IT’S an event so big that it’s going to take more than one Lake Macquarie sailing club to host it.
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The 2018 NSW Youth Sailing Championships will be held on Lake Macquarie this long weekend.
Some 314 entries have been received. They will compete in 17 classes of craft.
South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club, at Sunshine, will host the event which has Lake Macquarie City Council as its major sponsor.
“This will be the biggest event our club will ever run,” SLMASC spokesperson, and four-time Olympic windsurfer for the USA, Lanee Beashel, said.
“There will be four courses in total, and our club will be running two of them. Both Wangi and Mannering Park sailing clubs are 'partner clubs' for the event, and they will be helping by running one course each out on the water.
“But South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club is the host club, meaning all the boats and sailors will be leaving their boats and sailing from our club every day.”
Ms Beashel said this would most likely be the last time Australian Sailing ran the event with so many classes.
“Our club was chosen specifically because the lake is so quiet and it has a lot of space to run multiple classes,” she said.
“It has been run on Botany Bay and on Sydney Harbour in the past, and its a logistical nightmare with ferry traffic and also having to sail too far to get to the race area.”
At Sunshine, the action happens right off the back of the clubhouse in Sunshine Parade. And that makes it ideal for spectators.
There will be plenty of those, with competitors and their families travelling from not only up and down the NSW coast, but Queensland, too.
“I have booked out Point Wolstoncroft [Sport and Recreation Centre] for the event, and a lot of the sailors will be ‘commuting’ by boat every morning and after the racing,” Ms Beashel said.
Among the craft that will be in action over the three days are windsurfers, Optimists, Bic O’Pens, Lasers, Sabots, 29 skiffs, Nacras and Manly Jrs.
“Some of the classes are considered ‘pathway boats’ that kids are sailing and racing on to hopefully get to the Olympics in the future, or to gain experience to become professional sailors.”
Last weekend, the youth sailing team (YST) training camp for all pathway boats was held at Wangi Wangi.