Otago sailors off to 29er Worlds, Buenos Aires

by 29er Assoc on 19 Dec 2006

Mike Thomson and Rhys O’Cain, two of Dunedin’s young sailors are off to Buenos Aires in January 2007 to compete in the World 29er Championships and the preceding Argentinean National 29er Championships.

Both Mike and Rhys started their sailing careers on Otago harbour. Each had good success in both the Sunburst and Starling classes, both being Otago Match Racing Champions.

Mike and Rhys moved to Auckland to further their sailing careers. Mike spending three years as a sailmaker for Oracle BMW Racing’s Americas Cup campaign. Mike also sailed in Oracle BMW’s yacht and sail testing programme. Mike is currently sailing a 29er and Farr 3.7 yacht.

Rhys’ success with the 29er class has been 6th in the 2004 Australian 29er championships in Melbourne and 1st in the NZ National and the South Island championships in 2004. (There were no championships in 2005 and 2006). He also competed in the 2004 World Championships in Switzerland finishing 11th overall out of 85 competitors. Rhys is currently sailing a 29er, Young 88,Etchell 22 and is a member of an MRX match racing team.

Mike and Rhys believe they have the ability to finish higher than Rhys did in 2004.

To date Mike and Rhys unfortunately have not been able to raise any sponsorship and are meeting all the costs from their own funds.

The 2007 29er Championships are being run by Club Nautico, San Isidro on the River Plate, Buenos Aires, Argentina from January 18th to 28th. The South American 29er Championships will be held at the same venue and immediately preceding the World Championships.

The 2007 New Zealand 29er Championships are to be held in Dunedin in February. Mike and Rhys intend to compete in them.

The 29er is a high performance skiff yacht designed by Australian skiff legend Julian Bethwaite. Skiffs are yacht with narrow beam and large sail area that are fast and challenging to sail well. They are exciting to watch.

The 29er is considered to be a stepping class to its larger sister yacht the 49er, the Olympic Class Skiff or other high performance boats in the Olympic class progression.