Top Australian sailors headed to Tasmania

Tuck, who has just named Australian Female Sailor of the Year for 2018, will be guest speaker at an evening in support of the Safety of Life at Sea Trust at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania next Friday.

Tuck is the first female skipper to win a round-the-world yacht race, scooped the pool at the Australian Sailing Awards held in Sydney eight days ago, also taking out the inaugural Offshore Sailor of the Year award.

Wendy skippered Sanya Serenity Coast to victory in the Clipper Round the World Race in July this year. She has also been nominated for the World Sailing awards for her outstanding achievement.

A 10-time competitor in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, Wendy won the Jane Tate Memorial Trophy after being the first female skipper across the line in the 2015 race.

RYCT members, ocean racing sailors and guests are invited to the Solas fundraising dinner. Tickets are $65 and bookings can be made online at functions@ryct.org.au.

Tasmania will also see the Australian Male Sailor of the Year, Laser sailor Mike Watt Wearn, in action this summer as he is already entered for the Australian and Oceana Laser championships to be sailed on Bass Strait, off Devonport, in early January.

Wearn has had a stunning year on the international circuit, winning silver medals in the Laser class at the World championships in Kiel, Germany and at the World Cup and Olympic test event in Enoshima, Japan.

Also expected to race at Devonport is Youth Sailor of the Year Zac Littlewoood who won the 2018 World Laser Radial championship at Kiel, Germany, against an open fleet of 92 sailors from 25 countries.

Tasmanians did not win any awards this year but Matt Bugg, Chris Symonds and Nick Hutton were finalists for various awards.