Spartan and Women’s Representative Team Win at Airlie Beach Race Week 2019
Representatives from the MYC Women’s Sailing Team competing in their first Airlie Beach Race Week, took out 1st Place in Cruising Division 2 against a field of 18 other very competitive boats with Tanya Kelly’s Spartan, a Beneteau First 34.7, beating her nearest competitor by four points.
The Women’s Sailing Team was represented by Tanya Kelly (owner/skipper), Sarah Johnson, Kerri Smith, Kristie Hatch and Kristen Davidson. They were joined by Arabelle Plaisant, Emily Blunt and Karon Yesberg.
Although the smallest boat in the division, Tanya and the crew sailed consistently throughout the six days of sailing, which was topped off by 1st place on the last day to take out the overall prize.
As the only all-women boat in the event, Spartan drew its fair share of attention from the other skippers and crews and friendships were forged over end-of-day drinks as tides, current and the day’s challenges were discussed.
In her post-race interview, Tanya said, “We are very happy to be here. We learnt a lot about currents and tides this week – and staying out of them. We certainly spent a lot of time optimising new sails and learning how to get good height out of them.”
“This is the first time we’ve done Airlie Beach Race Week; it’s been a fantastic regatta. We’ve really enjoyed the courses. There has been a good mix of passage and windward/leeward races. We had one race where our strategy didn’t pay off, but the rest were good. We kept looking for max speed downwind.”
“I have a lovely team of eight sailors who have been amazing this week. We pushed hard. We’re definitely looking forward to coming back and we want to say a big thank you to the race committee on doing such a great job.”