St George Skiff Sailing on the rise as Lee chases a picket fence of wins

The Bosker Build skipper is blitzing all comers in St George’s 16ft fleet, winning her fifth straight club championship heat at the weekend.

Last year, sailing Noakes, she piloted the boat to six wins and three runners-up placings to become the first female skipper to win the club championship.

Lee is now on course to go through this season’s entire club championship program undefeated – a feat that may be more history in the making.

“It’ll be great to go back-to-back and hopefully we win the last heat to top it off,” she said.

“I’ll try and get my name on that trophy as much as I can as I am loving sailing at St George.

“I’m not sure about the history with a boat winning the club champs with a complete first place scorecard, but it’d be nice to do.”

Bosker’s latest victory came despite the absence of St George specialist Pete Mackie, who watched Sail Media’s livestream coverage from the couch as he recovered from a hip replacement.

The very accomplished Keegan York stepped up to the plate and didn’t miss a beat, helping the defending champion take an early lead from the top mark and extend their advantage from there.

Bosker finished two and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Toogara (Tom Clout) and well clear of Noakes (Tom Dawson) in third.

Lee is seven points clear at the top of the leaderboard, with just a point separating Toogara from Noakes ahead of the final club championship heat on March 22.

“It was my first easterly course in St George so we raced further out than I’m used to,” Lee explained.

“The strong run out tide made things interesting, particularly when trying to time the start.

“We thought we had heaps of runway but got pushed over the line very quickly and had to come away at the last moment.

“The St George fleet is strengthening and it’s not easy racing. We do have our battles with some of the other boats and they made us fight all the way.”

That growing competitiveness is one of the reasons St George is seeing an uptick in participation rates across the 16s and 13ft fleets.

St George’s sailing manager Graham Biehl said: “We’re seeing interest levels rise in both the 16s and 13s as word of the program grows.

“From a low base a few years ago, we now boast healthy numbers and we expect that to increase substantially in coming years.

“There is no doubt the success Sarah’s enjoyed as the first female to win a national and club championship is helping grow that awareness and interest.”