Meet the New Board of Directors at Cruising Yacht Club of Australia

Sam is the Owner and Director of Sydney Animal Hospitals, comprising of seven independent veterinary hospitals. Sam is also a Director of Assistance Dogs Australia, a national charity organisation providing assistance dogs to physical disability, autistic and post-traumatic stress clients.

Sam is the owner and skipper of the TP52 and J/70 Celestial. His current sailing program includes the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in which he has competed 12 times, campaigning his yacht in 12 consecutive editions, winning The Tattersall Trophy for overall winner in 2022, plus many other major regattas and races. Sam, additionally, is competing in J/70 one design, both in Australia at state and national regattas and internationally. The Celestial J/70 campaigns include the 2024 Corinthian World Championship, Copenhagen where the team achieved a sixth place overall in a 110 strong international fleet.

Other international J70 results included third place at the Corinthian World Cup 2022 where Sam represented the CYCA as a Club Member. Celestial J70 will also compete with a YSA alumni crew in the J70 World Championship, Palma Majorca September 2024.

Sam has been a keen CYCA Member since 2004 and a member of the CYCA Board since 2016, serving as a Director, Rear Commodore (2019-20), Treasurer (2021-22) and Vice Commodore (2022-2024)

David is a retired senior corporate and commercial lawyer. His career focused on the tourism and leisure industry. He was a partner of the international law firm Baker McKenzie before retiring to pursue other interests. At Baker McKenzie, he had many roles in management, including Australian Managing Partner, Chairman Asia Pacific and member of the firm’s global Executive Committee. As such, he has been deeply involved in strategy, finance and risk management.

Since retiring from Baker McKenzie, one of David’s interests has been the CYCA. For several years he has assisted the Club in the negotiation and documentation of numerous contracts and has been a member of the

Premises Committee since 2016 and the Audit, Planning & Risk Committee since 2017.

While on the Board, he has Chaired the Member Engagement Committee and is the current Chair of the Audit, Planning & Risk Committee.

David was elected as a Director in 2018 and continues to assist the Club in risk management, financial soundness and various legal and compliance issues.

David is a co-owner of the Dehler 41 DS, First Light.

Peter is a partner at KPMG and currently leads the Restructuring Services practice for Asia-Pacific. Peter has worked as an insolvency practitioner and restructuring expert for more than 30 years. He is a chartered accountant and a registered liquidator.

In his youth, Peter was an avid skiff sailor, working his way up from flying ants, cherubs and 16ft skiffs, and competed in a number of state, national and world titles.

Upon returning to Australia from overseas in 2007, Peter began sailing at the CYCA and has been active in both the inshore and offshore programs, including the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore.

He has competed in two Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Races and is currently racing on the Reichel/Pugh 52, Virago. Peter joined the CYCA in 2017 and has been an active member of the Audit, Planning and Risk Committee since that time and Deputy Chair for the last year.

Peter is keen to continue to contribute to the advancement of the Club and the sport of sailing.

Peter is the owner of a Jeanneau 349, Quicksilver.

Jules is founder and CEO of advertising agency The Hallway. Since opening their doors in 2007, The Hallway has created and grown some of Australia’s most famous brands.

Outside of work, Jules blames his sporting background for his competitive edge. He grew up in a sailing family, but rowing stole the show in high school years. In 1993, he represented Great Britain at the World Championships. In 1994, he was junior national champion. Leaving university Jules’ focus returned to sailing with a series of boats called Disko Trooper, focused on offshore racing.

With the arrival of two daughters Jules spent ten years racing Lasers, winning the NSW and Victorian apprentice masters championships and competing at two Masters World Championships. In parallel, he has been active in the support of kids sailing. As Vice Commodore of Vaucluse Amateur 12 foot Sailing Club, Jules led and grew their sailing school.

Jules has competed in three Rolex Fastnet races and seven Rolex Sydney Hobarts, winning the inaugural Two-Handed Division with co-skipper Jan Scholten in 2021. Disko Trooper is the current J/99 national champion, but offshore is where the heart lies!

David started sailing at Lane Cove 12 ft Skiff Club in sabots in 1958 and has since been a long-term, active competitor in numerous blue water races. He became a CYCA Member in 1991 and he presently owns the JV62 Whisper.

David holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) (Honours) from UNSW, is a retired Patent Attorney and has held numerous senior roles in business and industry throughout his career.

Before retirement, he was, for over 25 years, the Managing Principal and CEO of South Asia’s largest IP firm, an ASX 200 company, employing over 800 staff in eight countries. David has high-level experience in international business, audit and risk, HR, ethics and financial management.

He has sailed with many of the great and successful owners and crews at the CYCA over the past 46 years, as well as skiffs, Etchells, classic yachts and Grand Prix racing yachts.

David has also been involved in various official roles in professional and sailing administration over many years. Since joining the Board of the CYCA, David has been a member of the Sailing Committee and sub committees (Future Trends and Communications), and the Member Engagement Committee (2021). He has also participated with the Australian Sailing Representative, at the IRC and ORC Congresses. David is also a member of the Australian Sailing Offshore Owners Advisory Committee.

He was awarded the CYCA’s Ocean Racing Veteran of the Year for the 2021/22 season.

Tom comes from a sailing family and grew up racing and cruising the Queensland coast aboard his parents’ yachts. He progressed through various junior dinghy classes before joining the CYCA’s Youth Sailing Academy in 2004, competing at state, national and international levels.

Tom is a passionate offshore sailor and has competed in some of the leading yacht races around the world including 17 Rolex Sydney Hobarts, the Newport to Bermuda Race, Caribbean 600, Auckland to Fiji, Lord Howe Island as well as multiple Sydney Gold Coast races and other CYCA blue water races.

In addition, Tom has raced in several one-design classes, including multiple Etchells and Farr 40 World Championships. Tom has been a Board member of the CYCA since 2020, including Rear Commodore and Sailing Committee Chair in 2023-24. As a graduate of the YSA, Tom is passionate about continuing to build the pathway for sailors into offshore yacht racing. In his professional life, Tom is a Senior Manager with Accenture – a global consulting and technology firm.

He is part of the cross-industry Technology Strategy team and is focused on helping large public and private sector clients identify how technology, data and analytics can be help drive new business growth. Tom races aboard a number of CYCA Members’ yachts across a wide variety of events, with his main role being navigator aboard the TP52 Zen.

Winner of the 2020 Telstra Businesswoman of the Year (NSW) for Purpose and Social Impact, Sarah has over 20 years experience working working as a CEO and NED.

She is currently CEO of Cancer Council NSW/ACT, having previously held roles of CEO at the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Very Special Kids, Australian College of Optometry and Aston Academy of Life Sciences which she also founded.

With a background as a healthcare practitioner, educator and researcher, her executive career has focused on the delivery of health services aimed at the disadvantaged and seriously ill in a range of fields including eye disease and blindness, paediatric palliative care and cancer, and through delivering and enabling medical research to change disease trajectories. Her career includes extensive voluntary work in lower socio-economic countries.

Sarah is a Professor of Optometry at UNSW and of Ophthalmology at Shanxi Hospital, China, and has previously worked at the University of Melbourne and in the UK.

She has been a Director of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Sailing Foundation since 2019.

Greg has been sailing since 2000 and has competed in three Rolex Sydney Hobart races, a Lord Howe Island race, a number of Sydney Gold Coast and Sydney Mooloolaba races as well as many other offshore and inshore races. Greg also enjoys cruising, with the Greek islands being a favourite destination.

Greg previously was a co-owner of Sydney 38, Obsession, and currently owns Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349, No Doubt.

Greg joined the CYCA in 2003 and has been a member of the Audit, Planning and Risk Committee since 2021 and the Premises Committee since 2022.

Greg was admitted in NSW as a solicitor in 1997 and as a barrister in 2012. He has a Bachelor of Laws (Hons), a Master of Laws, a Master of Taxation and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney.

Greg is a barrister at Ground Floor Wentworth Chambers with his main areas of practice being taxation, commercial and criminal law.

Greg is a member of the Professional Conduct Committee and the Wellbeing Committee of the NSW Bar Association. He has previously served as Bar Councillor / director, chair of the New Barristers’ Committee, member of the Finance Investment and Audit Committee and member of the Education Committee of the NSW Bar Association. Greg has also served as a director of Ground Floor Wentworth Chambers.

Before coming to the Bar, Greg was a tax consultant at Arthur Andersen, a manager in Ernst & Young’s taxation, banking & finance division and an assistant fund manager to unlisted wholesale real estate equity funds at Macquarie Bank.

Craig is a passionate sailor and a committed member of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia since 2009. Craig was previously a member of the Sailing Committee and he is the owner of TP52 Quest, a yacht that has achieved impressive results under his leadership, including 3rd and 5th overall placements in the prestigious Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

In 2024, Quest secured second place in the Pallas Capital TP52 Gold Cup. Craig is also the president of the Australian TP52 Sailing Association, demonstrating his leadership within the sailing community.

Beyond his accomplishments in sailing, Craig has over 30 years of experience in customer experience technology and he currently serves as the Chairman/Director of Customer Driven, a company specialising in AI solutions for corporate and government entities. His entrepreneurial spirit has led him to venture into diverse fields such as childcare, property development, and architectural lighting.

A devoted family man with three children, Craig is deeply connected to his community and has a strong passion for sailing. He believes that his experience in racing TP yachts will bring a fresh perspective and innovative ideas to the racing scene at the Club.