Gold Medal Success continues for Australian team members

by Ian Grant on 28 Jun 2011 Queensland Academy of Sport sailing team members Alex Gough, Angus Galloway, Josh Franklin and Lewis Brake convincingly won Gold Medals at the International Kiel Week in Germany last weekend.

All four sailors along with female Radial Laser class skipper Ashley Stoddart who finished with the top of the class Youth award in Kiel completed an outstanding result for Australia before the team line up for the 2011 Volvo Wold Youth championship in Zadar Croatia from 7 July to 16 July.

In early June the 18 year old 420 sailors Gough and Galloway who race under the prestigious Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron burgee were the star performers winning the Sail Mooloolaba class championship with a perfect score.

Their result in Germany was a fitting reward for the teenage Australian 420 class dinghy champions after gear failure robbed them from winning a medal during the 2010 Volvo World Youth championship in Turkey.

The Australian’s known to race fast in the stronger wind range firmed a grip on a major medal winning three of the first six races.

They continued to revel in 18-20 knot winds but Gough and Galloway still had to apply a safe tactical strategy to finish with the Gold Medal ahead of the 177 boat fleet representing the World’s top sailing nations.

This result has left little doubt about their ability to successfully sail their dinghy in the fast lane when the breeze blows above 15 knots which has secured a top ranking to possibly become the first Australian male crew to win a 420 World Youth championship in Croatia when the final is decided of July 16th.

Mooloolaba’s Lisa Charlson and her Brisbane Girls Grammar School class mate Sarah Roberts-Thomson showed their class under the coaching of Adrian Finglas to win the 1998 ISAF World Youth series in Cape Town.

Meanwhile Australian team mates Josh Franklin (18) and his highly skilled 17 year old crew mate Lewis Brake have also emerged as a top medal prospect in the Youth World 29er class championship following their Gold Medal success at their first ever regatta in Europe.

They finished all eleven races in the top seven and firmed a positive step towards the medal dais when the cleverly outpaced their 82 rivals with wins in races three, four and five.

The race score of 4-2-5-7-6 wrapped up an impressive win for the young QAS sailors who proved their talent and ambition like Alex Gough and Andrew Galloway to have the potential of taking the next career step towards racing competitively in the Olympic 49er skiff and 470 dinghy classes.

Both Franklin and Brake expressed their skill to handle the stronger winds to record a comfortable Gold Medal result in the 29er class championship.