

The Newton family

The Oatley family

The Ryves McLay family

The Stannage family

The Tomkins family

The Wilkinson family

The White family

Lots of volunteers but special mention to : 

• Some highly successful raffle ticket sellers, Sophie, Cleo, Luca, Henry Rose, Thom, Ethan, Edward and Erik

• Our bar volunteers…

• Our set up  / pack up volunteers…

• Mel for sorting out the kitchen

• Tim Ross, Touch Sensitive ( courtesy of Future Classic) Cam, Arlo and Erik for looking after our ears

• Fundraising committee :)

Newsletter

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