History Made – Buckingham Queens
Just six months after forming off the back of a long lunch, Queens of Buckingham has created history by winning a 16s race at Manly.
QOB took out handicap honours in last Saturday’s long pointscore race, becoming the first all-female crew to win a 16s heat at Manly.
Skipper Sophie Hart combined with Emily Fewster and Molly Highfield to make the most of a 24-minute head start, edging out Buck & Simple (Tom Cameron/Oliver Barrett/Pete Jansen) and Red Concrete (Byron Lowe/Sebastian Maragian/Sam Skeen) in a flukey 7-12 knot easterly.
“I didn’t realise straight away that we had made history. Someone mentioned it after the race but it’s really nice to be part of something like that,” Sophie said.
“A lot of the girls on the boat are either coming back after taking a bit of a break or are sailing for the first time, so we are all learning or re-learning together.
“To see the improvement over the past few months to get to the stage where we have won something is very exciting.”
The plan to put an all-women’s boat on the water was hatched last winter at a long lunch over seafood, wine and a cheese plate at Peats Bite on the Hawkesbury.
The enthusiastic group of former and novice sailors found a boat, sponsor and crew in an impressively short period of time, launching the pink-coloured skiff in September and using a rotating roster of skippers and crew.
Sophie said: “All these girls are absolutely incredible. Everyone’s out there communicating and supporting each other and having a heap of fun.
“I’m one of the coaches in the juniors program and work closely with the younger girls on a Sunday and they are always asking how Queens of Buckingham has done.
“It’s nice for them to have something to aspire to.”
The plan is to build on the success of QOB and increase the number of all-female boats in the Manly fleet over coming years.
While the girls were busy making history last Saturday, another excellent female skipper – Zoe Dransfield – piloted Red Pumps Red to the scratch win.
IMEI (Ash Napper) was next in from Sutech Building (Michael Koerner) and Fluid Building (Chad Beeby).
In the 13s, TKM Interiors (Jamie Gill/Henry Reed) made it back-to-back handicap wins, with #55 (Abigail Rolfe/Peter Rowe) second and BigFoot Sailing (Lily Klijn/Joe Corbell) third.
And before we go, a big shout-out to PRO (Principal Race Officer) Steve Iles for getting the races run and won in the face of a packed harbour full of Sail GP competitors and spectator craft.
In addition, a large cruise ship was due to head out of the Heads at 4.20pm so the Manly fleet had to be off the water within around 70 minutes or so or risk the wrath of the all-powerful harbour master.
Steve did it with five minutes to spare.
All at Manly salute you!
Words Adam Lucius
Images Manly Skiffs
