News

Newsletter, 27th March 2026

Published Fri 27 Mar 2026

From the President

Dear Members,

As we reach the final weeks of what has been an extraordinary season, I want to thank you all for the energy and spirit you’ve brought to the rigging lawn. While we look forward to our end-of-season celebrations, we are also busy preparing the club for a successful 2026/27.

Membership & Safety: Our Commitment to Young Sailors

Membership renewal notices will be distributed shortly. As you prepare for the new season, please note two key requirements:

Junior & Youth Members: All members under 18 must be registered alongside a parent member (sailing or non-sailing). This ensures our families remain at the heart of everything we do.
Working With Children Checks (WWCC): To comply with current legislation and ensure the safety of our youth, all adult volunteers must hold a valid WWCC. The process is straightforward: apply online, visit a Service NSW (RMS) centre for a quick ID check, and you are covered for five years. As a volunteer, this check is free.

Managing Our Space: Boat Storage Updates

To ensure our facilities remain available for active sailors, we are tightening our boat storage policy. We have noticed an accumulation of vessels that are no longer in use, which limits space for our growing fleet. Under our updated membership agreement, if storage fees remain unpaid for six months, the club reserves the right to take possession and remove the boat. Please review the updated terms on our website when they go live in the coming weeks.

The Road Ahead: Our Hall Fundraising Event

Ok folks, here it is… Frostbite on the Foredeck! Our flagship fundraising event of the year will be on Saturday, 8 August - save this date. The upcoming season marks the beginning of a major push to renew our club assets, with our primary focus being the refresh and restoration of our Hall. Our newly formed Fundraising Committee has been hard at work planning the event for all our members and the broader community. This promises to be a fantastic occasion, think food, friends, raffles, auctions and prizes! If you want to get involved in the planning for the big night, just let me know.

I look forward to celebrating a wonderful season with you all at our upcoming awards evening. Details on the AGM and the "Night of Nights" will follow shortly.

From the Commodore

NSW/ACT Metro Championships - Manly Yacht Club - 14-15 March

HHSC sent a sizable team from our growing ILCA race fleet to the NSW/ACT Metropolitan Championships at MYC. Congratulations to several of our sailors attending their first ILCA regatta -- including Ethan Wilkinson, Clifford Gates, Thomas Malorey, Jan Gawlik, and Taylor Lu.

In a fleet of 80 boats, including some elite sailors at the event, HHSC managed to dominate the podium with congratulations to the following trophy winners:

Meteo Trophy Winners 📸 Merryn Howell

Ethan Wilkinson - 1st ILCA 4 and first under 16
Amelia Thorne - 3rd ILCA 4 and 1st female
Sylvie Stannage - 1st ILCA 6 with a perfect “picket fence” (all firsts)
Zac Howell - 3rd overall ILCA 6 and first under 17
Janek Gawlik - Encouragement Award.

Good luck to Sylvie who is about to head for Europe for another tour of European racing.

2026 NSW Optimist State Championships - RPAYC - 21-22 March

A 19 strong HHSC Optimist race fleet travelled to RPAYC on 21st and 22nd March for the 2026 NSW State Championships including 4 new Greenfleet sailors joining the race fleet - Matilda Newton, Jasper Ryves, Cassie Thomas and Archie Luffman. Well done to you all for your first regatta.

Unfortunately, the weather did not co-operate and Saturday’s racing was cancelled and only 3 Open races (2 intermediate races) were able to be completed on Sunday in very light breeze. Without any drops, in fickle breeze a single mistake cost sailors dearly on the leaderboard.

The highlight for HSHC was the presentation of the 2025-6 NSW State Grand Prix (results calculated from results at East Coast, SORS, ACT States and NSW States.

Congratulations to:

Grand Prix Trophy Winners 📸 NSW Optimist Association

Luca De Giosa - 1st Male Open Fleet
Sijia Deng - 1st Female Open Fleet
Emma Tomkins - 3rd Female Open Fleet
Miles White - 2nd Male Intermediate Fleet and 1st Under 11

Club racing

This weekend marks the final race of the 2025-6 Racing Calendar. All results can be found here:

Hunters Hill Sailing Club - Results

Next year’s calendar will be published in the coming weeks. It will be in the same location as the current calendar on the club’s website:

https://www.huntershillsailingclub.org.au/sailing/clubracing

After we return from the Easter weekend and school holidays fleet training will switch to weekends only. Training times will be discussed / decided in the relevant WhatsApp chats and posted onto the new calendar.

Winter racing will be Pleasant Sunday Morning Series. These are once per month on Sunday mornings and will be Yardstick racing where all classes compete against each other with times adjusted by Australian Sailing Yardsticks. The SIs and NOR will replace the current season’s documents on the club website after this weekend.

https://www.huntershillsailingclub.org.au/sailing/clubracing

Learn2Sail

This weekend is our last weekend of classes for Term 1 before we take a break over the Easter weekend and school holidays.

There are very limited spaces available for our upcoming 13-17 April camp so register asap if you would like your sailor to attend.

Members receive $110 discount on all learn2sail camps (excluding Teens and Tweens).

L2S Rookie sailors 📸 Belle Parker

Term 2 classes will commence on 24/25 April.

When we resume for term 2, all memberships must be renewed in addition to Term 2 class registration.

For both saftey and insurance purposes sailors who do not have both their memberships renewed (including a non-sailing adult) AND a registration for Term 2 ‘Training Sessions’ complete at least 48hrs prior to class commencement will be sent home and asked to return the following week!

Term 2 class registration:

We require all sailors to be registered for classes (separate process from membership renewal) in order to safely allocate coaching numbers for each group.

Renew your sailors learn2sail or Teens and Tweens membership AND your Non-sailing adult membership
Log in to your sailors HHSC account (please note if you log into yours you will register yourself not your sailor)
Account > Training Sessions > My Training Sessions > All Training Sessions and or click here
Select the training session you would like to register for

Please note sailors who wish to attend both T&T Learn2Sail and Learn2Race will require a separate registration for both

If you have any issues or questions, please email Learn2Sail@huntershillsailingclub.org.au.

L2S Momentum sailors 📸 Belle Parker

Teens and Tweens sailors 📸 Belle Parker

L2S Pro sailors 📸 Belle Parker

Optimist Fleet

Sijia & Luca NSW Sates GrandPrix Opens winners 📸 Alessio

Emma 3rd Female GrandPrix Opens 📸 Alessio

Miles Interm GrandPrix 2nd overall and 1st under 11 📸 Alessio

Weekend shots from NSW Opti States 📸 Jason/ Rebecca/Alessio

HHSC Green Team : Matilda Cassie Archie Jasper and Sam Newton🤣 📸 Elizabeth

NSW Opti States is a wrap!

Two challenging days at RPAYC, with only 3 races completed for Opens (all on Sunday) and 2 for Intermediates. Light, shifty breeze (2–6 knots) made for a mixed bag of results across the fleet.

Green Fleet had the best run of all—racing both days and even walking away with some great prizes 👏Well done to Matilda, Jasper, Cassie and Archie!

The silverware for Opens and Intermediates was ultimately decided by the overall State Grand Prix (25/26 season), combining results from East Coast, SORS, ACT and States.

NSW States Grand Prix 25/26 Season winners:

Opens

🥇 Luca (Male)

🥇 Sijia (Female)

🥉 Emma (Female)

Intermediate

🥈 Miles (and 🥇 U11)

For the second year in a row, HHSC takes home both Male and Female Grand Prix titles! A huge effort from all the HHSC kids—awesome consistency across the entire season 👏”

2023 - 2026 a trip on memory lane 📸 Alessio

A blast from the past—two photos taken in the same spot. The first was captured in 2023 during the Opti Nationals at RPAYC, featuring a young Zac Howell, Alex Parker, and a very young 9-year-old Luca, alongside other HHSC Opti sailors who have since moved on to other classes.

The second was taken over the weekend, showcasing the next generation of our Opti sailors coming through.

2026/2027 Season will start in April

This weekend will wrap up the 2025/26 season with the final round of Club Championship.

The new season training will resume after April school holidays, with session times for both fleets to be confirmed shortly.

All sailors and parents will need to renew their membership and boat storage prior to the new season starting on 25 April. No membership, no training, no boats allowed in storage.

The Rotary Club of Hunters Hill - our community partners

Our generous local sponsors are holding a fantastic charity event…