2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup - Melbourne - Australia's medal harvest

by Cora Zillich on 13 Dec 2014 One gold, two silver and one bronze for Australian Sailing in Olympic classes and two gold in Paralympic classes on medal race day 1.

The Australian Sailing Team (AST) and Squad finished a successful first Medal Race day at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Melbourne with a gold and silver in the 49er, a silver in the women’s RS:X and a bronze in the 49erFX. In addition, the AST won both invited Paralympic classes of the SKUD18 and 2.4mR.

Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) kicked-off the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup season with a bang by winning today’s men’s skiff medal race and the overall event. The win qualifies the pair for the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final. Queenslanders Joel Turner and Lewis Brake added a silver to the successful Australian 49er medal tally.

Women’s 49erFX sailors Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA) finished a strong regatta with the bronze medal and as the highest ranked Australian crew behind Norway in first and second.

In one of the best regattas in her career, Australian Sailing Squad’s RS:X windsurfer Joanna Sterling (QLD) won the medal race and with silver her first Sailing World Cup podium spot.

Paralympic class sailing concluded on Saturday, December 13, 2014 with the AST’s Paralympic gold medallists Daniel Fitzgibbon (NSW) and Liesl Tesch winning the SKUD18 and Paralympian Matt Bugg (TAS) the 2.4mR.

The Nacra 17 medal race is postponed due to a glass-out on the Medal course.

Strong northerly winds in the morning turned Port Phillip into a sea of white caps but by the end of the first two medal races the breeze had dropped down to single figures and then nothing, resulting in the postponements and abandonment of the afternoon qualifying series races.

Men’s Skiff – 49er

AST’s Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) had a successful finish to the year, winning today’s ISAF Sailing World Cup Medal Race and the gold medal.

After a consistent week the duo went into the final medal race in first position, led the fleet by a long way on the final top mark rounding and took the World Cup win as well as qualification for the 2015 ISAF World Cup Final.

'This is great way to finish off the year and it’s awesome to qualify for Abu Dhabi. We didn’t get a chance to go this year due to scheduling conflicts. This year we are the first boat to qualify and will make sure we have it in the calendar for next year,' Nathan Outteridge said.

On today’s race Outteridge added; 'We didn’t get a good start, but we just tried to make sure we weren’t over the line. I think we were sixth around the first mark. The downwind was good and we got closer to the pack and then sailed a really good second round and got into the lead. We then spent the rest of the race just watching the action behind us. It was a really tight battle for second.'

'We didn’t have the best prep or training for this regatta as we only arrived from San Francisco the day the event started. But we sailed really well all week and were really happy with the performance.'

Outteridge and Jensen had already won a major victory just getting to the regatta start in time after the pair missed a connecting flight and left San Francisco on Saturday night, which only put them into Melbourne the morning of race start on Monday (8 December). But the experienced pair was not fazed by the delay and remained in the lead from day two, posting consistent results across the week as crew Iain Jensen added:

'It’s been a great regatta with some of the internationals coming over – the Kiwis and the Austrians. Also our Aussie teammates are starting to do really well. David and Rhys are now seventh in the world. , It was a small fleet but very strong fleet and we are very excited coming away with a win here.'

'We only had three results outside of the top three across this week’s racing and working on our consistency this week has worked out really well.'

Queenslander Joel Turner and Lewis Brake joined Outteridge and Jensen on the podium in the silver medal position, underlining the strength of the current Australian 49er squad.

'This was one of our best events in terms of the quality of the regatta and we’re really stoked about the result. We had a pretty good start to the race and weren’t worried about the other competitors too much', Joel Turner added.

On the strength of the whole Australian 49er squad crew Lewis Brake added: 'I think it’s the team mentality which makes us strong. We all push each other in training and it just completely transfers over to racing. We obviously don’t try to take each other out, but at the end of the day it’s another competitor and we always gotta try and win the races, that’s for sure!'

Recent AST qualifiers David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (NSW) finished overall fourth.

Women’s Skiff – 49erFX

Women’s 49er FX sailors Tess Lloyd and Caitlin Elks led going into the final Medal Race but with a seventh place on the final day they dropped back to third overall.

While they were disappointed with today’s events, they were happy with finishing as the topped ranked Australian crew.

'We were obviously pretty disappointed with how today went. It was very tricky conditions, but it’s third overall and we finished as the first Australians, which was our main goal. We’re very happy to be on the podium and be ahead of the other Australian crews. And today gives us even more determination to keep pushing. '

And about the plans ahead, crew Caitlin Elks added: 'We are heading to Perth now to race both at the 49er nationals and the Oceania event. There should be a good breeze and we’ll be able to continue working on our boat handling, and it will be a great opportunity to get really fit.'

AST’s Olivia Price (NSW) and crew Eliza Solly (VIC) finished off a challenging week with a second place in the Medal Race and an overall fourth ranking. The pair had dropped into fifth earlier in the regatta when they had to abandon racing on Wednesday after breaking a mast following a capsize.

'We didn’t have a very good regatta this Sail Melbourne and we were very disappointed with our earlier start. We had a setting mishap on day two and a rig break on day three, so we were happy to be still a couple points from everyone going into today,' Olympic silver medallist Olivia Price summed up the week.

'We did what we could today and were second across the line in the Medal Race and ended up fourth overall, which is good.'

Despite the mishaps Price was happy with the general outcome of the week for herself and Solly: 'In general we achieved some of the goals we had set for this week around our crew development and applying pressure - there was definitely pressure and we put ourselves under the pump. It’s good that our crew communication and our crew relationship held up with that and we are hoping to just keep going until Miami next year.'

Women’s RS:X

ASS’s Jo Sterling finished the World Cup with one of her best results so far and her first time on a World Cup podium:

'It’s been a great week of racing for me here in Melbourne and I had a very close medal race today after I went into it in fourth position. It was wonderful to finish second, which is my first podium finish at a World Cup event', an excited Sterling said after racing.

Paralympic classes

SKUD18

2014 IFDS World Champions Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch had a great run in the SKUD18 this week, winning all but one of ten races.

'Today’s racing was a fantastic end of the regatta, we could have come third but we nipped over the line just a tiny bit ahead of the Kiwis and won the regatta. We only had firsts and dropped a third', an excited Liesl Tesch said after racing.

About the event as a whole she added: 'It has actually been a really fruitful week as far as our training went, plus we had loads of different weather situations and I think the Australian fleet is getting stronger, which is really exciting. We had ten boats out there and it was fairly competitive, so that’s a nice challenge going forward.'

Skipper Daniel Fitzgibbon added: 'It’s been a long week but we were happy with how we sailed. We try and get better every time and it’s been a very valuable week for us. We’ll have Christmas off and then we go to the Miami OCR in January, then we shift the program over to America.'

ASS’s Ame Barnbrook (NSW) and Brett Pearce (NSW) finished second.

2.4mR

Tasmanian Matt Bugg finished a strong week with two race wins on the final day, taking home the overall win.

'Todays racing was great. I’ve sailed in today’s wind direction quite a few times in Melbourne and I knew what I had to do and executed my plan, and it worked perfectly,' Matt Bugg said after the event.

'This was actually the best event I have had in Melbourne, we haven’t missed a day’s racing due to too much wind or not enough and the weather has been fantastic.'

Due to the dying breeze the qualification series only continued in the Laser class today.

The Laser fleet managed to get two races in and World #1 Laser sailor Tom Burton is on track to qualify for the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi. He marked his name in permanent pen on the Melbourne World Cup points sheet on day one of the regatta and has comfortably led the fleet for the rest of the week. Ahead of the final double points medal race he sits 15 points ahead of Matt Wearn (ASS) in second.

Sunday’s highpoint is the second round of Medal Races starting at midday for the 470 Men and Women, Finn, Laser and Laser Radial.

Thirteen Olympic and Paralympic Australian Sailing Team (AST) athletes and 30 Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) members are currently battling it out on home waters on Port Phillip in nine Olympic and in two Paralympic boat classes at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne (8-14 December 2014) amongst 185 Olympic boats and 306 Invited class boats from a total of 34 countries.

Melbourne kick starts the ISAF World Cup series before the sailors head to the USA, France, Great Britain and an Asian venue. The series will culminate in the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final Abu Dhabi.

Held at Sandringham Yacht Club, racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Melbourne started on Monday, 8 December 2014 with Medal Races scheduled for Saturday, 13 (49er/FX, RSX, Nacra 17, Paralympic classes) and Sunday, 14 December 2014 (470M/W, Laser/Radial, Finn).

Medal Race Schedule for Sunday, 15 December 2015

• Men’s 470: 1200
• Women’s 470: 1240
• Finn: 1320
• Laser: 14:00
• Laser Radial: 14:40
• Nacra 17 – to be confirmed

2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne Australian Sailing Team and Squad Results (as of 13 December 2014):

Medal Races:

Men’s Skiff – 49er

• Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) – AST: 1, 2, 2, (16 BFD), 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 7, 3, 1 – first
• Joel Turner (QLD) and Lewis Brake (QLD) – ASS: 2, (16 OCS), 5, 3, 6, 7, 7, 3, 1, 5, 7, 11, 4 – second
• David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (VIC) – AST: 5, 1, 1, (16 BFD), 1, 6, 2, 7, 16 DSQ, 1, 2, 3, 2, 7 – fourth
• Harry Price (NSW) and Harry Morton (NSW) – ASS Bridging: 3, (16 OCS), 5, 3, 6, 7, 16, 10, 7, 10, 8, 10, 8, 2 – 10th

Women's Skiff – 49erFX

• Tess Lloyd (VIC/ASS) and Caitlin Elks (WA/ASS): 1, (6), 1, 1, 4, 1, 6, 2, 3, 5, 4, 3, 3, 7 – third
• Olivia Price (NSW/AST) and Eliza Solly (VIC/ASS): 2, 2, 4, 3, 6, 7, 3, (9 RET), 9 RET, 2, 5, 2, 1, 2 – fourth
• Haylee Outteridge (NSW/ASS) and Sarah Cook (VIC): 5, 5, 3, 6, 2, 5, 7, 6, 6, 7, 6, 7, 5, 3 – sixth

Women's Windsurfer – RS:X

• Joanna Sterling (QLD) – ASS: (7 OCS), 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 1 – second

Paralympic Boat Classes

Skud 18

• Daniel Fitzgibbon (NSW) and Liesl Tesch (NSW) – AST: 1, 1, (3), 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 – first
• Amy Barnbrook (NSW) and Brett Pearce (NSW) – ASS: 2, 4, 2, 4, 4, 5, 4, 3, (11 RET), 3 – third

2.4mR

• Matt Bugg (TAS) – AST: 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 1 – first
• Neil Patterson (TAS) – ASS: 8, 6, (10), 6, 3, 8, 10, 8, 4 – eighth

Mixed Multihull – Nacra17 – status to be confirmed

• Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) – AST: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, (3), 3, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2 – first
• Darren Bundock (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) – AST: (3), 2, 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, (6 DNF) – second
• Euan McNicol (NSW) and Lucinda Whitty (NSW) – ASS: 2, 3, 2, (4), 3, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3, 6 (DNF), 2, 2, 3, 1 – third
• Paul Darmanin (NSW) and Lucy Copeland (NSW) – ASS Bridging: (4), 4, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3 – fourth

Sunday’s Medal Races:

Men's One Person Dinghy – Laser

• Tom Burton (NSW) – AST: 2, 2, 1, 5, 4, 2, 4, 1, 4, (12) – first
• Matthew Wearn (WA) – ASS: 3, 10, 2, 1, 5, 1, 11, 2, 5, (13) – second
• Ryan Palk (QLD) – ASS: 14, 7, 6, 10, 8, 7, 1, 13, (21), 7 – eighth
• Luke Elliott (NSW) – ASS: 17, (20), 5, 3, 6, 3, 17, 4, 15, 16 – 10th
• Mitchell Kennedy (QLD) – ASS: 11, 12, 13, 9, 7, 15, 2, (18), 8, 12 – 12th
• Mark Spearman (WA) – ASS Bridging: 29, 22, 22, 12, 10, 11, 19, 17, 22, 26 – 19th

Women's One Person Dinghy – Laser Radial

• Ashley Stoddart (QLD) – ASS: 2, 2, (9), 8, 3, 3, (13), 6 – fourth
• Anna Philip (VIC) – ASS Bridging: 18, 15, 14, 10, 16, 15, 14, 17 – 16th

Men's One Person Dinghy (Heavyweight) – Finn

• Oliver Tweddell (VIC) – ASS: 2, 4, 3, 1, 1, 3, 1 – second
• Jake Lilley (QLD) – ASS: 3, 2, 2, (4), 3, 2, 4 – third

Men’s Two Person Dingy – 470M

• Alexander Conway and Patrick Conway (NSW) – ASS: 1, 1, 2, (3), 2, 1, 1 – first

Women's Two Person Dinghy – 470W

• Sasha Ryan (QLD) and Amelia Catt (TAS) – ASS: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 – first
• Jeni Lidget-Dansk and Jaime Ryan (QLD) – ASS: 2, 2, (3 UFD), 2, 2, 2, 2 – second