Three regattas, three wins for Laser sailor

by Rob Kothe on 29 May 2006 21 year old Gosford NSW sailor Tom Slingsby will be hit with a hefty excess baggage bill, when he fronts at Amsterdam airport on Wednesday.

Returning home for two weeks R&R, Slingsby has the Winners' trophies from the Hyères Regatta, the ISAF World Sailing Games and the Holland Regatta to cart back to Koolewong on the Central Coast.

Last year Slingsby won four European regattas - Hyères, Kiel, Garda and the Holland regatta and he could do the same again this year, on current form.

He’d won the Holland Regatta in Medemblik impressively yesterday, not needing to sail the Medal final. He stayed out of the battle between Paul Goodison from the UK Dei Solar from China.

Coach Arthur Brett was thrilled with Slingsby’s win. ‘Tom is happy with his consistency, which certainly has been the key to his successes. Now he just needs a couple of weeks rest, he has definitely earned it.’

This week the latest ISAF World Rankings will be released. Having missed the Worlds' in Brazil last September the young Australian is only ranked ninth in the world, but three wins from three Grade One events will not hurt his numbers.

Across the Holland Regatta there were solid performances from the Australian sailors. Darren Bundock and Glen Ashby took the silver medal in the Tornado Class, following their win at the ISAF Worlds.

In the 470 Mens Class, the young guns Matt Belcher and Nick Behrens, took bronze ahead of their older training mates, the current World Champions Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page. Full results from the Australian crews below.

Laser
1 Tom Slingsby
11 Brendan Casey

Tornado
2 Darren Bundock Glen Ashby

470 Men
3 Matt Belcher Nick Behrens
4 Nathan Wilmot Malcolm Page
34 Mathieu Higgins Tim Lynch
40 Dylan Clarke Ayden Menzies

470 Women
15 Lauren Jeffries Rike Ziegelmayer

49er
5 Nathan Outteridge Ben Austin
17 Will Phillips Jon Newman

Finn
11 Anthony Nossiter

Laser Radial
4 Krystal Weir
9 Sarah Blanck

Neil Pryde RS:X men
59 Sean Obrien

Neil Pryde RS:X women
21 Allison Shreeve
32 Anna Davis

Yngling
19 Nic Bethwaite Helen Impey Julie Grimshaw
26 JeanneClaud Strong Nicole Douglass Ruth Mccance