Sailing was held over the three days, 20 – 22 April in 4 disciplines completing 6 races each in the Regatta series:
Level 1 SO Athlete responsible for headsail trim with a unified partner
Level 2 SO Athlete responsible for helming 100% with a unified partner
Level 4 SO Athletes sailing in partnership
Level 5 SO Athlete sailing single handed
• Two divisions
o Male
o Female
Tuesday 20th April – Races 1 and 2 Lacklustre winds less than 5 knots on the first day of racing and racing postponed to 11:30 when the wind picked up slightly. A strong northerly current also played havoc with the East Coast sailors. Sailors from the ACT, SA, NSW and Qld completing in Levels 1 and 4 managed to get in two slow races in the morning. Victoria joined the others in the afternoon with slightly stronger 6 – 8 knot winds in Levels 2 and 5.
In Level 1, NSW’s Bradley Alderton with Dad as his unified partner shared equal 3 points with fellow NSW sailors Melissa Nelson and unified partner Bruce Schofield.
The ACT’s Stephen Ponder with Michael Leydon as unified partner in Level 2 showed a consistent
second in both races with their fellow team members, Catharine Keir and unified partner Gerda Lambeck also totalling 4 points with a creditable 3rd and a win.
Level 4 showed the ACT’s pair of Athletes, Bronwyn Ibbotson and Allister Peek clear ahead on 3 points from the Qld pair of Belinda Hill and Sonja Gilmore on 6 points.
In the single handed Level (level 5) Allister Peek from the ACT on 4 points, showed a clean stern to his fellow competitors, with Victoria’s Martin Waller close on 5 points and Mark Thorpe on 6 points.
Wednesday 21st April – Races 3 and 4
With more consistent but still light winds, racing got away on time with racing reversed. Levels 2 and 5 took to the water racing first. In Level 1, the Alderton father and son team just held on to their over night lead from Melissa Nelson and Bruce Schofield. The Level 2 Victorian pair of Sarah Millsom and unified partner Alison Weatherly tried hard to run down the overnight leaders, Ponder and Leydon but that pair’s consistent sailing coming in 2nd and 1st maintained the lead with the second ACT team of Keir and Lambeck with the South Australian pair of Ben Walter and unified partner Shane Walter in 4th place on 17 points.
Excellent sailing in Level 4 by the Qld pair of Hill and Gilmore resulting in two 1st placings, saw them overtake Ibbotson and Peek in the lead.
In Level 5. Peek continued his winning run with a consistent 1st and 2nd to further strengthen his hold (7 points) on the lead from Queensland’s Belinda Hill with 12 points and Victorian Matie Waller holding on to 3rd place from the ACT’s Bronwyn Ibbotson and Victorian Mark Thorpe on equal 19m points
Held at Adelaide Sailing Club
Thursday 23 April – Races 5 and 6
Conditions were better with winds from the NE at 13 knots. In Level 1, the NSW team of
SO Athlete Alyse Saxby and unified partner Bob Hamilton sailing only for participation won
both races which would have put them in second place if they had been racing for medals in
this Level. NSW’s father and son team of Bradley and Colin Alderton finished second in
both races to give them an overall score of 11 points which won them the Gold Medal ahead
of another NSW team of Melissa Nelson and partner Bruce Schofield.
In the Level 2 competition, Vistoria’s Sarah Millsom and partner Alison Weatherly excelled
with a 2nd and 1st to put them in the Gold Medal position 2 points ahead of the ACT’s
Stephen Ponder and partner Michael Leydon who could only manage two disappointing 5th
places to claim the Silver Medal. NSW’s Alyse Saxby and partner Bob Hamilton beat out
the ACT pair of Catharine Keir and partner Gerda Lambeck by 2 points to claim the Bronze
for NSW. South Australian Ben Walter and partner Shane Walter competing in their first SO
Regatta, finished a very creditable 5th position.
Level 4 saw a count back win for the Qld pair of Belinda Hill and Sonja Gilmore from the
ACT’s Bronwyn Ibbotson and Allister Peek on 11 points each. Another count back was
required to decide the Bronze Medal position and again Qld pipped the ACT with the Qld
pair of Warren Hawkins and Adam Knust (also competing in his first SO Regatta) beating
the ACT’s Catharine Keir and Stephen Ponder both on 22 points.
The overall Level 5 competition was won by the ACT’s Allister Peek who when well ahead in
the last race, sailed through the start finish line against the SIs and earned him maximum
points following an RAF . He was followed on the point score by Belinda Hill from Qld and
Martin Waller from Victorian 26 points with the ACT’s Bronwyn Ibbotson also on 26 points.
They were followed by the Victorian, Mark Thorpe and NSW’s Rachel Ward ahead of Qld’s
Warrren Hawkins and Sonja Gilmore with Victoria’s David Weatherly close behind.
In accordance with Special Olympic Sailing Rules, the 9 Level 5 competitors were divisioned
into two gender based divisions. Accordingly, Queensland’s Belinda Hill won the Gold
Medal in the Female division ahead of the Silver Medal winner Bronwyn Ibbotson from the
ACT and NSW’s Rachel Ward with the Bronze Medal. Allister Peek from the ACT was
awarded the Gold Medal ahead of Victoria’s Martin Waller sailing a ‘ servo assist’ Access 2.3
dinghy which won him an extremely well deserved Silver Medal with Mark Thorpe winning
the Bronze Medal for Victoria sailing a partial ’servo assist’ Access 2.3 dinghy.
Results:
Level 1
Rank State SO Athlete Unified Partner R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total
1st NSW Bradley Alderton Colin Alderton 1 2 3 1 2 2 11
2nd NSW Alyse Saxby ** Bob Hamilton ** 3 5 RAF 1 2 1 1 13
3rd NSW Melissa Nelson Bruce Hamilton 2 1 2 3 3 3 14
4th SA Mary Follard ** Keira Bennett ** 4 3 5 DNS 5 DNS 5 DNS 5 DNS 27
Note **: Participation only. Race results do not count towards medal
Level 2
Rank State SO Athlete Unified Partner R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total
1st Vic Sarah Millsom Alison Weatherly 1 4 1 6 2 1 15
2nd ACT Stephen Ponder Michael Leydon 2 2 2 1 5 5 17
3rd NSW Alyse Saxby Bob Hamilton 4 5 6 3 1 2 21
4th ACT Catharine Keir Gerda Lambeck 3 1 3 7 3 6 23
5th SA Ben Walter Shane Walter 7 3 5 2 6 3 26
6th Qld Adam Knust Chris Ruston 10 DNF 6 4 5 4 4 33
7th NSW Melissa Nelson ** Bruce Schofield ** 5 7 7 4 7 7 37
8th SA Mary Folland Keira Bennett 6 8 8 9 8 8 47
9th SA Andrew Waller Graham Brett 8 9 9 8 9 9 52
Note **: Participation only. Race results do not count towards medal
Level 4
Rank State Skipper Crew R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total
1st` Qld Belinda Hill Sonja Gilmore 5 DNS 1 1 1 1 2 11
2nd ACT Bronwyn Ibbotson Allister Peek 1 2 3 2 2 1 11
3rd Qld Warren Hawkins Adam Knust 5 DNS 5 DNS 2 4 3 3 22
4TH ACT Catharine Keir Stephen Ponder 2 5 DNF 4 3 4 4 22
Level 5 – Overall Results – No medal count
Rank State SO Athlete R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total
1st ACT Allister Peek 1 3 1 2 2 10 RAF 19
2nd Qld Belinda Hill 4 5 2 1 5 3 20
3rd Vic Martin Waller 3 2 7 3 1 10 RAF 26
4th ACT Bronwyn Ibbotson 2 6 6 5 6 1 26
5th Vic Mark Thorpe 5 1 9 4 3 10 RAF 32
6th NSW Rachel Ward 6 10 DNF 3 8 4 2 33
7TH Qld Warren Hawkins 7 4 4 10 RAF 9 4 38
8th Qld Sonja Gilmore 10 DNF 10 DNS 5 7 7 10 RAF 49
9TH Vic David Weatherly 8 10 DNF 8 6 8 10 RAF 50
Level 5 – Division F
Rank State SO Athlete R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total
1st Qld Belinda Hill 2 1 1 1 2 3 10
2nd ACT Bronwyn Ibbotson 1 2 4 2 3 1 13
3rd NSW Rachel Ward 3 5 DNF 2 4 1 2 17
4th Qld Sonja Gilmore 5 DNF 5 DNS 3 3 4 5 RAF 25
Level 5 – Division M
Rank State SO Athlete R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total
1st ACT Allister Peek 1 3 1 1 2 6 RAF 14
2nd Vic Martin Waller 2 2 3 2 1 6 RAF 16
3rd Vic Mark Thorpe 3 1 5 3 3 6 RAF 21
4th Qld Warren Hawkins 4 4 2 6 RAF 5 1 22
5th Vic David Weatherly 5 6 DNF 4 4 4 6 RAF 29
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