Youth Match Racing Championship - Convincing victory for Byron White

by Peter Campbell on 25 Sep 2012 Australian Youth Match Racing Championship, held by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, final day of competition got underway today, Monday 24 September 2012. The New South Wales youth match racing champion crew, skippered by Byron White, sailed away to a convincing victory on Hobart’s River Derwent.

In the final, White and his crew of Ashlen Rooklyn and Jack Breislin defeated fellow Cruising Yacht Club Youth Sailing Academy representative Tim Forbes-Smith and his crew of Jack Dawson and Daniel Caine in two straight matches.

After impressive sailing over the first two days of competiton, the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s Chris 'George' Jones and his crew faltered at the last hurdle to finish third overall.

White and Jones had been tied going into yesterday third round-robin, but dropped back in the qualifiers and then lost their semi-final against Forbes-Smith. The Tasmanians finally finished third overall on a countback from fellow RYCT skipper Zac Pullen.

White and his NSW champion crew came out on top after the three round-robins, then comfortably won their semi-final against Tasmanian Zac Pullen before winning the final against Forbes-Smith, 2-0.

Overall, Pullen placed fifth, with Milly Bennet and her crew from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney, fifth in the series.

Today’s matches were sailed in demanding conditions for all the crews, with the northerly gusting to over 20 Event website