Downunder Pro - Australian Formula Windsurfing Championships overall
by Sean O'Brien on 10 Feb 2015
Steve Allen (AUS-0) takes the event Rob Plim
For the third and final day of the Downunder Pro - Formula Windsurfing Oceanic and Australian Championships a short day on the beach for the races with a grim forecast which ended in racing being postponed for the day at 12pm finalised the results. Steve Allen took the event win ahead of Janis Priess from Latvia defending Australian champion Sean O’Brien.
The 2015 Slake Downunder Pro - Oceanic and Australian Formula Windsurfing Championships concluded on Saturday with an action packed seven races taking place over the three-day regatta at picturesque Belmont on Lake Macquarie. The field included 3x World Champion from Australia, Steve Allen (Starboard/Severne), who took the event win by one point ahead of current World #1 from Latvia, Janis Priess (Gaastra/Gaastra) with defending Australian and Oceanic title champion Sean O’Brien (Starboard/Severne) in third.
The final day of competition produced no valid races keeping Allen just one point ahead of Priess after seven races over the three day event. Allen made his move on Thursday’s racing after dropping back down the fleet after some gear failure on the first day, by posting two seconds and two firsts for the day as he battled with Latvian Janis Priess (Gaastra/Gaastra) who posted two firsts and two seconds giving Allen the edge by one point overall. Priess said about the event:
'We had a beautiful two days of racing and I’m really happy that I managed to win three of the seven races in such difficult conditions and with a strong fleet. I want to say thank you to the organisers and sponsors for such great prizes, especially Brett Morris for his hospitality and the race officers for a great job on the water. For me it was a great start for the coming new season and I really hope I can make it back next year.'
Sean O’Brien (Starboard/Severne) fought his way back on to the podium beating Danish Danish Christian Justesen (Starboard/Neilpryde) after a countback when both sailors finished the event on equal points. O’Brien finished the final race in 3rd with Justesen fourth which solidified the tie-break split.
Brett Morris (Starboard/Severne) won the the Grand Masters division finishing in 5th position overall ahead of Tibor Ferenczy (Starboard/Severne) and Rick Murray (JP/North) in eighth and ninth overall. Bruce Healey (Starboard/Severne) took out the Free-Formula division winning five out of the seven races so far over the seven races of the event.
The event finished with a prizegiving ceremony on the foreshore of the lake with the top three overall event winners taking home the coveted prizes of new Slake masts donated by the title sponsor. Windsurf’N’Snow store in Sydney donated a large bulk of exciting prizes for the winners of the Grand Masters and Free Formula division as well to event organiser Adam Craven to round up the event.
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