Spithill family prominent in World rankings

by Di Pearson on 27 Jun 2004 Looking at the recent World Match Rankings, there are a number of interesting facts.

All three Australian Spithill siblings are on the match ranking file – James at No. 2, younger sister Katie is No. 12 in the Womens (her best ranking was No. 10 in 2003) and younger brother Tom, still at school is there in the Open rankings at 152.

Now a mere 40 points behind the current leader, Poland’s Karol Jablonski, James Spithill, now 24 years old, and his crew, are the only team up in a top place who have sailed in the last two America’s Cup’s now involved full time with the next one.

It is extremely difficult to both match race and contest the America’s Cup, as you need to rack up eight good events over a two year period, which makes the achievement even more significant.

‘I think Gilly (Peter Gilmour) is the real mover and shaker out there though; he is up to No.12 in the rankings - with only five events!

This has got to be some sort of record, and I predict he himself will soon be pecking at the top berth, as he feeds some more good results into the computer. What an amazing career he has had and is still having,’ says the Spithill’s father, Arthur.

Of his own offspring, Arthur says, ‘I am pleasantly surprised; we never expected all three to follow the same path and couldn't be happier about it. The sport and the sailing community have been very good to this family.’

Over the next month, James will be racing in Trieste, Katie in Sweden and young Tom in the USA at the Governors Cup, prompting Arthur to comment, ‘the internet makes it possible for us to follow the action so there's never a dull moment here at home.’

Katie’s next event is the Lysekil Womens Match, the new major Womens match racing event to be sailed on August 3-8 in Sweden this year. With 40,000 euro in prize-money, the Lysekil Womens Match, organised by the Yacht Club Lysekils SS Gullmar, will feature the worlds best women match racers internationally.

With invitations recently sent out by the organisers, the names read like the who’s who of sailing. Included in the lineup are France's Claire Leroy, Marie Faure and Christine Briand, the USA’s Betsy Alison, Dawn Riley and Elizabeth Kratzig and Denmark’s Nina Braestrup and Lotte Meldgaard-Pedersen, Holland’s Klaartje Zuiderbaan, along with Sweden’s Malin Källström and Marie Björling.