North Sails Australia One Design - The future looks bright

by North Sails on 16 Jan 2013 The future is certainly bright for one design racing in Australia with the pleasing results at the Etchells Nationals in Perth and the Optimist Nationals in Tasmania.

The continued Etchells class sail development by the North Sails team post the Sydney Worlds last year saw North Sails clients making the top-six at the Etchells Nationals last week in Perth. Michael Manford and his crew Dean McAullay and Nicholas Gray sailed very consistently in the fresh conditions to win the title never dropping out of the top four in any of the races except for one black flag which they dropped. John Bertrand finished second using the new North Sails FLR Radial Jib which was launched as a new design after Michael Coxon and the North Star team including Richie Allanson, Dave O’Connor and young Flynn Twomey won the Etchells Milson Silver Goblets using this sail.

Mathew Chew , Noel Drennan and Peter Chappell had a very close battle for fourth fifth and sixth with only six points separating all three boats. Richie and Noel were both at the regatta racing and providing service and tuning support for all North Sails Etchells clients.

At the Prince Philip Cup Australasian Dragon Championship Matt Whitnall and crew Rob Bishop and Christian Brooks powered to a convincing victory winning four of the seven races. Geared up with a full sail inventory of our latest models supplied by North Sails Australia. Matt commented 'North Sails Australia help us immensely in supplying sails for us at such short notice leading up to the regatta and we certainly had no issues with our boat speed'

With a big focus in developing the skills of junior sailors in Australia North Sails has invested a huge amount of time and resources into the Optimist class and North Sails powered sailors have achieved some fantastic results at the nationals this year in Tasmania. Ella Sharman took out first place in the under 10s and after a run of improving results at both national and international regattas Max Paul took out first place in the under 12’s.

Eva Lorenz and Chelsea Conner were our top Girls who finished second and third respectively behind Annabelle Davies.

Congratulations to the top five place (Annabel Davies, James Grogan, Max Quirk, Thomas Cunich and Blake Selly) getters who have now gained selection to represent Australia at the World Championships later this year in Lake Garda Italy.

Next up we have the Melges 24 Nationals in Geelong where a number of teams have been training hard in preparation for the regatta. North Sails One Design Australia