Darwin Harbour came alive with colourful spinnakers and big smiles during the last weekend in Augustwith the NT Women’s Regatta (NTWR) in full swing, over three fabulous days of racing. With 53 competitors in 12 yachts, the vibe was high and the competition was strong but friendly. 

Ten competitors flew in from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart and Port Macquarie, some not even knowing who their fellow crew members were going to be. 

Northern Territory Women's Regatta 

Aboard Zanzibar there were mothers, daughters and a grandmother all racing together, whilst on another yacht, our new Polish friends, Basia Dworak-Bahan& Olga Lukasiewicz, raced an off-the-beach dinghy (RS Quest) for the very first time.  Kath Veel joined us, a very experienced sailor from Sydney and amongst many notable offshore races, also co-skippered in the two-handed 2023 Sydney to Hobart race on Currawong.  Darwin Sailing Club Patron, John Hardy had no hesitation in loaning his beloved Even Karma to Kath whose crew consisted of a bunch of local experienced girls, most of whom had never sailed with each other before. 

We were also pleased to welcome Nic Douglass, The Sailor Girl, straight from working at Hamilton Island Race Week, also the ‘She Sails’ Ambassador, who joined us to help promote the NTWR.  Nic, a 3 x world champion Tasar sailor, had no hesitation in offering some valuable coaching experience to those who needed it. 

Despite the tides getting as low as 1.4m during the middle of the day, our Principal Race Officer, Peter Bracken, offered a great variety ofharbour courses and some fun windward/leeward courses on the last day.  Luckily the sea-breeze came in early so despitethe struggle against the out-going tide at No.6 buoy, there was enough wind to finish the race.   

And we all discovered the ‘G’ Buoy, now fondly referred to as the ‘G’ Spot.  Hopefully we won’t need the latitude and longitude to find it again. 

After racing each day, we assembled on the rigging lawn at Donnie’s Den for refreshments, race post-mortems, the daily prize presentation and snacks from Rigney’s Kitchen on Friday night and sizzling BBQ snags on Saturday night, thanks to some of our volunteers.  Friday night was also the night to dress-up in a nautical theme or something quirky representingyour yacht.  The girls from Moonshine very aptlyoutshone the rest of us and won the prize. 

Presentation Night on Sunday was also another great night with more race post-mortem stories, great food from the Waterfront Bistro and our final Presentation, as the sunset over Fannie Bay provided another great backdrop. 

All Divisions completed 8 races over the 3 days.  The ADF girls, Orla Gray & Kaitlin Martin won the RS Quest Division, with locals Libby & Matilda Culgan close on their heels.  The mighty Zanzibar (Jenny Simondson) and team narrowly took the overall win from Even Karma (Kath Veel) in Division 1, whilst Calypso (Fiona McManus) witha well-oiled team headed up the smaller keelboat Division 5, from new yacht Blue Wren (Tracey Leo & Louise Becker).  For full results click here. 

The NTWR Committee can’t thank the volunteers enough for dedicating the whole 3 days to the regatta, and huge thanks also to our sponsors:  NT Shade (Chris & Michelle Batenburg), Service Air (Ben Neck), Darwin Brewery and Darwin Sailing Club for providing the wonderful venue.  

No doubt all involved learnt some new hints and tips, gained confidence, had heaps of fun and going by the amount of farewell hugs, made many new sailing sisters, and brothers 

Good luck to all the girls heading down to Adelaide for the SA Women’s Keelboat Regatta in October, and pencil in the 2028 NT Women’s Regatta, on a weekend yet to be locked in, however it willdefinitely beduring neap tides 

WORDS: Fiona McManus 

IMAGES: NT Women’s Regatta