Sailors

MAKS Racing is a team of young dedicated female sailors who believe in achieving their best through hard work and dedication. The team is comprised of four girls from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Sydney, Australia. The girls are the youngest team in the regatta with the oldest being only 19 and the youngest only 16, however the girls are not turned away by this and are looking forward to the challenges ahead!

Milly Bennett (Helm)

Milly has been sailing out of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Newport, Sydney since she was 8, learning to sail in an Optimist Dinghy then moving onto Lasers, 420s and now 29ers. Milly excelled in dinghy sailing attending an Optimist World Championships age 13, then placed 9th in the 2011 Laser 4.7 worlds and 4th in the Laser Radial Youth Worlds the following year. In 2012 Milly took on a new challenge and became a member of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club’s Youth Development program in order to take on the match-racing scene. Riding on a steep learning curve she skippered her first major event on home soil, the Harken Youth Match Racing Regatta. At the beginning of this year she joined forces with Alice Tarnawski, Kajsa Doyle and Seldon Coventry together they formed MAKS Racing. The team went on to compete at the Centerport Youth Match Racing Regatta in Wellington and the Marineasses Women’s Match Racing Regatta on Sydney Harbor where they placed 3rd and later on the first regatta of the Womens International Match Race Series in St Quay, France. Milly aspires to continue her rounded approach to sailing by continuing her campaigns in dinghy and skiff sailing as well as concentrating on her match racing skills.

Alice Tarnawaski (Main/Trim)

Alice grew up in the Hawkesbury region, NSW Australia. Despite living far from the water, she tried out sailing in 2008 and became an avid sailor at the age of 13. She started sailing in the Pittwater Junior Class at the Bayview Yacht Racing Association, and then moved into Optimists. After two years in single-handed boats, she progressed to Flying 11’s at Avalon Sailing Club and began her involvement in the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club’s Youth Development Program. In 2009, Alice did Intermediate Youth Development and she has been a member of the club’s Youth Development squad since 2009. In 2011 she received the Dame Pattie award at the club’s end of year presentation. She competed in the Australian National Youth Match Racing Championships in 2011 and 2012, as well as in the NSW state championships in 2011 and 2012. She competed in the Harken International Youth Match Racing Championships in Australia at RPAYC in November 2012 and following that she joined MAKS racing in order to compete in Wellington at the Centreport Match Racing regatta this year in February. Alice is proud to be a part of MAKS racing and has aspirations to further her sailing endeavors in the Match Racing world, achieving her dream of competing with and against the world’s best sailors in the world’s best destinations.

Kajsa Doyle (Tactician/Secondary Trim) 

Kajsa’s first sailing experience was in 1995, sailing a Laser in 30 knots with her dad, from then on she had caught the sailing bug and soon after she attended a learn-to-sail camp at Avalon Sailing Club. Then, migrating to Royal Motor Yacht Club to pursue sailing in Sydney’s own Manly Juniors. After graduating from Manly Juniors she moved onto Manly 16” Skiff Sailing Club and began sailing Flying 11s she sailed these for a number of years before moving on to skiffs. Kajsa began Match Racing with the Youth Development program at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in 2010. Since then, she has participated in multiple Harken and Musto events held at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and the Royal Port Nicolson Yacht Club,

Wellington. Kajsa has many aspirations in life, but sailing is a passion and she would like to explore as many avenues as possible to continue her career. 

Seldon Coventry (Bowman)

Seldon grew up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, NSW Australia.  At age 16 she currently is in her second last year of High School at Abbotsleigh School where she is boarding. Seldon started sailing at the age of 9 in Manly Juniors at Avalon Sailing Club  and to her father’s delight fell in love with the sport soon after, she then went on to sail Flying11’s and competed in State and National Championships from 2009 to 2012. Seldon began match racing recently at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney in 2012 through the yacht club’s Youth Development Scheme, through this she has competed in the Harken International Youth Match Racing Championships 2012 and in late 2012 along with Milly Bennet, Alice Tarnawski and Kajsa Doyle formed ‘MAKS Racing’ to compete in the Centerport Youth International Match Racing Championship 2013 in Wellington New Zealand, The MarineAssess Open Womens Match Racing Regatta at Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCYA) and the WIMRA Womens Elite Match Racing French Championship 2013. Alongside Match Racing Seldon has raced several offshore, yacht races and passages including the 2013 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race and the Sydney To Hobart Passage and several others. Seldon is extremely committed to her team and the sport and aspires to continue to sail at an International level in the discipline of match racing and hopefully compete and excel at a higher level of racing against the world’s best.