International Cadet Worlds - Five Australians in top eight in Poland

by Peter Campbell and Marija Sasson on 30 Jul 2010 International Cadet World Championship being held at Puck in Poland currently has young Australian crews holding five of the top eight places with only three races left to sail.

After day four and nine races, the Polish champions Malecki Krzysztof and Michiewicz Mikolaj are still leading the 80-boat fleet, notching up their fifth win of the regatta in race nine.

After discarding their two worst races, the Polish boys are on 10 points, comfortably clear of Victorian brothers Anton and Julian Sasson from Sandringham Yacht Club on 26 points, who again sailed consistently well overnight with a sixth and a second.

Tasmanian siblings Alec and Samantha Bailey moved back to third overall on 50 points, with fellow Sandy Bay Sailing Club members, Ella Connor and Hannah Chadwick, dropping back from third to fifth, on 69 points.

The other Australians in the top eight are Isabella Say and Ben Brill from Sandringham Yacht Club in sixth place on 87 points and Ian Lee and Alex Brzoska eighth on 94 points. The Australians have put in by far the outstanding team effort to date.

After enjoying a lay day, the Australian team woke with the hope that the forecast of strong wind would eventuate. And it did, right up until we all got to the yacht club! Once again, it was grey, drizzly and cold and the wind was falling off quite a lot.

Race 8 started on time with a clear start in the seven knots westerly wind. At the top mark Ian Lee and Alex Brzoska rounded the mark in third position behind a Dutch crew and a Hungarian crew. Isabella Say and Ben Brill were next in 17th, followed by the remaining five crews in the 30s and 40s. There was work to be done now.

At the next top mark rounding, Ian and Alex were in fifth position, with Anton and Julian Sasson having a blinder of an upwind leg where they banged the right side and came up in 14th position. Isabella and Ben were right behind them in 16th.

At the finish, there was a big cheer for the Dutch crew of Joris Waller and Alexander Braat who had an emphatic win. The Polish crew of Krzysztof Malecki and Mikolaj Mickiewicz placed second, but more importantly for the Aussie contingent, Ian Lee and Alex Brzoska moved back up into fourth position. Alec and Samantha Bailey, with a great comeback, finished 20th, but the others were mid-fleet.

Race nine also started on the first attempt, with the wind around six knots, but building to about 10 knots during the race. At the top mark, the Sasson boys came around in first position, with Jackie Stokes and Katie Mullins from Adelaide Sailing Club in third position! The Championship leader was right in between them.

At the top mark next time, the Polish crew pipped Anton and Julian as they rounded leaving them in second position, Jackie and Katie slipped to fifth, while Alec and Samantha moved up to sixth. At the finish, Anton and Julian held their second, with Jackie and Katie coming back to finish third. Alec and Samantha finished sixth, Ashleigh and Georgina in 11th, Ella and Hannah in 16th.

The third place was by far the best placing of the regatta by the South Australia girls, both of whom sailed as much younger crew members at the 2004 and 2005 Cadet worlds. It brought back memories of when they were both little crews at the Cadet Worlds in Adelaide and Spain back in 2004 and 2005 and together with their respective skippers Adam Evans and Todd Hughes, had some great races where they just finished one position from each other!

To watch these little crews grow up to one day compete in a world championship as skippers is pretty special and makes the International Cadet such a wonderful class!

After nine races, the provisional placings of the Australian team members are:

2nd AUS 5509 – Anton Sasson and Julian Sasson (Sandringham Yacht Club) 3-3-1-(13)-9-(21)-2-6-2
3rd AUS 9778 – Alec Bailey and Samantha Bailey (Sandy Bay Sailing Club) 5-11-2-3-(41)-(32)-3-20-2
5th AUS 9699 – Ella Connor and Hannah Chadwick (Sandy Bay Sailing Club) 2-9-15-10-(54)-13-4-(32)-16
6th AUS 9529 – Isabella Say and Ben Brill (Sandringham Yacht Club) 7-5-(41)-9-(30)-17-6-17-26
8th AUS 4109 - Ian Lee and Alex Brzoska (Royal Geelong Yacht Club) 10-7-26-26-6-(bfd)-15-4-28
22nd AUS 9530 – Jackie Stokes and Katie Mullins (Adelaide Sailing Club) (40)-(49)-25-16-23-15-14-37-3
32nd AUS 9747 – Ashleigh Dyer and Georgina Hughes (Port Lincoln Yacht Club) 18-(66)-42-(58)-51-12-11-30-11

In the Promotional Fleet, AUS 9280 – Alice and Grace Endersbee (Sandringham Yacht Club), had a 17th and an eighth today and are currently in 10th position.

For more information, please go to: www.cadetclass.org