SYC sailors impressive results in Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne

by Bronwen Hemmings on 15 Dec 2014 Based at Woollahra Sailing Club on Sydney Harbour, Sail Sydney conducted six days of Olympic class sail racing. Southport Yacht Club was represented by nine (9) of our best High Performance sailors.

In the 49er class, Past Junior Commodore Joel Turner and crew member Lewis Brake competed to finish First overall. Another podium finisher of the dinghy fleet was Max Quan competing in his Laser 4.7 Mad Max, finishing an overall third.

In the 29ers, Kyle O’Connell and crew Tom Siganto, competed in a division of 20 to finish fourth , SYC sailor Claire McInally and crew Owen Long finished 17th.

Within the 420’s fleet, Tom Cunich and crew James Hodgson finished fifth overall, and in the Optimist Intermediate fleet of 47 competitors, Charlie Piacum sailed Sea hawk, placing 13th overall.

The Optimist Open division, had the largest fleet of SYC sailors with the following results, Asheligh Swadling sailing Sea Biscuit, placing 15th, Riley Cameron sailing Eyrofoil, placed 25th, Blake Wilson sailing Bougainvillea Main Beach placing 28th, and Tom Wright in Toms Rockitt placing 45th.

Nine Southport Yacht Club (SYC) Sailors travelled to Melbourne’s Port Philip Bay to compete in the ISAF Sailing World Cup and Sail Melbourne, conducted from seventh to 14th December, Sail Melbourne is a premier event for Olympic class sailing in the Southern Hemisphere.

Competing against 14 others, SYC Member Joel Turner and crew Lewis Brake finished the regatta in a very impressive Second place, only to finish behind Olympic Gold Medallist and Current World Champion Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen.

High performance SYC Sailing Members, Kyle O’Connell and Tom Siganto sailing their 29er Ooosh into second place, only behind the current world champion Kurt Hansen and Jim Colley. SYC Junior Sailor Claire McInally and crew Tom Trotman sailing Fruit Loops also finishing 14th from 19th competitors in the same division.

In the 420’s class, SYC’s sailor Tom Cunich and crew James Hodgson represented Southport Yacht Club on-board Rockstar, finishing in fifth place.

Again, Optimist was the biggest fleet represented by Southport Yacht Club dingy sailors, with Ashleigh Swadling finishing 21st and Blake Wilson 43rd within the Golf Fleet, while Cameron Riley finished an impressive 11th in the Silver Fleet.

Within the 4.7 Laser fleet, SYC was represented by James Woodhouse, sailing No Name. James finished in 17th place with 44 other competitors.

A big congratulations to all competitors in both Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne, and good luck to many of our sailors who now head to Perth to represent Southport Yacht club at the Youth Nationals in early January.