Other great news to celebrate has been the onwater successes of both our young and ‘young at heart’ sailors who have competed around Australia and the world throughout the last 12 months. These include our Finn sailors racing in Greece, and our very own Australian Sailing Female Sailor of the Year, Mara Stransky, who excelled across the international stage with notable feats, finishing 15th at the 2022 European Championships, taking second position at Sail Sydney, and clinching fourth place at Sail Melbourne during the domestic season. Her global prominence was further underlined with a remarkable fifth-place finish at Hyères in April, where she also triumphed in the medal race, prevailing against a world-class field, the ILCA 6 Women’s World Championships in Oman, where she finished sixth place, the Allianz World Cup in Holland, where she was 10th, and the list goes on … you can read some insights into the woman behind the globe-striding sailor in the special profile starting on page 50. At a local level and in our own Club racing, we celebrated the successful reinstatement of the Brisbane to Keppel Bay race in June, with 17 vessels competing in what turned out to be a very, very slow race, and then The Yacht Sales Co. Brisbane to Hamilton Island race in August a slightly smaller fleet than usual, but still lots of great competition amongst friendly rivals. The Squadron has a number of outstanding individuals who commit themselves to the sport of sailing, like Mark Hipgrave and Rohan Wood, who represented RQYS in the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart followed by the Round North Island Two-Handed Yacht Race in New Zealand. Mark Hipgrave then brought Mr Lucky home in the Solo Trans-Tasman Yacht Race, before the duo then “competed in the Squadron’s own Brisbane to Keppel Bay Yacht race. We have a special feature on Rohan and his acclaimed Mr Lucky starting on page 57 of this edition of Mainsheet. Peter Harburg and his crew on maxi yacht Black Jack have been competing in Europe, and were crowned the 2022–23 IMA Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge Champions, winning Line honours in the 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar, Rolex Giraglia race and The Palermo-Montecarlo race. Financially, the Squadron is having a great year so far, and our efforts in improving income and managing expenses is finally paying off, as we have been able to further reduce our debt but also have sufficient funds to cover most of the refurbishment costs without having to take on any new debt. “The King” is on board! Well known Brisbane-based Rugby League and sporting legend Wally “The King” Lewis has found a new passion — sailing! But not just any old sailing … it was our biggest race of the year, The Yacht Sales Co.. Brisbane to Hamilton Island event, which started in Moreton Bay on Friday 4 August 2023. As news of Wally’s participation began spreading, a very special invitation came from John Winning Jr to join Maxi-yacht Andoo Comanche for the race warm-up and that alone was an amazing experience. “Andoo Comanche was so much bigger than I expected, but it was so quiet — almost eerie — but wow, can that yacht move!” commented Wally who, before the race start was transferred to the Squadron’s Official Start Boat and equipped, ready to get the race underway. 8 Mainsheet 2023 Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Yearbook Chief Executive Officer’s report (cont’d)
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