Three clubs are chasing one of Australian sailing's most closely watched honours, an award that recognises programmes built specifically to get more women and girls on the water.
Canberra Yacht Club, Ocean Racing Club of Victoria and defending winner the South Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta have been named finalists for the SheSails Award at the 2026 Australian Sailing Awards. The ceremony runs at the Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour on Friday, October 30.
Canberra Yacht Club recorded 268 attendances from 118 participants this season, with 59 returning more than once, after running eight free Friday SheSails social sailing sessions between November 2025 and March 2026 alongside a free Discover Sailing Day. Hobie Waves, RS Quests and ILCAs did the work on the water, with members chipping in trailable yachts and their own time.
That groundwork fed into two women-only Adult Learn to Sail courses, fees dropped from $630 to $400 with membership included. Twenty-two women graduated, and the second course sold out.
At least 11 participants moved from those first taster sessions into structured training, and around 10 women from the wider group now sail recreationally weekly or monthly. A youth programme run by instructor Olivia Dhepnorrarat, called Sail Our Way, gave three girls 14 hours of sailing they may not otherwise have had. The club's SheSails work was backed by Commodore Sue Hart and the wider board, staff and members.
Victoria's entry tells a different kind of growth story. ORCV's KISS programme, Keelboat Introduction to Sailing Savvy, has graduated 150 women in four years after starting life at Queenscliff Cruising Yacht Club in 2022 under the club's first female commodore, Lee Renfree, with ORCV providing technical support.
Demand doubled, a waitlist built up, and ORCV formally brought KISS into its own training programmes, with a 10-woman committee reviewing content and delivery and building links with other keelboat clubs. This year's revamped 14-week course finished with a 26-nautical-mile rally from Royal Brighton Yacht Club to Queenscliff, with women leading as helm, navigator and radio operator, before being welcomed home by a crowd of 80 at Queenscliff Cruising Yacht Club. A new KISS ALIVE platform, designed "by women, for women", and a Women's Keelboat Network Victoria WhatsApp group are now extending that momentum to alumni and female keelboat sailors across the state.
Then there's South Australia, last year's winner, still climbing. Its fourth regatta drew 167 competitors across 32 boats, with fleet numbers up 52 percent and competitor numbers up 42 percent since the event launched in 2022.
Boats loaned to women's crews have more than doubled, from five to 11. Sailors ranged from 13 to 80 and included Defence Force members, university students and first-time racers, with one crew spanning three generations: grandmother, mother and daughter.
All six races were completed across Gulf St Vincent and the Port Adelaide River with the support of around 45 volunteers, while Australian Sailing's backing brought Nic Douglass to the regatta to mentor and serve as MC. The regatta is run by the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia in partnership with the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron and Port Adelaide Sailing Club, with its organising committee chaired by Di Schwerdt.
Three clubs, three different approaches, one shared result: more women finding their way onto the water, and staying there.
