Australian 2.4.mR Championship - Third in row for Tasmanian sailor
by Peter Campbell on 1 Apr 2013
Matt Bugg looks satisfied with his third consecutive Australian title win. Peter Campbell
Australian 2.4.mR Championship 2013. Tasmania’s London 2012 Paralympic sailor Matt Bugg yesterday cruised to a comfortable third consecutive win in the Australian championship for the International 2.4mR class, sailed on the River Derwent.
The victory is an important start to Bugg’s campaign to again represent Australia at Rio de Janeiro 2016, which includes an extensive international campaign in Europe during the coming Northern Hemisphere summer.
The Australian championship is an open event, with able-bodied sailors forming the majority of the 15 competitors from NSW, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania who contested the series over the Easter weekend.
Bugg won three races, gained two seconds, one being average points after being forced to retire following a collision which holed his boat, and had a third and fourth on the final day.
He finished with a net 12 points, with fellow Tasmanian Lisa Blackwood on 19 points, including two wins, third place on 22 points going to Canberra veteran Peter Russell who won race seven yesterday.
Fourth overall on 29.5 points was another Tasmanian, 15-year-old Jock Calvert. Sailing a 2.4mR class for the first time, Calvert won two races but slipped back with an 10th and seventh place yesterday.
Calvert will now return to training on the Bic Techno, the sailboard class in which he will represent Australia at the ISAF world youth championships in Cyprus in June.
