Australians in action at Laser/Nacra17 Worlds and 49er/FX Europeans

by Cora Zillich on 9 Jul 2015 World number one Tom Burton (NSW) has won the bronze medal at the Laser Standard Men’s World Championship in Kingston, Canada, overnight (Wednesday, 8th July).

Burton went into the final race day ranked second, but did not have the best final day posting a 16th and 11th and 23rd to finish on the podium in third. World number two Matt Wearn (WA) moved up from eighth to finish the event in fifth.

Three races were completed on the final day of the 2015 Kingston Laser Standard World Championship in winds of six - ten knots from the North East, for a total of six races in the final series and a total of thirteen races throughout the regatta.

Tom Burton had an average start to the event, but caught up on the second day and steadily moved up the results ladder throughout the week. But when two race days at this Championship were lost due the lack of wind the number of races to gain points were limited.

“It’s been a tough week. I ended on a bit of a sour note with some mistakes on the final day, which cost me the silver medal. I made a few less mistakes than others, but a few too many to be in there with a chance of winning at the end of the day. I’m happy to come away with another podium finish at the worlds though,” Burton said at the conclusion of the regatta.

“Overall I sailed consistently all week with some ups and downs. At times, I was quite happy with the way I sailed, but I didn't make the most of the good luck that came my way. Plus I had some tough times out there with me at the back of the fleet.”

Burton and Wearn form part of the strong Australian Laser squad, which was represented with six boats at Kingston, underlying the current strength of the Australian Laser program coached by Olympic bronze medallist Michael Blackburn assisted by former Australian Sailing Team athlete Ashley Brunning.

All six Australian boats at the Laser Standard World Championship qualified for the top 53-boat gold fleet with Ryan Palk (QLD) finishing the event in eleventh after a strong last day including a second and fifth place. Mitchell Kennedy (QLD) ended the regatta in 25th, Luke Elliott (WA) in 41st and Jeremy O’Connell (VIC) in 51st.

Both Tom Burton and Matt Wearn will head to the 2016 Olympic sailing venue in Rio next for training and both are vying for the Australian spot at next year’s Rio Olympic Games, with ISAF regulations permitting countries only one entrant per nation. In the first instance, it will be up to the selectors to decide who will get the spot for the Rio Test event in August with the team to be announced on 15th July.

Tom Burton has been ranked first on the ISAF World rankings since September 2014 and previously was the reigning World from September 2012 to April 2014. He won the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Hyeres, France in April this year, and the ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne, Australia in December 2014. At the most recent World Cup in Weymouth and Portland he finished sixth.

19-year old Matthew Wearn is the youngest Australian Sailing Team athlete and moved into World number two following his silver medal at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland. He also won the ISAF Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik this year as well as a bronze medal at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami in January and silver behind Tom Burton in Melbourne in December.


Nacra 17 World Championship

Elsewhere, the Nacra 17 World Championship had their third race day in Aarhus, Denmark and the first day of final series.

It was a long waiting day with the fleet going out in the morning but being sent back in after too much wind and with gusts up to 38knts and heavy rain during the day postponing racing until the evening. Racing finally got underway at seven o’clock in the evening with three races being completed.

After a challenging day two dropped them into fifth, Australian Sailing Team’s current World number one Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) posted consistent results on day three to climb up into second overall.

“Consistency paid off today and we are happy to move up to second leading into the last day of fleet racing. I'll have to put in my overtime for getting off the water at 10 p.m. though,” Lisa Darmanin laughed.

Darren Bundock (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) sit in 16th (12, 29, 17 today) while Australian Sailing Squad’s Euan McNicol (NSW) and Lucinda Whitty (NSW) dropped from sixth into 20th (22, 34DNF, 12 today). Silver Fleet racing was cancelled.

Thursday’s weather forecast reports worse conditions than Wednesday with Gold fleet racing scheduled for the afternoon local time.

The Nacra 17 World Championship runs from 5-10 July with another two days of final races plus the top-ten medal race on Friday, 10 July.

49er European Champs

In Porto, Portugal the 49er Sailing Open European Champs started on Tuesday with the 79-boat fleet split into three qualifying divisions for the first three days of competition. Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen kicked-off the event in fifth after day one and had another strong day two, posting a second and two fourth places in the three races to move into overall third.



David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (VIC) follow in 17th (five, five, fifteen) and Queenslanders Joel Turner and Lewis Brake jump up from 57th into 38th after winning the last race of the day (seven, eighteen, one). Australian Sailing Squad’s Will Phillips and James Wierzbowski are ranked 62nd (21, 18, 13).

The 49erFX had their final day of qualifying in the 39-boat fleet with Haylee Outteridge (NSW) and Caitlin Elks (WA) finishing the series in 24th and moving into the Silver fleet final series.

Haylee Outteridge has this week paired up with her training partner Caitlin Elks, stepping in at the last minute for Tess Lloyd who is back in Australia recovering from a broken foot sustained in the recent Weymouth ISAF World Cup Event.

Thursday sees the FX fleet begin their Gold and Silver fleet finals, and it’s the end of qualifying for the 49er men. With a forecast of softer breeze, it will be a different challenge from Wednesday’s brutal contest when a big breeze and two-metre Atlantic swell delivered some challenging conditions.

The 49er schedule is Qualifying July 7-9, Gold Fleet 10-12 and medal race on 12th.

It is a busy time for the Australian Sailing Team with this series of Class Championships taking place around the world which will be taken into account for the selecting the Australian team to contest the 2015 Rio Test event. The team will be announced on 15 July 2015.



Results of Australia Sailing at the Laser Standard Men’s World Championship
(2 – 8 July 2015) as of 4 July 2015:

Men's One Person Dinghy – Laser

- Tom Burton (NSW) – AST: 19, 4, 2, 2, 1, 11, 10, 15, (27), 2, 16, 11, 23 – third
- Matthew Wearn (WA/WAIS) – AST: 1, 1, (21), 12, 2, 17, 20, (24), 9, 11, 9, 14, 10 – fifth
- Ryan Palk (QLD/QAS) – ASS: 8, 11, 29, 32, 3, (36), 26, 4, 5, 8, 17, 2, 5 – 11th
- Mitchell Kennedy (QLD/QAS) – ASS: 16, 6, 7, 8, 13, 23, 10, 26, (33), 9, 33, 20 (41) – 25th
- Luke Elliott (WA/WAIS) – ASS: 3, 19, 45, 32, 16, 29, 5, (54 DNC), 13, 28, 39, 38 – 41st

Other Australian crews: Jeremy O’Connell (VIC/VIS): 12, 10, 33, 14, 23, 16, (40), (54 BFD), 41, 18, 34, 46, 37 – 51st

Australian Sailing at the Nacra 17 World Championship
(5-10 July 2015) – as of 8 July

Mixed Multihull – Nacra17

- Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) – AST: 1, 3, (22), 5, 7, 6, 3, 8 – second
- Darren Bundock (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) – AST: 4, 8, 6, 12, 5, 12, (29), 17 – 16th
- Euan McNicol (NSW) and Lucinda Whitty (NSW) – ASS: 9, 6, 6, 4, 1, 22 (34DNF), 12 – 20th
- Paul Darmanin (NSW) and Lucy Copeland (NSW) – ASS/Youth Bridging: 21, 16, 25, 14, 23 – 40th

Australian Sailing at the 49er/FX Open European Championships
(6-12 July 2015) – as of 8 July

Men’s Skiff – 49er

- Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) – AST: 3, (15), 2, 3, 2, 4, 4 – third
- David Gilmour (WA/WAIS) and Rhys Mara (VIC/VIS) – AST: 10, 1, 22, 5, 5, 5, 15 – 17th
- Joel Turner (AST – QLD/QAS) and Lewis Brake (ASS – QLD/QAS) – ASS: 14, (19), 18, 15, 7, 18, 1 – 38th
- Will Phillips (VIC/VIS) and James Wierzbowski (VIC/VIS) – ASS: 22, 24, 20, 10, 21, 18, 13 – 62nd

Women's Skiff – 49erFX

- Haylee Outteridge (NSW) and Caitlin Elks (WA/WAIS) – ASS: (16), 9, 11, 14, 6, (UFD21), 9, 9, 6 – 24th