The Bazinga Girls are serious contenders

Brisbane’s Bazinga Girls team are coming to the party fully geared up for the challenge of winning the annual Mooloolaba Women’s Keelboat Regatta to held July 30 to August 1.

Six teams are in the frame for taking out the trophy this year which isn’t an easy one to grab.

Racing on the Mooloolaba Yacht Club’s Elliott 6m yachts is fairly straight forward but navigating the tight racecourse located right in front and up close to The Wharf Mooloolaba is another thing.

Reading the wind shifts as they twist and turn off the commercial precinct on one side or the large mansions on the other side of the river are part of the great challenge. Shutting out the noise of the cheering and ‘land admiral’ advice from the spectators located outside The Wharf Mooloolaba’s restaurant strip is another.

Luckily for Megan Houston and her Bazinga Girls team of Christine Mah, Adriana Bramley and Alenka Caserman, they are all very experienced in high pressure racing.

Houston has come from a dinghy sailing background while Bramley races Etchells at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Her Front Bar crew, with skipper Brad Ginnivan, won last season’s RQYS Etchells racing.

Casmerman has spent her recent sailing years racing offshore. She now has her eye on competing in the 2024 Mini Globe solo, around-the-world race. Currently, between preparing for the Mooloolaba regatta and her day job, Caserman is building a Class Globe 5.80 yacht.

Mah, who owns the 32-foot Archambault Grand Surprise yacht Bazinga, has bought this impressive team together. She moved from crewing the yacht to owning it and then tapping into the former owner’s generosity to organise some big boat training with Volvo Ocean Race veteran Stacey Jackson.

“We competed in the Mooloolaba regatta last year and we had so much fun,” Houston says. “It was great for our skills development great for our teamwork and it’s just a really fun and friendly regatta to do.”

All of the Bazinga Girls team are capable helms so between now and the start of the Mooloolaba Women’s Keelboat Regatta on July 30 the team will be settling into their positions while training on Bazinga.

The five other women’s teams to contest the annual Mooloolaba event are Mooloolaba Yacht Club skippers Tanya Kelly, Helen Wood and Lucy Osborne, Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron’s Tanya Ryan and Tweed Valley Sailing Club’s Madeline Lyons.

For all regatta information and results, go here.