An amateur team from the Koombana Bay Sailing Club has caused one of the upsets of the year to win the WA Regional Championship at the 2017 WA Interclub Sailing Championships earlier this month.

Held at the South of Perth Yacht Club, a hard-fought regatta pitted the top crews from across WA against each other from Friday, April 7, until Sunday.

The crew from Bunbury could have been excused for being daunted by some of the professional crews who fronted for the regatta, but this did not show in their result.

The team of Ray Leguire, Phil Slee, Rishi Oregioni, Sara Twigger, Sharon Kavanagh, David Pilbeam, Warren Drew and junior Will Drew sailed all 15 races in the regatta.

Some of the big Perth clubs not only fronted with former Olympians, world champions, America’s Cup sailors and World Match Racing teams, but switched entire crews for each of the four racing sessions.

The Bunbury team prevailed, and while their main focus was the regional WA title against Dunsborough Bay Yacht Club, and The Cruising Yacht Club from Rockingham, they showed their mettle against some of the talented metropolitan teams.

The Bunbury team also swapped skippers for each race, showcasing a wide range of sailing experience and skill.

Twigger, steering her first ever race on the helm of a keelboat, won second place during the women’s racing session on Saturday.

This was the highest finish for the team during the regatta.

Will Drew was unlucky during the afternoon open session on Sunday, when he skippered the team’s Foundation 36 around the top mark right on the tail of the leader, in front of all the professional crews.

Unfortunately, the wind died out at the bottom of the following leg and the race was abandoned.

A great competition emerged between the Bunbury and Dunsborough teams, and their results had both teams winning at various points of the regatta.

When the regatta ended, it was the Bunbury team from Koombana Bay Sailing Club that emerged victors in the WA Regional Championship.