By Ian Grant.
Whitsunday Sailing Club flag officer Terry Archer promises to post some impressive results when he comes to grips with steering and racing in the faster lane with his recently acquired Sydney 40 Questionable Logic.
Previously skipper Terry Archer and crew enjoyed the comfort of sailing in the slower lane with the cruising class sloop Africa and achieved a number of commendable performances in a varied range of conditions.
Perth, Western Australia - 30th January 2010. Kyle Langford and his crew from Sydney’s Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, cruised undefeated through the semis and finals of the Colin Mullins International Youth Regatta, to take the trophy at their first attempt.
For Langford, who normally sails as tactician for world number two skipper Torvar Mirsky, this was his first international match racing event as skipper, but he made it look easy. Commenting on the finals, in which he defeated Peter Nicholas of the host club, he said of the weather conditions, “it was marginal out there, we were on the edge all the time, sometimes out of control” having survived winds in the 30 to 40 knot range, but done it with style.
Nacra Class South-East Queensland Championships – sponsored by FASTWAY - 30th & 31st January 2010 – hosted by Southport Yacht Club. It was supposed to be a weekend of nice summer racing. 16 Nacra Class catamarans made the trip to Southport Yacht Club on the Gold Coast to enjoy our famous sunshine but ex-cyclone Olga had other plans and delivered challenging weather.
On Saturday, the first race got underway on time in a gentle southerly breeze around 12 knots. However, half-way through the race a rain squall with strong gusty winds hit and tested all but the most experienced sailors. The race committee was able to finish the race but then sent boats ashore to wait for calmer weather. The rain eventually cleared and gave way to more stable conditions allowing the race committee to start race 2.
Queensland sailors Angus Galloway & Alexander Gough have won selection into Australia’s Youth Sailing team preparing to compete in the 40th Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in the international 420 class held in Istanbul, Turkey in July this year.
Finally we are home after a long year of training and racing throughout Australia. The year was to say the least, full-on from day one with training five times a week at RQYS with Queensland Academy of Sport sailing team coach Adrian Finglas. We went into the year with strong goals: to win selection to the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships. Read more…
Susan Hextell
by Anne Mussett, Publicity Officer, Queensland Sabre Sailing Association.
Australian Sabre Sailing Association Nationals were held in Tasmania on 28 December 2009 – 3 January 2010, hosted by Bellerive Yacht Club.
There was a record fleet of 61 boats - a great effort indeed. Susan Hextell from Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron represented Queensland - the only entrant from Queensland, making a 5048 km round trip
Susan wore a maroon penny with a big white Q over a white outline map of Qld. One could say “she carried the whole of Queensland on her back” Read more…
By Ian Grant.
Mooloolaba Yacht Clubs 2009 Audi Australian Ocean racing champion Rod Jones re-addressed his one-design sailing skills to win the Bronze medal in the Victorian SB3 Dart championship on Australia Day.
Jones who recently sold his title winning Archambault A40 Alegria made an eleventh hour decision to test his proven tactical racing skills in the championship with the option to race in the Audi SB3 Australian championship at Port Stephens from April 12-18.
Queensland Academy of Sport team sailor Ben Franklin (17) completed a meteoric rise in Australian Laser Radial class racing with a stunning win in the 2010 National Championship on the Adelaide sailing Club course in January.
His performance described by Queensland Academy of Sport High Performance coach Adrian Finglas as one of the best results he has witnessed as a reward for the teenage sailor’s personal dedication.
“Ben is totally committed spending 80 hours a month with training and perfecting his boat handling technique and tactical skills”. Finglas said.
Yachting Queensland have continued to invest wisely with the high performance sailing program dominating the class results in the International Sail Melbourne regatta.
The State yachting team jointly coached by Beijing Olympic Yngling class mentor Adrian Finglas and the talented Yachting Queensland resident coach Ben Callard mastered some tricky sailing conditions on Melbourne’s Port Philip Bay to complete a best ever medal haul at the important international regatta.
Gold Coast 470 dinghy skipper Mathew Belcher now racing with Sydney’s 2008 Olympic Gold Medallist Malcolm Page led the medal charge winning seven heats to firm their grip for rep honours at the 2012 Olympic regatta in London.
Victorian Jono Neate successfully completed a 12 month plan when he scored a brilliant win in the 40th Contender class championship on a bumpy Waterloo Bay in early January.
Neate finished second in the 2009 World Series held in Sonderborg (Denmark) when Italian Andrea Bonezzi won his 7th World crown and was determined to reverse the result in Brisbane but that was never going to be an easy task.
