History in the making

Following the cancellation of the remainder of the Manly 16ft Skiff sailing season, Lancelin Pacific skipper Sarah Lee has become just the only female in almost a century to win Manly 16ft Skiff Club’s annual pointscore series on scratch.

Lee also joins Jessica Iles (C-Side Surveyors) on a short list of female skippers to have claimed the trophy on handicap since its inception in 1925/26.

“It’s a pretty cool feeling to win,” says Sarah. “We have had an up and down season. We started off really strong. Our crew work was really good and we felt really quick. Around the middle of the season we dropped off a bit, but by the end of the season we finished strong.”

In the last pointscore race, Lee steered her boat to a third and first in back-to-back heats on a crowded Sydney Harbour, which propelled her and the crew to first overall in both the scratch and handicap standings.

Lee finishes the season 4.5 points ahead of Nathan Wilmot on IMEI and Daniel Turner on Sutech Musto Racing on the overall leaderboard, and on top of the handicap standings.