Excellent Olympic Season Openers for GP Watercraft
by Isaac Marsh 15 Jul 2025 04:00 PDT
GP Watercraft's Shaun Priestley coaching © GP Watercraft
The first two Olympic events of 2025 proved a very positive start to the season for GP Watercraft and their Bermudan ILCA sailors: Sebastian Kempe (ILCA 7) and Adriana Penruddocke (ILCA 6) who are both coached by Shaun Priestley of GP Watercraft.
Princess Sofia Olympic all-classes Regatta
The season opened with the prestigious 54th Princess Sofia Olympic all-classes Regatta in Palma de Mallorca at the end of March. The conditions were sunny and challenging with brisk offshore breezes, big wind shifts and gusts, providing good experience for the sailors who achieved excellent performances against the world’s best.
Both Seb and Adriana cruised through the first four qualifying races to compete in the final six gold fleet races. Seb achieved a highest position of 5th in qualifying and 7th in the gold fleet, while Adriana achieved a best individual position of 7th in qualifying. She finished comfortably within the top half the fleet (53rd out of 114), and Seb secured a top 50 place, finishing 44th out of 174 overall.
French Olympic Week
The French Olympic Week followed on 19-26 April with the Bermudan sailors both having their best regatta so far on the Olympic circuit. A combination of Mistral, gradient and thermal winds made the course area in the Bay of Hyeres really tricky to predict.
Seb finished 15th overall, with a 1st and 2nd place in qualifying and just missing out on the medal race.
Adrianna also had a great solid and consistent performance finishing 26th overall. She achieved a 4th place in qualifying, having led the race for the first two legs.
Wrapping Up a Busy Spring: ILCA 6 & 7 World Championships
Adriana and Seb capped off a demanding spring season by competing at the ILCA 6 & 7 World Championships. The event was marked by exceptionally tough conditions, with the first four days seeing no racing due to light winds and unstable weather.
Fortunately, two days of high-quality racing followed. Adriana (AP) delivered a standout performance, securing multiple top-10 finishes and ending the event in 33rd place overall—her best result at a world championship to date.
Shaun Priestly provided valuable support to both AP and Seb sailing for Bermuda and also assisted the British ILCA 7 team, with three of their sailors finishing in the top 10.
Youth Training
In addition, GP Watercraft’s Head Coach, Rory Wilson has been coaching sailors at the ILCA 6 Youth European Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal. GP Watercraft also supported the combined regional training for the ILCA class at Draycote Water Sailing Club and ran Topper training at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
For more information about performance sailing coaching and consultancy, go to www.gpwatercraft.co.uk