From the Commodore

2025-2026 Presentation Night

 The club’s annual Presentation night was held on 30th May 2026  with over 100 attendees. It was a fantastic evening with catering by Mum’s Lebanese Catering. Thank you to everyone who attended and the volunteers who helped to set up and pack up the hall as well as those who presented during the evening - particularly the MCs Thom and Irelen.

Congratulations to the award winners for the 2025-6 Season

Optimist Awards

• Luca De Giosa - 1st Club Championship and 2nd Pointscore

• Alasdair Bonnitcha - Optimist 1st Handicap (Bonnitcha Family Trophy)

• Kirra Howell - 1st Pointscore

• Tom Griffiths - 2nd Club Championship

• William Liu - Optimist 2nd Handicap

• Emma Tomkins - 3rd Club Championships and 3rd Pointscore

• Zac Boyd - Optimist 3rd Handicap

ILCA Awards

• Zac Howell - 1st ILCA 6, 1st Club Championship, 1st Scratch, 1st Handicap and 1st Yardstick

• Ethan Wilkinson - 1st ILCA 4, 2nd Club Championship, 2nd Handicap and 3rd Yardstick

• Sophie Borner Harrison - 2nd Scratch and 2nd Yardstick

• Kevin Burman - 3rd Handicap 

• Paul Bonnitcha - 1st ILCA 7, 3rd Club Championships, 3rd Scratch

Perpetual Awards

Colin Bloomfield Award for Outstanding Sailor in Training - Ellery Chai and Miles White

HHSC Volunteer of the Year Award - Bill Vouden

Commodore’s Service Award - Lee Thorne and Jason Borner

HHSC Spirit of Sailing Award sponsored by Boatcrewgear -Thom Pearson

HHSC Woolwich Marina Youth Sailor of the Year - Zac Howell

HHSC Open Sailor of the Year Burman Family Trophy - Nic Livermore and Sylvie Stannage

Winter sailing

Winter has arrived with early morning westerly winds beginning to predominate. Congratulations to all HHSC sailors who made the trek to Woolhara Sailing Club last weekend for the East Coast regatta. Fortunately, a very, very light forecast turned out better than expected and the sailors were able to complete 3 days of racing in reasonable breeze. Thank you to WSC for hosting the event and NSW Optimist association for their organisation and generosity in permitting other classes to join. See below for the class reports about the event. 

Winter Racing 2026 📸 Luke Ryves

HHSC 2026 Winter Frostbite Series

Race 1 of the Frostbite series was completed on Sunday 10th May in a light westerly breeze on a glorious Sunday morning. 15 Optimists, 4 ILCAs, a Zest, an Aero and a Techo 293 windsurfer took to the course and all sailors were able to round the course within the time limit. Congratulations to everyone who took to the water.

A reminder that scores are adjusted by the boat’s Australian Sailing Yardstick. All classes are competing against each other. However, no scores will be published until the presentation after the final race of the series. The purpose of the Winter series is an opportunity to go sailing during the off season. Don’t worry about where you are coming or who is winning. Just go sailing for the enjoyment of it.

The second round is this coming Sunday (14th June) and all members are invited to attend. Any boat that has an Australian Yardstick measurement is eligible to participate and all boats are scored against each other. You must be a sailing member of HHSC and have your boat storage fees paid to enter the event.

The NOR/ SIs can be found here - 2026 Frostbite series

The Club Calander is here - HHSC_Season_2026-2027_Calendar.xlsx

2026 Winter Interclub Series

On 28th June HHSC will be hosting our round of the Optimist Interclub series - a winter series combining sailors from HHSC, RSYS and WSC. We’re expecting more than 80 Optimists to attend and it will require the usual large volunteer effort from parents and officials. Please keep the date free and come down to help.

Optimist Fleet

East Coast Championship 2026 📸 @mainsheet.in + Parents

A Fantastic East Coast Championship for HHSC Opti Sailors

The 2026 East Coast Championship was another fantastic event for Hunters Hill Sailing Club, with 18 Opti sailors taking on one of the largest fleets of the season. Across three days of racing on Sydney Harbour, 156 boats (Opti/Ilca/9ers) completed nine races in a championship that tested sailors’ skill, consistency and resilience.

Opti Open Fleet

HHSC sailors featured prominently at the front of the Open fleet.

Luca produced another impressive regatta to finish 2nd overall. Carrying two UFDs into the final stages of the championship, he certainly kept his coach and parents on edge, but managed to stay in the hunt all weekend and secure a podium finish.

Tom was another standout performer, delivering remarkable consistency across all three days to finish 4th overall in a highly competitive fleet.

The battle for the female title came right down to the final day, with HHSC sailors Sijia and Emerald locked in a close contest throughout the regatta. Sijia held on to claim the female championship, while Emerald finished a very close second.

Opti Intermediate Fleet

The Intermediate fleet produced some of the closest racing of the entire event, with the top four sailors separated by only two points after nine races.

Miles sailed an excellent series to finish 4th overall on countback, narrowly missing both a podium position and the overall title. It was a performance that highlighted both his consistency and determination, and a reminder that every point counts in championship racing.

The two Jaspers also enjoyed outstanding regattas. Jasper Chai achieved a personal best result, finishing 7th overall after a consistently strong series. Meanwhile, Jasper Ryves, competing in his first major Intermediate fleet championship, finished 12th overall and delivered a standout final day with several top-10 race finishes, showcasing his rapid progress and growing confidence in the fleet.

Green Fleet

HHSC’s Green Fleet sailors Matilda, Cassie and Henry enjoyed a memorable championship, completing six races while building confidence, skills and friendships on the water. The smiles on shore suggested the weekend was a huge success for all three sailors.

The Green Fleet program was also supported by a dedicated group of HHSC parent volunteers who helped run the start boat throughout the event. Judging by the photos and videos, they may have enjoyed the experience just as much as the sailors!

A True Club Effort

Events of this scale are only possible thanks to the support of volunteers, clubs and race officials. HHSC’s community spirit was on full display throughout the weekend, with many parents stepping up to assist Woollahra Sailing Club and help deliver a successful championship.

Congratulations to all HHSC sailors, coaches, volunteers and families on another outstanding East Coast Championship. The results reflect not only strong performances on the water but also the teamwork and club culture that continue to make HHSC such a special place to sail.

ECC Results 

Looking Ahead

The next regatta on the calendar will be the final event of the Winter Interclub Series, and this time it will be a home event for HHSC. The club is set to host the regatta on Sunday 28 June, with an expected fleet of more than 80 boats.

It will be an all-hands-on-deck effort, and we will be relying on our amazing volunteer community to help deliver another successful day of racing. If you can assist, please keep the day free and be ready to lend a hand both on and off the water. Your support is what makes events like these possible.

ILCA Fleet

The ILCA fleet welcomes David Mallorey to the role of ILCA Class Co-ordinator. David joins Jason Borner in the role to assist with the running and administration for the HHSC ILCAs. Many thanks to David for agreeing to the role. David has commenced by compiling the below report about the HSHC ILCA fleet at the East Coast Championships.

ILCAs @ East Coast Championship 2026

Woollahra Sailing Club, Sydney Harbour | 6–8 June 2026

The 2026 East Coast Championship, hosted by Woollahra Sailing Club on Sydney Harbour, brought together a strong fleet of junior and youth sailors across invited classes including ILCA4 and ILCA6. Each ILCA class raced on separate courses with other participating fleets with Sydney Harbour delivering classic winter sailing conditions over the regatta period, with moderate, generally westerly, winds in the mornings and brilliantly sunny conditions.

Saturday was supposed to the reliable wind day with forecast for Sunday and Monday looking light. Due to the late start on day 1 the wind died and ILCA4 race 1 was abandoned. After a 2 hour wait a second race was squeezed in before the shadows got too long for dinghy sailing.

Sunday and Monday had racing starting at 9:30 after the committee brought racing forward and both fleets achieving 4 races each day before the 10 knot breezes died away. This lead to the ILCA6 fleet having 10 races and the last of these could not be scored. A maximum of nine races was permitted for ILCA fleets. with two discards applied to determine final standings.

ILCA4 Fleet

The ILCA4 fleet comprised 30 sailors however our traditional understanding of class racing was challenged during the regatta with 12 of the boats using the new ILCA4 Mk2 sail. From early on it was evident that the new sail is noticeably quicker around the race track with these taking out the top 11 place for majority of the races.

HHSC achieved generally consistent results for sailors across the regatta with Harper S leading the final placings for the club with 5th overall and 2nd female including a couple of 2nds over the line. In the Mk1 fleet Ethan W worked really hard to crack the Mk2 fleet securing a couple of 8ths across the line and securing a 10th overall. Our other HHSC competitors were Taylor L, Clifford G, Thom P and Thomas M.

ILCA6 Fleet

The highly competitive 16 strong ILCA6 fleet completed the nine-race series with HHSC’s Zac H clean sweeping the 7 races counted and Sophie B achieving 4th overall and 3rd female overall.

Summary

The 2026 East Coast Championship was an awesome way to spend the King’s Birthday long weekend and, despite a shaky start, delivered a great weekend of racing, even if ILCA4 Mk2 has added a 4 fleet to the ILCA family!

Newsletter

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