They say to dress for success.
And the young crew aboard WHITEFOX Real Estate (WRE) delivered on that mantra with back-to-back handicap wins as the Manly 16s’ short course series continued in a perfect 10-15 nor’ easter on Saturday.
After being almost unrecognisable during the Port Jackson Championship just seven days previously, new signage on WHITEFOX RE brought the boat to life as skipper Sophie Hart and crew Conor Hay and Hugh Skeen chalked up a 13th and eighth (on scratch) across two races.
The team’s best results of the season were enough to claim double handicap honours.
“Our boat looked all nice and pretty with the new signage, and I think it gave us a kind of ‘feel good, do good’ vibe,” Sophie said.
“The boat definitely felt good, so we’re super happy with it and our sponsors are super happy with it as well.
“They have been so supportive and keen to see where we go with this as a team. It’s nice to have that sort of backing.”
With an average age of just over 20 – Hart’s 20, Skeen’s 22 and Hay 24 – WHITEFOX RE is one of the youngest teams in the fleet.
The trio is sailing against some of the country’s leading 16s competitors, gaining invaluable on- the-job training each weekend.
Sophie said: “You look at the calibre of the fleet and who’s in it and it really makes you go ‘wow’.
“It’s pretty amazing as a first-year skipper that I’m competing against these guy’s and I get to learn from them.
“Every tack, every upwind beat, downwind…everything is a learning experience.
“It’s like going to sailing school every Saturday.”
WHITEFOX RE put that education to good use on the weekend, learning from their mistakes in race one to advance five places in race two.
“The first race we didn’t start well and had to catch up but the second one we had a lot better start,” Sophie continued.
“It’s our first year sailing together and it’s starting to come together for us.
“Our aim is to do well in the youth categories at club, state and national levels while learning as much as we can.”
Buckingham Marine Services (Daniel Turner) and Red Pumps (Tyler Dransfield) will be two of the 16s WRE looks to emulate in coming years.
The two boats flexed their muscle in two dynamic scratch races, taking home a win apiece.
BMS got off to a strong start in the afternoon’s first showdown and looked the winner all the way to the finish line, but race two was no stroll.
BMS and Red Pumps swapped the lead three times in the final 100m before Dransfield pulled clear for the final time to claim victory by the narrowest – we’re talking one second – of margins.
In the 13s, Botany Access (Harrison Thomas) won the first heat with Harken (Meg Bates) recovering to win the second.
But the standout performance of the day arguably belonged to quiet achiever Dive Co (Hamish Cameron/Toby Williams), which nailed two podium finishes on scratch to claim twin wins on handicap.
Fourteen-year-old Hamish sailed with his father Iain last season but found a new crewmate in Toby, 16, over winter.
The pair has immediately struck up a competitive combination.
“It was good to sail with Dad last year. He taught me everything about a 13 so I learned a fair bit from him.
“He was okay with me going with Toby. I know him through the club and we sail pretty well together.
“Our aim is to be consistently in the top five this season.”
Words // Adam Lucius
Images On Water – Michael Chittenden SailMedia
Images On Shore – Nathan Hopkins
Results from 24th October racing:
