Klade Hauschildt to take part in UON SB20 World championship

by Ian Grant on 21 Nov 2012 Many friends of super fit Sunshine Coast aquatic athlete Klade Hauschildt have long regarded him as a loner in the highly competitive sport of One-design dinghy class racing.

Klade Hauschildt, now 22 and a member of the Queensland Academy of Sport sailing squad with his long term friend and training partner Ryan Palk, expressed his talent as a teenager sailing alone to win an Australian Sabot class bronze medal.

As to be expected he then stepped into senior class racing again sailing alone winning the Australian championship in the Laser 4.7 on Brisbane’s Moreton Bay.

He has excellent people skills and besides being an exceptionally talented sailor has many friends within the sport.

Sailing alone has been his career choice however he has valued the challenge of fighting for uncontested space on the Laser sailing circuit to progressively gain the respect as a talented tactician who can sail calmly under pressure in other One-Design classes including the exciting Farr 30.

Just before Christmas he will pack his bag and head to the international award winning tourist destination of Hamilton Island not to enjoy a well earned holiday but to represent Australia in the UON SB20 World championship.

This will be no ordinary challenge for Klade Hauschildt who will gain valued hands on experience sailing in the bow of the New South Wales entry One Design Sailing.

He will be joining a highly successful crew including skipper Ian Brown the 1976 Olympic 470 Bronze Medallist and Australia’s most successful Olympic sailor dual 470 class Gold Medallist Malcolm Page.

Klade has won this opportunity on personal merit and while skipper Ian Brown, sheethand Malcolm Page and for’ard hand Klade Hauschildt have had little time to ‘tweak’ their combined crew skills they remain as one of the favourites.

But they will be ready to race when the battle lines are drawn to decide the 2012 UON SB20 World championship on the tactical and physical testing Whitsunday waters from December 12-20.

During an interview while contesting the Airlie Beach Race Week Farr 30 class championship Klade expressed his interest in becoming more recognised in the top echelon of yacht racing.

'I have the career target to hopefully become a professional sailor one day that is my goal ,' he said.

Meanwhile the experience of racing with Olympic veteran Ian Brown and London Olympic 470 Gold Medallist Malcolm Page against the best SB20 crews will become a special entry in Klade’s personal log book.

They are listed among the major contenders along with multiple World championship winning skipper Glenn Bourke representing the Hamilton Island Yacht Club and the defending champion Geoff Carveth of England.

This championship challenge which has attracted a very competitive fleet representing England, United Arab Emirates, Russia, The Ukraine, Italy, France, The Netherlands and Australia has the potential to provide 22 year old Klade Hauschildt with a chance to become better known on the international sailing circuit and another important step to fulfilling his personal ambition.