You can’t be what you can't see, so the old saying goes.

The likes of former Flying 11s national champion Zoe Dransfield, current Australian 16ft champion skipper Sarah Lee and Olympic silver medallist and four-time Australian female sailor-of-the-year Lisa Darmanin are inspiring the next generation with their deeds and actions.

Manly Junior president Tim Lees has seen first-hand the impact these women are having. "They are all still heavily involved within the club and helping to show the young girls they can compete and be successful," he said. "It's great for the younger girls to have such amazing role models accessible and helping them grow week in and week out. "We have definitely seen a significant rise in female sailors over the last few years, with more girls than boys on the water across our MJ & Flying11 fleets this season. "The girls are wanting to show that they can compete and win against the boys. It's really great to see."

The influx of females has also increased the number of mixed gender teams in the 13s and 16s. Three boats in the 16s fleets – Nozomi (Eliza Kirby/Ciare Bartels/Nathan Stanaway), Red Pumps Red (Zoe Dransfield/ Hugh Stodart/Jamie Stodart) and Botany Scaffold (Georgia Clancy/James Doyle Coby Napper) – feature mixed gender crews.

In the 13s there are five - Harken (Heidi Bates/ Orlando Sadlik), Botany Scaffold (Sophie Hart/ Hugh Skeen), AWOL (Joe Corbell/Lilly Klijn), Red Pumps (Bella Divola/Don Rowlinson) and The Kitchen Maker (Tayla Lees/Oliver Barrett).

"I have crewed for boys in the MJ & Flying 11s and have had boys crew for me in the 13, and I have sailed (crewed and steered) in all-girl crews," Tayla said. "The mixed crew definitely changes the whole dynamic of sailing and can be a lot of fun whilst still getting great results. "I think we (females) bring different ways to think about what's going on - it's not all about strength and muscle.

"Sailing is all about problem solving and adjusting to the conditions."

Words - Adam Lucius 
Photos - SailMedia