The Mandurah Offshore Fishing and Sailing Club has made history with one of its sailing teams becoming the first regional team to take out the Women’s State Keelboat Championship.
A contingent of 10 sailors took out the championship hosted by South Perth Yacht Club on April 7, with Fremantle Sailing Club placing second and South of Perth Yacht Club third.
The win marked the first time a regional team had won the title in the event’s 32-year history and the first time MOFSC had entered a team into the regatta since 2010.
MOFSC on-water co-ordinator Jessica Lundh said the win came after months of hard work, with the team starting preparations in November and hosting four training sessions in the lead-up.
Ms Lundh said the competition saw the team compete in six short-course races, with the women “finding their feet” after placing fifth in the first race and then taking out first place for the next four races.
The final race saw them finish in sixth place but the score was discarded due to wind conditions having an impact on performances, allowing them to take out the overall title with nine points.
Ms Lundh said the club planned to build on the “momentum” the win had given them.
“This win means that our newly formed women’s squad has gained a lot of momentum, and we will continue our training and development program with the goal of having two teams of seven women entered in next year’s event,” she said.
“There are also some other keelboat competitions on the river that we will look at participating in over the winter, expanding the team’s skillset across ‘teams racing’ and ‘match racing’ on different types of small keelboats.”