International Laser Australian Championships - Radial duel underway

by Peter Campbell on 1 Jan 2013 Three of Australia’s champion young sailors are battling for victory in the Australian championships for the International Laser Radial class being sailed on Hobart’s challenging River Derwent.

World champion Tristan Brown from Perth’s Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, heads the leader board after six races, scoring two wins in his qualifying division of the 71 boat fleet of Laser Radials. With two wins and two seconds on the previous two days, he has six points on the board.

Just one point behind Brown is fellow WA sailor Mark Spearman who has had three firsts, two seconds and a third to date in the 12 race championship. Also on seven points is Victorian Thomas Vincent with an impressive 1-4-1-2-1-2 scorecard.

Spearman is the top ranked youth sailor in the Radials, while heading the strong entry of young women in the class is Queenslander Amelia Stoddart from Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. She is sixth overall.

Best of the Tasmanians is Rohan Langford in 15th place overall while Emma Barton is 22nd and Jock Calvert 26th... Emma has lodged a protest against another competitor, with the hearing this morning.

Australian champion Jack Felsenthal from Melbourne’s Sandringham Yacht Club heads the Laser 4.7 class on nine points, ten points clear of his nearest rival after scoring his second win yesterday, along with a fourth.

Fellow Victorian Sam Hannah is second overall on 19 points while in third place is WA sailor Christopher Charlwood on 30 points. Hannah is first junior, Charlwood first youth sailor in the Laser 4.7 class.

Heading the Tasmanians is Ed Hargreaves in12th place, followed by Gabriel Morrison in 13th place in the 39 boat fleet.

Racing continues today with a lay day tomorrow, 2 January as the King of the Derwent will be sailed on that day.

In the Laser Standard Rig class, world No 1 ranked Tom Burton from NSW scored two more wins yesterday to have a net score of nine points, comfortably clear of another NSW sailor, Ashley Brunning on 15 points. Burton has so far won four of the six races.

Third overall is Queenslander Ryan Palk, followed closely by Jared West from Queensland and Matthew Wearn from WA. Best placed Tasmanian is Zac Pullen who is 20th overall.