My love of sailing started at age 10, on a family holiday in Plymouth on the south coast of England. I saw the beginner boats out sailing and told my parents I wanted to give it a try. They took me down to our local sailing club and it all started from there.
Sailing away: Macquarie Business School student Zac West is already using what he has learned in his degree to run a sailing consulting business with a Macquarie classmate. Images: Samantha Christensen.
When I was 15, we moved to Australia for my dad’s work. I had already met a lot of Australians at the Youth Sailing World Championships, so I had friends here. Some of them even went to my new Australian school, which made moving countries easier. And sailing in Australia is pretty good; it’s quite nice not wearing two wetsuits in winter like I did in England.
My event speciality is match racing, where two identical boats race each other. Obviously, it can get very competitive during races, but we are all friendly with each other out of the water. There’s a lot of camaraderie and you develop a global network of friends. The New Zealand guys are particularly great. We’ll often stay at each other’s places when travelling for international competitions.
I think a lot of sailors are looking to escape from everyday life. When you’re sailing on the ocean, without phone reception and in all the elements, you have to deal with whatever is being thrown at you in that moment. You’re forced to leave any land-based worries behind. I enjoy when its super windy and you can put the sails up to go as fast as you physically can. Sailors do enjoy a good windy day!
I'm majoring in Business Information Systems in my degree, which involves a fair bit of data analysis. Sailing involves looking at alot of weather data, so that’s been beneficial.
I’m 23 now and no longer considered a youth competitor, so it’s time for me to break into the big leagues. We’ve successfully raised enough funds to get onto the United States leg of the World Match Racing Tour, so I’ll be competing in New York, Chicago and Detroit in August. (Follow Zac’s tour progress on Instagram at @zac_west_racing)
Macquarie is really supportive in terms of helping me manage my studies while I compete. As a Sports Scholar, I get help with managing my time and assessments from final-year organisational psychology students. I wouldn’t be able to leave Australia to compete without the University’s support.
I’m majoring in Business Information Systems in my degree, which involves a fair bit of data analysis. Sailing involves looking at alot of weather data, so that’s been beneficial. I enjoy using technology on board. I’m using my degree knowledge to run a sailing consulting business that I recently started with a friend who also went to Macquarie. It’s pretty intense keeping a business running alongside my sailing and study.
I’ve been lucky to be able to integrate my love of the ocean in my capstone unit study in the Bachelor of Commerce. We teamed up with Bachelor of Science students to provide recommendations for implementing water sensitive urban design principles in Greater Western Sydney. We worked on minimising stormwater runoff and reducing flooding and water pollution. It was great to be able to combine our all our different skills and know that we were supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Clean Water and Sanitation.
