2019 Australian Sailing Youth Championships at Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania - Overall
by Peter Campbell 14 Jan 2019 05:54 EST
10-14 January 2019
The 29ers line up for their final race on the Derwent today - Day 4, Australian Sailing Youth Championships 2019 © Beau Outteridge
Tasmanian girls Alice Buchanan and Dervla Duggan are again off overseas to represent Australia in the 29er skiffs at the World Sailing Youth Championships 2019.
The two 17-year-olds from Sandy Bay Sailing Club today scored a runaway victory in the 29er girls division of the Australian Sailing Youth Championships, supported by the Australian Maritime College.
Emphasising their enhanced skills this summer in sailing the high-performance 29er, they swept home in the final race on Hobart's River Derwent to take fifth place, finishing 10th overall in a tough fleet of mainly boy crews.
Having already won the Australian 29er girls championship last week, they have been named in the provisional Australian team for the Youth Worlds in Gdynia, Poland in July this year. Last year they were in the Australian team at the Worlds in Texas, USA.
The provisional Australian team, announced at this evening's prizegiving dinner at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, host club for the Youth Nationals, comprises:
- Bic Techno Plus: Boys, Hamish Swain (Qld); Girls, Amelia Quinlan (NSW).
- 29er: Boys, Max Paul and Archie Cropley (NSW); Girls; Alice Buchanan and Dervla Duggan (Tas).
- 420: Boys, Ryan Littlechild and Jack Ferguson (NSW); Girls, Lucy and Matilda Richardson (Vic).
- Laser Radial: Boys, Zac Littlewood (WA); Girls, Paige Caldecoat (NSW).
- Nacra 15: Will Cooley and Bec Hancock (NSW).
Today's final races for the 29ers underlined the skills of young Tasmanian sailors with 13-year-old Oscar O'Donoghue and his 16-year-old crew Rupert Hamilton, also from Sandy Bay, winding up with a third and a win.
Fifth overall in the 32-boat fleet, they were only three points out of third overall with Australian champions Archie Cropley and Max Paul (NSW) the winners.
Cropley and Paul (NSW) won the 29ers from Lachlan Brewer and Flynn Twomey (NSW) and Campbell Stanton and William Shapland (NZL).
Of the other Tasmanians in the 29ers, Ethan Galbraith and Charles Zeeman finished the regatta with a 5-7 result for sixth overall, Charlie Goodfellow and Jacob McConaghy were eighth and Alice Buchanan and Dervla Duggan 10th.
In the Laser Radials, Tasmanian Will Sargent finished the regatta with a fifth place to be a creditable 10th overall, while Nick Smart (Tas) crossed ninth to finish 12th overall.
World Laser Radial champion Zac Littlewood (WA) won eight of the ten races, with second place went to Frazer Brew (Qld) and third to Otto Henry (NSW), an impressive effort in his first season in Radials.
Top girl in the Radials was Paige Caldecoat (NSW) who finished ninth overall.
The Nacra 15 catamarans sailed a long and hard series, with Australian champions Will Cooley and Bec Hancock fighting back to win with a 1-2 result today, beating Georgia Payne and Kai Colman (WA) by just one point.
The winner of the 420s was decided on a countback with first place going to New Zealanders Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan from Ryan Littlechild and Jack Ferguson (NSW).
However, the Australian boy's crew obviously ranked number one in the national team selection. The number one girl's crew were Victorian twin sisters Matilda and Lily Richardson who finished 11th overall.
The Bic Techno Plus sailboard fleet fought out a tough series with Hamish Swain (Qld) winning by two points from Grae Morris (NSW). The only girl in the fleet, Amelia Quinlan placed 10th overall.
Neither the Laser 4.7s or the Bic Techno 293 classes are part of the World Youth Championships, but both are significant stepping stones in youth sailing.
Daniel Costandi (NSW) won four of the 10 races for the 4.7 fleet to finish first boy, just four points ahead of the top girl, Kristen Wadley (Qld).
Only four points separated the first three athletes in the Bic Techno 293s, with Kai Morris Marns (WA) winning the series from Jude Smale (Vic) and Benjamin Waters (Qld).