Darcey goes from crew member to sailing manager in one week

TASMANIAN sailor Colleen Darcey has had a big week: crewing on Division 3 leading yacht Young Lion in last Sunday’s Combined Club Winter Series and, on Monday, taking up a new professional role as sailing manager at the Derwent Sailing Squadron.

Darcey will not be sailing on Sunday; in her new role she will oversee racing on the

River Derwent as the DSS hosts race five of the Combined Clubs Winter Series.

In her sailing career, she has skippered two Tasmanian crews to victory in the Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta on Melbourne’s Port Phillip as well as winning the women’s division of the SB20 Pre-Worlds regatta in 2018. She is one of several regular helms on Young Lion, a Young 88 owned and skippered by Derwent Sailing Squadron past commodore Steve Chau, which heads the Division 3 leaderboard after last Sunday’s race.

The Young 88 has placed 4-4-5-3 with two more Sunday morning races to complete the competitive Combined Clubs Winter Series.

Young Lion has a talented crew in Chau, DSS Commodore Scott Brain, Darcey, Clare Brown, Toby Burnell, Tammara Potter and Anthony Woolley.

The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s new sailing manager, Brian Hall, also started work this week, taking over from long-serving Nick Hutton who will, however, continue an active role as race management volunteer.

Going into Sunday’s race five of the Combined Clubs Winter Series the Division leaders are John Dryden’s Jazz Player (Division 1), Ian Johnston’s Zephyr (Division 2), Steve Chau’s Young Lion (Division 3) and Michael Kennedy’s Another Toy (Division 4).