Four Salt Spring Island Flying 15 (F15) sailors are heading to Hong Kong next week to compete in the Ladies Helm regatta, with a second team off to Perth, Australia for an April regatta.
Caitlyn Pal, Killean Jardine, Nicolette Arnoldus and Jill Oakes have been familiarizing themselves with what they might encounter in what Pal describes as “a famously busy” harbour.
Pal said sailing is essentially the same everywhere — “reading wind, making tactical decisions, working as a team — but the scale in Hong Kong will be something entirely different. We’re used to sharing the water with floatplanes and ferry traffic at home, but this will be another level altogether. The density of boats, commercial traffic and sheer size of the harbour definitely adds a layer of nerves. It will demand sharp awareness from the moment we launch.”
Arnoldus has sailed solo in many international regattas in 12-foot vessels — “As the only Canadian, everyone soon knew me as ‘Nicky from Canada,’” she said — but never in Hong Kong waters, so she is excited about the chance for a new experience.
“Now I am studying the local winds, tides and currents so that we can be as prepared as possible,” she said.
Arnoldus will sail with Oakes, and Pal and Jardine in the second boat, with vessels generously provided by a sailor there.
The second group consists of Oakes and Larisa Fry, and Hayley Harkema with Matti Toyer, who will participate in the Western Australia Flying 15 Championships hosted by the South of Perth Yacht Club on April 3-5.
Oakes said local F15 sailors have been coached this year by senior sailor Martin Herbert and Hayley Harkema, with support from Hannah Garvie-Ransen, and John Hillier and guest sailors from Australia and New Zealand in the past.
Oakes initiated the Flying 15 club through the Salt Spring Island Sailing Club in April of 2024, after first trying one of the fast, stable, 15-foot boats owned by the club’s Lawrie Neish in the fall of 2023 and loving it.
“I was sailing by myself and thought it would be more fun to sail with other gals in the same kind of boat — where we each get to sail our own boat but together in a fleet, chatting to each other from boat to boat,” Oakes said.
More F15s were needed to make that happen, but they’re hard to come by in North America. She eventually connected with sailors in Tasmania and Perth, Australia, and four F15s were donated to Salt Spring’s sailing club as a result, arriving via shipping container in the summer of 2024, “along with 18 avid F15 sailors,” said Oakes.
The informal Salt Spring F15 club has since grown to more than 50 members.
“The Salt Spring Island Sailing Club is organizing club flags for us to bring to the Hong Kong club, which feels especially meaningful,” said Pal. “It’s a reminder that we’re representing more than ourselves — we’re bringing a piece of our sailing community with us.”
Pal grew up sailing through the junior program at the Salt Spring Island Sailing Club and raced Lasers in high school, ”often heading up toward Chocolate Beach in boats that were already decades old by the time we got them,” she said. “We weren’t the fastest team, but we had a lot of spirit and a lot of fun at regattas.”
Jardine started sailing through the Junior Sailing Team in West Vancouver, then joined the race team after high school and did a few local regattas.
“Shortly after, I moved to Salt Spring and eventually found out about and joined the F15 sailing group. I’d been looking to get back out on the water, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. I’ve been really enjoying it so far, and am looking forward to racing in Hong Kong.”
Harkema and Toyer are also hyped about their trip to Perth.
“We’re thrilled for the opportunity to take our sailing to Australia and explore more of the world through that lens,” they said. “Jill Oakes’ passion and determination to grow the Flying 15 program has been a bright spot for so many, including ourselves. Our entire sailing community is stronger because of her, and we owe her a tremendous thank you for making this possible.”