NSW Youth Championship at South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club

NSW Youth Championship at South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club - Overall

by Stephen Collopy 2 Oct 2018 17:55 AEST 28-30 September 2018

Flying 11s lining up for a start - 2018 NSW Youth Championship © Beau Outteridge

The 2018 NSW Youth Championship presented by Lake Macquarie City Council finished day three with some of the "closest racing this event has ever seen."

After a slow start to the morning waiting for the breeze to fill in racing got underway in a building north to north-east sea breeze peaking at around 15 knots. Laser Radial winner, Zac West commented on the quality of racing at the event in particular on the last day of racing.

Laser Radial winners LtoR Stefan Elliott Shircore, Frazer Brew, Paige - 2018 NSW Youth Championship - photo © Beau Outteridge

"The racing was so close and coming into the last day I think there was only four or five points between us, I had to step up my game because this is like a nationals for us since everyone's here." Said West

The racing couldn't have been closer for the tight-knit crew of Nacra 15 sailors. The foiling catamarans came into the event with their national fleet and the competitiveness fuelled by the ongoing banter made for a "good" event according to Ashleigh Swadling and Nathan Bryant.

"There's definitely a lot of banter and it's good, this is our nationals fleet so it's good to know what everyone's going to bring. We're all at the same level and the difference between coming first or fifth can be one or two bad tacks." Said Swadling

Nacra15s cruising on one hull during the lighter morning breeze - 2018 NSW Youth Championship - photo © Beau Outteridge

The comradery within The Nacra 15 sailors seems to be so close that traditional rival States have teamed up. The mix of Swadling, a Queenslander and Bryant, a New South Welshman worked since they finished a close second and as Ashleigh jokingly explains it just "happened to work out well."

"Nathan messaged me and asked if I wanted to sail with him, so I picked up the phone and took the opportunity and worked out well." Said Swadling.

The Nacra 15s to their credit took time off racing to take out all the younger sailors out on the water experience what Nacra sailing is all about.

"We took a whole bunch of opti (optimist) kids out yesterday and they all loved it and with Nacras being new coupled with good competition I think the fleet with only get better." Said Bryant.

Optimist Open fleet winner, Daniel Links had an extraordinary regatta clocking up five wins from seven races. Links also missed racing on day one as he had a school trumpet exam.

"I sailed pretty good, I didn't sail the first day because I had a trumpet exam so I because those were my two drops I needed to sail well today." Said Links.

Coming off a great Optimist World Championship in Cyprus three weeks earlier Links used his experience from the event to his advantage to beat 81 other boats to claim the top spot.

Mornington twins, Matilda and Lily Richardson racing in their 420 It's a Twin Thing came back from time off the water to travel up to Lake Macquarie to work on their sailing in the "challenging" conditions.

"We've had some time out of the boat due to injury, so we wanted to come here and work on some processes, so it was pretty challenging conditions to stay consistent against the boys." Said Richardson

Growing up sailing on their home waters of Port Philip Bay the team were well prepared to take on the range of conditions over the event with only one point separating them from a podium finish.

Aerial shot of the Bic Technos taking full advantage of the lighter wind - 2018 NSW Youth Championship - photo © Beau Outteridge

Overall, the event produced variable but exciting conditions to the 430 competitors. The NSW Youth Championships drew competitors from all across the country and for many it was the big event to kick off their domestic national and state championship campaigns.

At the presentation competitors were treated by a visit from local sailor and Australian Sailing Squad member, Halyee Outteridge who kindly took time out her busy schedule to present medals to class winners.

Special mention to all the volunteers on water and off water who worked quickly to ensure that all the sailors made it safely to shore when a 30knot southerly squall hit the lake on the first day of racing. On top of that over 130 volunteers assisted with the logistics, planning and the race management of the event. They were nothing short of a well-oiled machine getting the job done.

Thanks to Lake Macquarie City Council for being a major supporter of the event.

With the NSW Youth Championships finishing for 2018 we now look towards the Australian Youth Championships being held at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania from 10 January to the 14 January 2019.

For all the results click here.