Record entries for Australia’s biggest Youth Championships

by Jaime-Lee Thomasson on 4 Jul 2013 Yet another beautiful day on the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron rigging lawn as 240 yachts from 15 classes took to the waters of Moreton Bay for the first day of racing in the 2013 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Queensland Youth Week.

Racing took place within three of the four courses including Alpha, Bravo and Charlie race areas, with the wind proving to be slightly too strong for the green fleet.

The competitors enjoyed a range of wind strengths from eight through to 20 knots testing each sailor’s skills in the varied conditions.

All fleets completed three races with the 29ers quickly scraping through a fourth.

The Alpha course showed promising results as 29er skipper Harry Price and crew Angus Williams sailed away with two firsts and two fourths topping the leader board.

RQ members James Hodgson and Klaus Lorenz are currently leading the 420 fleet with Jack Felsenthal and Tom Floyd hard to catch in their Viper.

The Bravo course which has the most classes for this regatta swung into action with Lily Geck and Xanthe Walker sailing their 125 into the lead.

In the Bic Techno class Lara O’Brien cleaned up with three firsts, as did Tom Grimes and Chelsea Williams in the Flying 11s and Ben Millar and Caleb Holland in the Pacers.

In the Laser classes Hamish Wiltshire leads the 4.7’s while Cullen Le Roy from South Island of New Zealand enjoys both the lead in the Radials and the warm weather.

Three firsts were awarded to George Morton in the O’Pen Bic’s on the Charlie course.

Ezra Prichard demonstrated true talent against strong competition from 26 other participants in the Sabot class.
The biggest fleet in the regatta is the Optimist Open fleet with 69 entries and is led by Hugo Llewelyn from Sorrento in Victoria.

The forecast for day two suggests that the winds may lighten with the weather proving to further brighten up the regatta and ensuring that the Opti Green Fleet will be ready to set sail into the first race of the 2013 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Youth Week Regatta.

For full results and further information head to QLD Youth Week