The 2023 Oceania & Australian Open and Youth Championships will be held at Georges River Sailing Club on Botany Bay 1-8 January 2023.

After the disappointments of cancellation of the event scheduled in Fremantle, WA in 2021 and 2022 it will be great to stage these championships in 2023.

Botany Bay is a great venue for big sailing events with lots of open water and clear winds. The club is near to the airport and the surrounding suburbs have lots of accommodation options.

 There will be great lead up events with the NSW & ACT Laser State titles at Wangi A.S.C. on Lake Macquarie in November 2022 and Sail Sydney on Sydney Harbour from Woollahra S.C. 13-18 December 2022.

The Notice of Race for this event is Here.

Entries can be placed $350 until 30th November 2022 Here and may be accepted with an additional $80 late fee after that date.

Charters will be available from NB Sailsports and Performance Sailcraft Australia.

Request for Volunteers

We are looking for volunteers to help make the regatta a success! We need on and off water help over the 1-8 January dates of the event. If you can help out in the areas named for any of the days please fill out your details on the form Here.

Women’s winners Christine Bridge (left) and Gayl Robinson in action on Day 2 – Jon West photos

The Australian ILCA Masters was run very successfully between 25-28 February at Westernport Yacht Club in Victoria. There were 106 entries with 31 ILCA 7s sailing in one fleet, 30 ILCA 6 Grand Masters in a fleet and the other ILCA 6 age divisions in a third 45 boat fleet.

The venue Balnarring on Westernport Victoria provided excellent open water and good clean winds. These combined with ocean and wind swells gave some exhilarating rides and fair racing. All ten scheduled races were completed with light breezes on day one followed by six races in 15 to 18 knots on days two and three and around 12 knots for the final two races. Tides were an issue in the second half of the series when they were pushing the fleet over the start line. On the final day the second ILCA 6 fleet managed four general recalls and three black flag starts before the final race got away minus the 25% of the fleet which were black flagged.

The Westernport Yacht Club did a fabulous job both on and off the water. Racing was run like clockwork and the logistics of launch and retrieval of the support boats from Westernport, Sommers and bay side clubs were run with military precision. Catering at the club after racing, the functions and free beer from an event sponsor Bright Brewery were all much appreciated by the sailors.

There was a two day coaching clinic lead by Brody Riley & VLA head coach Rhett Gowans  held before the series. This was fully subscribed and very successful.

The winner of the ILCA 7 fleet was Master Brett Bayer WSC/DBSC. Brett won six races edging out Apprentice Matt Blakey PMYC. Sommers YC Apprentice Sean Bly was third. In the ILCA 6 GM fleet John Jager McCrae YC won by a point from Sandringham sailor James Mitchell with David Early GRSC third.

The full results with age divisions scored separately are Here.

The age division podium places are listed below.

There are great photos by Jon West which you can view and purchase Here.

ILCA 6 GGM winner Jeff Loosemore & ILCA 7 winners Brett Beyer GM & Matt Blakey AM – Jon West photos

The 2022 Oceania Laser Masters Championship will be held 20-26 August from the Darwin Sailing Club Fannie Bay, Northern Territory.

This will be a great and memorable event not to be missed.

The Notice of Race is Here. Entries/Registration are open until 20th June 2022 Here. Enter before 30 April 2022 and save $50.

It is a long drive so most sailors will prefer to fly and charter. A limited number of charters are available from PSA. Book your charter Here.

There is a flyer with more information Here and web information and links are Here.

Contact NT Laser District at ntlaser22@gmail.com or Darwin Sailing Club admin@dwnsail.com.au if you need more information.