Laser 4.7 Youth World Championship - Tasmanian sailors to contest

by Peter Campbell on 28 Mar 2012 Laser 4.7 International Youth World Championship gets underway this weekend in Argentina, Buenos Aires. Young Tasmanian sailors Anna Vaughan and Madeline Salter are among 116 sailors contesting the championships this coming Saturday, 31 March.

A team of eleven teenage sailors from Australia is competing against competitors from around the world, many with the potential to become future Olympians in the senior Laser single-handed classes, the Standard rig (male) and Radial (female).

Madeline, Anna and her father, Michael Vaughan, a keen Laser Radial class sailor with the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania in Hobart, had been in Buenos Aires for six days with four days to go until the start of the 2012 Laser 4.7 Youth World Championship.

'Anna and Maddie were among the first sailors on the water,' Michael Vaughan reported yesterday. 'They are training with the Argentinean coach of the Australian team, Francisco Cosentino. Francisco is no stranger to Australian sailors, having coached Alec and Sam Bailey to their third place in the International Cadet World Championship in Buenos Aires two years ago.

'The breeze was initially light, but the last two days has provided winds that have been testing for the gear, but not for the young Tasmanian sailors! They are in fine form and looking forward to the upcoming regatta.

'Gentle breezes are forecast for the next few days leading up to the Worlds. The last of the Australian team arrives during the next two days.'

Other Australians contesting the Laser 4.7 youth world championships are Elyse Ainsworth, Jacinta Ainsworth, Shane Conly, Lachlan Gilham, Benjamin Hartnet, Harry Morton, Anna Philip and Cassandra Schlimbach.

The host nation, Argentina, has the biggest contingent, but there are strong entries from other South American countries and large representation from European nations, Entries are also listed from China, Japan and Singapore, Turkey and the Event microsite