Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta – a special event

Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta – a special event

by Di Pearson / AWKR media 7 Jun 06:21 BST
5-8 June 2026

The Australian Keelboat Regatta (AWKR) brings together people from all walks, all here for the common purpose of sailing in Australia’s premiere women’s keelboat event, to improve sailing skills and meet old friends and new people, who bond together as one, for what all say a “warm, welcoming and bonding weekend.”

Hosted by Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron on Port Phillip over the King’s birthday weekend, this 34th edition has been beset by light airs so far.

“There is a glimmer of hope (for wind), said Laura Hughson, who is filling the role of Race Officer for the first time.

So this morning we took the opportunity of speaking to competitors. First up was Jabula’s owner/skipper, Avril Sellars. The softly spoken Scotswoman maintains “I just sit back and yell at the crew. Tell them what to do.”

The 77-year-old says arthritis has affected her agility, so yelling at the crew makes up for it!

Not true, says one of the crew, Basia Dworak-Bahan. “Avril is so calm. She is extremely experienced and pre-empts any situations and instructs us calmly. If you could dream up the perfect skipper, she is it.”

Born in Edinburgh, Sellars also lived in South Africa for 20 years before settling in Melbourne and explains, “Jabula is the Zulu word for ‘rejoice’.

Although she lives just beyond Geelong, Sellars says, “I race out of Sandringham Yacht Club, because they have a big fleet of J24s. I’ve been sailing for over 40 years and done 10-15 of these regattas (AWKRs).

“I love the atmosphere. It’s like coming home to a big family. And it’s always good to see the people you haven’t seen for a while,” ends Sellars who steered Jabula to fourth place in Division 2 in Race 1.

Dinah Eagle is among the newcomers to the AWKR (around a quarter of competitors is here for the first time), but she is by no means an inexperienced sailor. Eagle, who is doing mainsheet on the Beneteau 34.7, Spartan, skippered by high-profile sailor, Wendy Tuck. Eagle has clocked up thousands of ocean miles. The Sydneysider is athletic and an adept helmswoman who can fill any role and has contested 13 Sydney Hobarts as well as many other offshore races.

“I’m really loving it here,” Eagle said. “There’s a whole bunch of people I’ve never met before and a whole bunch I’ve raced with and against offshore and on Sydney Harbour. There are people from Melbourne who I know from the Hobart race.

“I’m loving the openness and how welcoming the Club is – the people who loaned us Spartan and the support, like the Boat Buoys. Any repairs needed are done and the boat is ready to race the next morning.”

Eagle is looking forward to the next couple of races, “Because we haven’t sailed together before – apart from a couple of training sessions. This aspect is more difficult in light wind and we felt good about how we went yesterday. We’re looking forward to reinforcing that in the next races.”

Two days after the AWKR finishes, Eagle departs for Ireland to do the 704 nautical mile Round Ireland Yacht Race which starts on 25 June. She is to race on the same yacht she sailed the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race on Blue Oyster, an Oyster 37 from Ireland.

“I thought AWK would good training for the cold weather in Ireland,” Eagle said.

Another here for the first time is Johanna Motteram, a RMYS member. She is skippering Aria, a Bavaria 34 she co-owns with husband Phil Motteram. Joining her for the AWKR is 25-year-old daughter, Emma, who was at the regatta on Georgia in 2023, but they were involved in a T-boning on Day 1 and their regatta ended.

“I’m enjoying the fact that I made myself do the regatta,” says Johanna. “Yesterday was a feeling of it will be great when I’ve finished the day. And we succeeded!. We started well, we sailed the course and we finished – without hitting anyone or anything,” said a relieved Johanna.

“Yesterday was the first time we sailed without Phil and it was my first time on a start line with a full fleet – the racing I’ve done has all been pursuit style starts. There were moments when we were cruising at 5 knots and I was singing at the helm, I was so happy,” Johanna said.

Emma responded: “I am so proud of how she navigated around the marks and other boats, when some others weren’t coping.”

Johanna: “There’s a good crew dynamic on Aria and that helps. We’ve been building the crew and training, sailing on Aria and on Siren (which is also competing at the AWKR).”

Emma: “It was unthinkable this time last year that we would be here together doing this on Aria. It’s been amazing watching my mother become more confident in the lead-up and for our race yesterday to be so seamless.”

Emma said her parents had bought Aria partly for the family to become proficient at sailing: “I’ve moved out of home, but because of Aria, it’s a great excuse to be together with the family, including my younger brother. And it’s been a great experience so far because it has been purposeful. I’ve enjoyed watching the crew come together.

“I love spending time with women who aren’t my age and having them as role models. Spending time with other women here and seeing what I could do. We sat with the Drambuie (a Bluebird) crew at the dinner last night. We got chatting and I said I’d like to sail on a smaller boat for experience – and next thing we were swapping phone numbers,” Emma said.

Racing is under way and news will be posted when it’s complete.

Full results and all information on the AWKR: awkr.com.au