Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA)

The CYCA is the home of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

And the club serves as a leader in offshore yachting safety and advancement in Australia.  It has a preeminent place in history as well as in the present.

Brett Eagle is a member of the CYCA, and co-owner of the boat, Wild Oats (together with other co-owners, Gordon Smith and Marc Skjellerup).

Wild Oats (sail no. 4343) also campaigned for many years under the name Wild Rose and her list of achievements is extensive, including twice winning the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race on handicap.  Wild Oats continues to campaign in the offshore ocean races throughout the year, including the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

The boat actively manages an extended crew list, and is committed to ongoing training and advancement of skills and expertise in offshore and enclosed waters environments, including vessel management and safety, assessing weather conditions both actual and forecast, navigation skills, maritime radio and satellite communications technology and emergency search and rescue equipment and processes.

Wild Oats is also committed to encouraging women in sailing.  In the 2021 winter racing season, Wild Oats placed first in her division in the Women’s Winter Series – a fitting victory (and by coincidence) in light of the recent creation of a new series to promote women in sailing – which has been named after the boat and was announced by CYCA in May 2021.

The launch of this new CYCA series to promote women in sailing is in honour of Roger Hickman OAM, the previous owner of Wild Oats, with CYCA stating that Hickman was “not only a stalwart of the sport but also well ahead of his time in introducing women to sailing and actively assisting them to progress through the sport, especially via his own boat Wild Rose.”

In fact, when the boat won the 1991 Sydney to Southport race, it was crewed equally by women (6 men, 6 women).  This was unheard of at the time.

Wild Oats (sail no. 4343) is the original Wild Oats, commissioned in 1983 by Robert Oatley and launched in 1985.  This custom-designed Farr 43 was Farr Yacht Design #159 and was built by McConaghy Boats.

This was the start of the ‘Bob Oatley’ journey, that eventually led to the commissioning and building of the Wild Oats XI maxi yacht, former race record holder and nine-times line honours winner of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Wild Oats (the original) was then sold in 1991 to a group that included Roger Hickman OAM, one of Australia’s most experienced offshore yachtsmen, and later then owned outright by Hickman.  The boat has been owned by the current owners since 2019.