Summer 2024/2024
This summer was my first opportunity to sail all East Coast events, Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne, because I will graduate from school in November 2024. It was also an opportunity to compete at Sail Brisbane to train in the venue for the Nationals competition.
Sail Melbourne:
Melbourne was a great reintroduction to sailing in high-quality fleets; most of the races were done in marginal hiking conditions, making boat speed relatively even throughout the fleet. This resulted in very close racing and allowed me to sharpen my boat-on-boat skills, fighting for points right to the finish line. Despite my best efforts, unfortunately, I missed out on the men’s podium, finishing fourth youth male and 12th overall as ILCA 6 is the women’s Olympic class. Nonetheless, I made significant progress with my start, which was a known weakness of mine.
Sail Sydney:
Sydney was an excellent opportunity to have my first experience sailing on the iconic Sydney Harbour. After sailing in the open waters of Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne, the harbour greatly contrasted with the far less sea state generated by the wind. However, there are unpredictable wakes from ferries and other boats and significant geographical influence from the nearby cliffs and islands. Finishing 7th ILCA 6 male.
Sail Brisbane:
Brisbane allowed me to familiarise myself with the National’s venue on and off the water. To add to the benefits, we were presented with various conditions, from large waves to flat water, strong and light winds, and a range of tide cycles that significantly affect the current across the course areas in Brisbane. Unfortunately, I had breakage on my vang in the first race, meaning I was compromised in speed for the final quarter of the race, and a less-than-ideal repair on the water meant the second race would be the worst for my regatta. By the final two races, I again slipped off the men’s podium by just a handful of points, 5th male and 4th youth male, resulting in 13th overall.
Nationals:
Nationals was the final and longest event of my trip. The opening two days of qualifying gave us 20-plus knots of wind and an excellent opportunity to put some solid results on the board using the boat speed I had worked on in training back home. Due to a storm after the first race, we were sent in early and raced three races in over 20 knots on day two to make up for the lost race. The final day of qualifying was a light and shifty offshore breeze. But it was blocked by an island near the top of the course, which made for shifty and gusty wind. This would be the weather we would have for the rest of the week. I achieved getting into the gold fleet, which meant I was in the top half of the fleet results.
The first day of finals meant fiercely contested spots on the start line with all the top sailors now together. The first day gave two tricky races for getting off the line, but I got a keeper in the second race, with 6th and 12th place. Day two of finals was during a turning tide and meant to change course bias between races, allowing for more opportunities to return from bad starts or lose out from good ones. My final results were 16th overall and 6th male; they acknowledged the top 5 on the podium. I missed out by one, having been 3rd male, the majority of the regatta. But that’s sailing, and it was an excellent competition against many sailors I know now.
Thank you to the Bank of Mum and all my supporters. The additional funds from individual donors and sports grants allowed me to do the events in Melbourne and Sydney, which helped me catch up on racing skills I had lost when I could not travel to a Worlds event during my Year 12 final year at school – thank you, this support has been awesome! As a result of sailing so many events in such a short period of time, we decided to set me up with a near new boat, an ex charter boat. What that means is I now own a competitive boat and will only need to pay transport fees rather than charter boat fees. A great improvement given the costs of competing nationally from Western Australia – thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Charles Allen Toyn 