Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series kicked off its first race day for the season on Sunday 30 November, leading off with Hobson’s Bay Yacht Club’s signature female-focussed event, the Shirley Freeman Trophy.

Unfortunately for the final day of Spring, there was no impending sign of Summer as Melbourne’s La Nina weather pattern over recent weeks persisted. With a forecast for 16degC and 90% chance of teeming rain from heavy grey skies, wind forecasts played out with widely varying inconsistent westerly to south-south westerly winds and confused sea states making for a frustrating day for all sailors over the 14nm course. Reports of gusts and lulls, with 2 knots and slatting sails, to periods of gusts to 20+ knots, punctuated by a couple of abrupt squalls clocking 40+kn, made kite flying a gamble.

HBYC‘s Leonora Eeckman led the fleet for the day, steering her Cavalier 35 Pompette to take out a clean sweep winning Line Honours, AMS, ORC and the PHS Shirley Freeman Trophy. The translation of her boat name from the French, as “tipsy”, was a somewhat fitting metaphor for the effect of the day’s challenging weather!

Second place in both PHS and AMS went to Rachel McGuigan steering the Young 88 Young Lion from RYCV, followed by regular helm Katie Holroyd on Serious Yahoo from RBYC closely following in third place in both categories.

ORC second place went to HBYC’s Sue Burke helming her S&S 30 Lanncoorie with RMYS Jolene George placing third on the helm of Northshore 38 Weekend Option.

For the HBYC women, an additional Lady Skippers Trophy was contested for the first placed HBYC boat in division 1(PHS) and awarded to Eeckman with her club sailors Burke on Lanncoorie placing second and Maureen Dickens, putting in a guest appearance on the helm for the day, placing third on Doris Jean.

For those entered in the Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series (PPWCS), Serious Yahoo helmed by Katie Holroyd led the field taking out first in PHS and AMS with RYCV Vice Commodore Cath Beaufort helming her S80 Up N Go into second place in both divisions. Lanncoorie completed the podium third in PHS and AMS and won ORC, with Weekend Option second in ORC. Third ORC went to SYC’s Bull 900 Bullet with Anne Goodfellow on the helm. A big day on the water for the boat suffering the tyranny of distance to get to the start line as the furthest travelled boat and then an intense return to SYC with 50kn blast getting into the marina. Definitely deserving of an “endurance award” for their tenacity and skills.

Thanks to HBYC for providing a great race under challenging conditions and their very welcoming hospitality. After a tiring day on the water, the sailors settled in at the HBYC clubhouse to share their various experiences over a hearty meal of warming lasagne and Italian trimmings.

The story of Shirley Freeman (1924-2014), an inspiring and pioneering spirit, was presented by Sacha Koltun from Lanncoorie, honouring the first female keelboat owner in Victoria and the first female senior member to be admitted to a yacht club in Victoria, all prior to the 1977 enshrinement of the Equal Opportunity Act in Victoria.

Her first boat, a Triton 24 Yasadhora was purchased in 1975 and then replaced by Pazazz, a 36ft ¾-tonner Ben Lexcen design as she ventured into ocean racing as Victoria’s only female ocean racer at the time, competing in Bass Strait and completing 5 Melbourne to Devonport races. She was also a stalwart competitor in the prestigious Port Phillip Sea Pilots overnight race placing 2nd in1983, then “Best Logs” awards in1984 and1985 and winning the 1992 race. The Petersville Regatta held by Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron in the 1980-1990 period was also another significant win before retiring from racing in1996. In 2015, HBYC renamed their signature Lady Skippers Race in her honour as the Shirley Freeman Trophy.

A remarkable woman who excelled professionally as an esteemed Pharmacologist and recreationally as a passionate sailor, those who sailed with her remember - “All her life Shirley had shocking eyesight. But she saw the world more clearly than those blinded by custom and prejudice”. May her spirit and example continue to guide diversity, equity and inclusion across all clubs.

In 2020, HBYC instituted the Freeman-Endeavour Community Award, dedicated to the inspiration provided by Dr. Shirley Freeman AM as a club pioneer, the first female keel boat owner and an internationally recognised scientist. The annual award recognises the achievements of a club member who has facilitated and enabled the wider involvement of the local community and exemplifying the spirit of the club motto - ‘Sailing with the Community’. The award plaque awarded to Dr. Freeman & associates when employed by Defence Science and Technology Organisation in 1985, was refurbished from the original brass etching of HMS Endeavour and passed onto HBYC in 2020.

HBYC is forging forward in engaging community, recently taking up the baton and reinvigorating a previous mentoring program now led by Past Commodore Ryan Blackstock and Leonora Eeckman. From Eeckman - “The program aims at connecting people coming through the Club, for most through our training program and our racing boats. We want to be able to ‘formally’ support them through their learning journey with some off water learning as well. The program will rotate mentees between boats for them to acquire different experiences, up to a point where they can fly with their own wings. I am certainly hoping we will get quite a few success stories out of it. For women wanting to take their sailing further, the ORCV KISS (Keelboat Introduction to Sailing Savvy) Women’s Training program provides the next step transitioning passengers to active, confident and valued participants.”

Next race day in the PPWCS five race day series continues with Day 2 hosted by Royal Yacht Club of Victoria with their signature Val Hodge Trophy event on Sunday 1 February 2026. Another opportunity for keen female keelboat sailors and their support crews to take up lead roles. If you missed the first race day, there are still four race days remaining for the series to compete and also which also provides an excellent opportunity for any aspiring AWKR teams to get training together for the 34th event in June 2026.

For further information:
Full results for the HBYC Shirley Freeman event and PPNYC (Port Phillip North Yacht Clubs) Women’s Helm Series are available at this link.
For information about the PPWCS (Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series) hosted by RMYS - PPWCS 2025-2026 Race Documents and Results

Jump onboard now!!

Story by Rosie Colahan, KISS ALIVE