Day one here at the OAMPS Australian Youth Championships saw some close racing, difficult conditions and a multitude of protests across the different classes.
The morning began with on and off rain squalls that caused havoc for race committees on all three Alpha, Bravo and Charlie courses. With an 11 o’clock start athlete were met with an up and down breeze that had fleets starting in around 6 – 10knots.
Starting on the Alpha course, the Laser radial fleet is being led by Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini from Great Britain with a 2nd and a 6th in today’s racing. Top placed Queensland Ella Evan sits in ninth with a 10th and a 16th today, putting her in top position for the women’s division. The Queensland Sailing Team’s leading men’s athletes and youth spot hopefuls, Jake Lilley and Mitchell Kennedy have had an unfortunate day, after being caught up in protests against the race committee Lilley had this to say “It was a completely random day, with crazy wind shifts and some ludicrous decisions on behalf of the race committee, it was a tough day”. In the laser 4.7, Madison Kennedy sits nicely in third after a very consistent day with a 3rd and a 4th. After a very successful summer racing series Madison is optimistic about further racing to come.
todays photos : http://picasaweb.google.com/102314198531545587394
In the 420 racing on the Bravo course athletes were greeted by a shifty and light southerly for the first race and a steadily increasing sea breeze for the final race. Leading overall is the strong woman’s pairing of Eloise Brake and Jamie Ryan from Queensland. After successfully winning Sail Melbourne the girls are in top contention for the overall regatta win. In the men’s Alex Gough and Angus Galloway lead with a 1st and a 6th in today’s races. The second class on Bravo course is the Hobie 16 multihull class. Leading is Youth Worlds gold medalist Paul Darmanin with Aleks Vucic, they took two bullets to put them in poll position. “I’m really happy to get the ball rolling and get the regatta off to a good start,” said Darmanin. “It was pretty light and shifty and there was a lot of waiting around while the wind sorted itself out but it was good to get two races in.”
On the Charlie course the 29er and Bic Techno classes battled it out, for what was a close first day of racing. Leading the men’s 29er are recent Australian champions Lewis Brake and Josh Franklin, the young Queensland team has stepped up and have the ISAF youth worlds in their sights. In the Bic Techno sailboard class Antoine Aubert from New Caledonia dominated the fleet and is looking to be on the way to backing up his winning result last year.
With similar if not better conditions predicted for tomorrow, racing tomorrow will again be action packed as athletes come together for what is some of the best youth racing in Australia.
Andrew Gough