2026 NSW/ACT Coast Championships at Speers Point

Report from Stephen Reid…
Twenty DBSC sailors headed up to Lake Macquarie last weekend for the 2026 NSW/ACT Coast Championships, hosted by Speers Point Amateur Sailing Club. There were 58 entries across the ILCA 4, 6 and 7 fleets, and six races were sailed.

The weather was glorious. Saturday brought an 8 to 12 knot nor'easter, with a hint of sea air from Nobbys Beach. Sunday was a different story. The big, long, mighty Hunter Valley delivered a blustery, shifty nor'wester of 15 to 20 knots, with hints of not very good red wine. It was a bit of a handful. Capsizes were aplenty, and the choc tops showed on a number of sails. This correspondent was on mud cleaning duty after the races on Sunday.

The race committee did an excellent job. Thank you to the organisers, the race committee and the volunteers for a very well run regatta.

DBSC members won all three fleets. Sylvie Stannage (ILCA 6) and Campbell Patton (ILCA 7) both scored six bullets from six races. Harper Spacey won the ILCA 4s. DBSC sailors also filled the podium in both the ILCA 4s (Harper, Titouan Christodoulou Le Gac and Hiro Jacobsen) and the ILCA 6s (Sylvie, Sara Bruce and Zac Howell). Congratulations! and well done to all members who attended.

This sailor is feeling sore, tired and happy. I also learned a few lessons about not hitting the top mark. Twice. Once is forgivable, but twice...

The scorecard for DBSC is below.

ILCA 7 (19 boats):
Campbell Patton - 1st
Alexander Bijkerk - 2nd
Max Williams - 5th
David Newman - 6th and 2nd Master (over 45)
Stephen Reid - 10th and 3rd Grand Master

ILCA 6 (25 boats):
Sylvie Stannage - 1st and 1st woman
Sara Bruce - 2nd, 2nd woman and 1st U21
Zac Howell - 3rd and 1st U17
Martin White - 5th and 2nd Great Grand Master
Patrick McLachlan - 8th and 3rd U17
Juliun Doumit - 9th and 4th U17
Patrick Levy - 11th
Scott Finlayson - 16th
Dion Doumit - 20th
Michael Morris - 21st

ILCA 4 (14 boats):
Harper Spacey - 1st and 1st girl
Titouan Christodoulou Le Gac - 2nd and 1st U16
Hiro Jacobsen - 3rd
Ethan Wilkinson - 4th
Charlie Wait - 8th