VOLUNTEER PROFILE Jack McInnes

Jack McInnes was born in Sydney and has lived near Hillarys Yacht Club since moving to WA with his family in 2009. Not really loving swimming, or the beach, his sporting journey has included baseball, ice skating and Aussie Rules, but he never found anything he really liked. Jack’s Dad had a dream of sailing around the world in his retirement, but realised he’d need a skipper….

Jack was signed up for a Tackers Course at HYC in 2018 aged 10.

He was hooked.

Start sailing courses followed, and then the natural progression from Pacers to Laser dinghies. Jack joined HYC in 2020.

The Dinghy Captain and Race Management team encouraged him to join the racing fleet as soon as possible. So, in second hand sailing clothes, aboard a Club Laser 4.7, his racing career started. In the first few months, he barely finished a race, and spent more time capsized than upright. With persistence, and the advice from our coaches, he improved, and before the season was over, started finishing, and winning.

2021 saw the purchase of his first Laser, “Aurora”, and entry to the WestSail training camp and State Youth Championship regatta at Hillarys. He has since been a regular competitor at regattas around WA including Fremantle, Rockingham, and State Champs at Mounts Bay, representing HYC.

Jack’s extensive participation in all things Dinghy, earned him the 2022 Most Active Dinghy Sailor Award and he won the Cow Rock Trophy Race this year.

Gaining an RST allowed him to qualify as an Assistant Instructor at HYC where he enjoys teaching Tackers and Start Sailing courses. He is now the Junior Rep on the Dinghy Division Committee, which gives him the opportunity to get involved in the future of Junior Sailing, and the Club as a whole.

This summer, he also began broadening his sailing experience as crew member on HYC’s fastest Van De Stadt Spirit 28, “Show Me” (While increasing the crew’s overall skills by 20%). Already he has sailed “round the cans” races, North Coast Series, Cockburn Sound

Regatta and Dash For Cash, having delivered the boat to Fremantle double handed in an 18-22kt southwesterly. Supporting Keelboat Racing Division, he’s laid marks for the Shepherdess Cup, and assisted club mark retrieval. Although he has not been sailing for very long, Jack says, “I am very grateful for the friendships I have made at HYC and in the broader sailing community and am looking forward to becoming a fully qualified instructor this year, and hope for more fun experiences in the future.”

The Power Section held one event since the last issue of the Compass magazine which was the Australia Day long weekend day of fun and games at “Cosy Corner” in Narrow Neck, Rottnest Island and what a brilliant day it was with the photos telling the story.

The spaghetti eating competition was won by Dean Haines who demonstrated he has a huge appetite and great technique at being able to scoff down a plate of spaghetti with no hands.

We also had the usual tug of war with both female and male teams trying to rip each others arms out of there sockets and because it is just a fun event there was no winners. Another great laugh was the cucumber races, and thanks to Danielle Smith for firstly bringing this event to the games and also supplying the cucumbers.