By Ian Grant.
The exceptionally talented Klaus and Eva Lorenz extended their club racing results with the small Whitsunday Sailing Club fleet into the Australian Optimist dinghy championship record books.
Both young sailors overcame the handicap of regular big fleet racing experience to prove their will to succeed with Klaus scoring a career best Bronze medal while his younger sister Eva racing for the first time at the National level finished 46th in the 110 dinghy fleet.
Their results were a reward for the time they spend with their after school training on Pioneer Bay.
Klaus and his kid sister are great mates but they become equally competitive when they grip the tiller and tension the mainsheet with Klaus often forced into applying a tactical wind shadow to hold the decisive upper hand.
However they are inseparable with Klaus valuing the commitment from Eva who is determined to express her improving skills at every opportunity.
She instinctively follows the ‘foot steps’ of her older sibling and has progressively bridged the gap on the race course.
But she remains happy to play the vital role as the boat on boat mate against mate training partner treating every session as an important step towards improving her own career.
Meanwhile Klaus who has won selection in the Australian team to contest the 2011 World championship over the unfamiliar course at Napier, New Zealand next December is back into full scale training with his ‘pacemaker’.
They have a planned schedule which includes extensive after-school training on the often windy Pioneer Bay.
Klaus has often remarked that he and Eva are lucky to live in a sailing paradise and have cleverly blended the use of the tropical environment into the ongoing development of their outstanding individual careers.
Both Klaus and Eva deserve to be happy with their 2011 National championship results however they are not resting on their laurels with Klaus committed to compete in the New Zealand National championship in April while the pair will represent the Whitsunday Sailing Club at the Queensland championships off Mooloolaba in June.
They will also leave the comfort zone of a warmer winter tropical environment to compete in the mid-winter championship over the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron’s Waterloo Bay courses in July.
Competition at this level is important particularly for Eva who has had limited big fleet racing experience as she continues her personal challenge to match her male rivals at future National championships.
However she remains happy to hang in the hiking straps and be drenched with sea spray while improving her boat speed and tactical skills in a bid to become the best female sailor in the class before focusing her career on winning a place in the elite Queensland Academy of Sport sailing squad.