International Cadet World Championship - Australian crew fourth

by Peter Campbell on 4 Aug 2013 At the 2013 International Cadet world championships, Royal Geelong Yacht Club crew, Darcy Branowski and Dominic Randall, have finished the closest of fourths overall.The event ended at Niewpoort, Belgium, on Saturday night, Australian time.

Despite winning the last race, the Australia missed taking third overall on a countback. They finished the 12 race regatta with a 41st place, then a second and a win on the final day.

In an impressive performance the finished seven times in the top six places in the closely fought regatta.

The Australian team had a fine victory in the Promotional Regatta sailed in conjunction with the worlds, with Thomas and Sophie Alexander, also from Geelong, scoring an outstanding win which included seven wins, two seconds and a third.

The 2013 championship went to a crew from the Ukraine repeating that country’s win in the 2012 championship sailed in Hobart.

The winners, Igor Lvov and Vladislav (UKR), scored a hard-fought win from Arran Holman and Lucie Offord (GBR), third place going to the all-girl crew of Nastassia Kryutsova and Veranika Melnichdnak (BLR) on a countback from the Australian boys. Both crews finished on 84 points, but the girls had two wins to one by the Aussies.

Five of the seven Australian crews finished in the top 20 in the 67 boat fleet with Tasmanians Sam Tiedemann and Hugo Allison from Sandy Bay Sailing Club placing 10th overall. Their placings included a second, two fourths and a final race seventh.

Fellow Sandy Bay sailors Sam Abel and William Cooper won the second last race of the regatta to finish 15th overall, while in 17th place overall came Liam Robinson and Nathan Field from RGYC with fellow club members Emily Goodfellow and Emma Kelly 20th overall.

In 21st place overall was another SBSC crew, Sam Bailey and Laura Cooper, while Oliver Burnell and Isabella de Clerk finished 27th, their last race fifth their top placing.