Welcome to your July update from Hunters Hill Sailing Club! Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Future Vision Workshop—your ideas are helping guide our next chapter. On the water, the Frostbite and Interclub Series are keeping our winter sailors sharp, Sophie Borner-Harrison is representing the club at the ILCA4 Youth World Championships, and the Waszp squad have enjoyed some exciting foiling sessions and clinics. Read on for all the highlights and what’s coming up next!

From the President

Marina expansion

A reminder that Hunters Hill Sailing Club is facing a serious threat from a proposed expansion of the adjacent marina. If approved, the extension would compromise large areas of the waterway used regularly by our club and others—particularly for junior and youth sailing—making them unsafe.

We need your help to oppose the proposal. The goal is to raise $60,000 towards the legal costs of fighting this development and we’re already more than a third of the way there! To learn more and support, click here.

Future vision workshop and survey

Last Sunday’s Future Vision Workshop was well attended by 15 members, in addition to those who completed the survey. A big thanks to Heather Chai for expertly facilitating the wide-ranging discussions on what success looks like for our club over the next five to 10 years. 

Heather and Nick Lawson, who marshalled the day, are now busy distilling all those excellent ideas and will report soon.

The workshop was a fantastic way to capture  innovative thinking and begin organising it into a framework for the sustainable future of the 'Little Club that Can'. Stay tuned for more updates!

From the Commodore

We finally enjoyed beautiful racing conditions for Round 3 of the club’s Frostbite Winter Series on 20 July, with sunny skies and a gentle 5-10 knot westerly breeze that steadily built throughout the day. All 19 boats successfully completed the course.

The final race of the series will be held on Sunday 10 August, followed by a presentation to announce 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place overall—based on times adjusted using the Australian Sailing Yardsticks. Full results from all four rounds will be published on the website after the presentation.

Good luck to Sophie Borner-Harrison, currently competing in Los Angeles at the 2025 ILCA4 Youth World Championships!

Club racing

HHSC_Season_2024-2025_Calendar.xlsx

Results - Hunters Hill Sailing Club

Learn2Sail

Term 3 Learn2Sail classes commence this weekend, 26/27 July! 

Schedule: 

• Teens & Tweens Learn2Sail: Saturdays 1:00-3:00pm

• Teens & Tweens Learn2Race: Saturdays 3:00-5:00pm

• Rookie (level 1): Sundays 8:00-9:30am

• Momentum (level 2): Sundays 9:30-11:30am

• Pro (level 3): Sundays 11:30am-1:30pm

For safety reasons, registrations must be complete at least 48 hours before your session starts or sailors will be asked to return the following week. Please log in to your account on the club website and register your sailor(s) via this link, or: 

• Log in to your HHSC account (top right hand corner) 

• Once logged in, click ‘account’ 

• Scroll down to ‘my training sessions’ 

• Go to ‘all training sessions’ 

• Select the classes you would like to enrol in

Teens & Tweens sailors who wish to attend both the Learn2Sail and Learn2Race sessions need to register for each group separately.

L2S 📸 Belle Parker

Upcoming Learn2Sail camps 

All holiday camps and Try Sailing sessions are now open for registration via the events page.

Camp schedule:

• Monday 29 September-Friday 3 October 2025

• Monday 8-Friday 12 December 2025 (Teens & Tweens only)

• Saturday 20-Tuesday 23 December 2025

• Monday 12-Friday 16 January 2026

• Monday 19-Friday 23 January 2026

Please help us promote our Learn2Sail and Teens & Tweens programs by circulating this flyer through your school, sports and community networks:

Have family or friends who would like to try sailing? They can register for one of our upcoming free Try Sailing sessions being held on Saturdays at 9:00-11:00am on these dates: 

Optimist fleet

This Saturday, the Optimist squad is heading to Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron for Round 3 of the Interclub Winter Series. Our sailors currently lead in both the Open and Intermediate fleets!

Optimists in action during the Interclub Series 📸 Andrew Lee

Follow NSWIODA on Instagram and Facebook for the latest Optimist news and to catch the Interclub Series live streams.

Coming up in September, the club will host the OptiChicks weekend! Two epic days of sailing, fun, and the legendary sleepover! Don’t miss out—registrations are open now!

ILCA fleet

Over 250 sailors from more than 40 nations have gathered in Los Angeles for the ILCA 4 Youth World Championships. The Australian team is split into East and West Coast squads, each training with their respective coaches. They spent four days preparing at the regatta venue - locally known as Hurricane Gulch. This iconic location, considered the birthplace of windsurfing, is renowned for its predictable sea breeze, which typically kicks in around 1pm and builds steadily into the evening.

Racing began this week in light conditions, with winds ranging from 8 to 10 knots for the first race and only slightly stronger in the second. The competition is fierce, with a strong European presence and many top continental champions on the water.

Day two of qualifying brought improved breeze, with wind around 10 to 14 knots. The atmosphere is electric—an incredible learning environment, a chance to build new friendships, and a valuable opportunity for these young sailors to test themselves against the competition they’ll face for years to come.

Australian Youth Worlds Team 📸 Jason Borner

Waszp fleet

The club hosted the She Sails female-focused WASZP clinic at the end of June, with 12 sailors taking part—including Sijia, Kirra, Emma, with Harper coaching. The group was guided through all things WASZP by Australian class president, Jervis. While light winds on the day weren’t ideal for foiling, the sailors made the most of it, focusing on boat handling and getting plenty of practice righting the boats.

She Sails Waszp clinic 📸 Alessio De Giosa

Despite patchy conditions over the past couple of weeks, our club WASZP sailors have made the most of every opportunity to get out foiling and refine their foiling gybes and tacks. 

Foiling 📸 Sijia Deng

Overseas, the 2025 WASZP Games are currently underway in Weymouth, UK, with nearly 250 boats competing. Adding to the excitement, SailGP is also taking place nearby along the Portsmouth coast—making it a foiling spectacle for sailors and spectators alike. Follow the action here: @waszp.tv on Instagram

There’s even talk that the WASZP Games might be returning to home soil soon.

And for all the future SailGP sailors out there—ever wondered what Tom Slingsby thinks of the WASZP class?
Check out this reel: Tom Slingsby on WASZPs

Newsletter

We welcome feedback and contributions via: Newsletter HHSC 

Have a great photo you’d like to share for use in the newsletter or on the club social media accounts? Send to photos@huntershillsailingclub.org.au or drop into the club’s Photos Whatsapp group.