Youth and Open classes enjoyed the best of Sail Sydney 2018, with three days of sunshine and nor’easters building each afternoon on Sydney Harbour. The regatta has kicked off a busy Australian summer of sailing, from Sabots and skiffs to supermaxis prepping for the Sydney Hobart race which is fast approaching.
Olympic class sailors finished up their series on Friday, and today youth and open classes took to the water for the closing day of competition producing plenty of smiles and great action on an already busy waterway.
Final results
Optimist Green fleet sailors at the beginning of their sailing journey enjoyed gentle sea-breezes in Rose Bay, where the RS:X and Bic Techno boards also had a slow start in the first session’s 10-12 knots. By the afternoon session the main harbour was experiencing 16-18 knots gusting over 20 and the spray was flying in the Nacra 15 and 29er classes in particular, requiring handy teamwork and balance to keep the boats upright.
Winning 29er skiff team of Archie Cropley and his crew Max Paul recorded five bullets from eight starts, a phenomenal display watched on by those trailing in the pair’s wake plus their supercoach Mike Fletcher who is working with the newly formed duo.
“The weather at this Sail Sydney has been awesome - three nor’easters - Sydney put on a great show,” said the grinning Cropley. “We came together at the beginning of this year and we’ve been training ever since. We are happy with how we are going.”
“We kept it together and it was a great event,” Paul added. “Arch makes the tactical decisions and sometimes he needs to cool me down a bit. We work well together.”
Zac West won the Laser 4.7 division straight off competing in the Laser Radial for the first three days of the six-day series, finishing eighth in that class. “I’m pretty exhausted coming off the Radial,” West admitted. “On Saturday it was gusting 30 knots and real choppy up at The Sound…it was so much fun, especially downwind, and I picked up three firsts. Today was pretty hands-on - a real good battle at the front.”
Most teenagers would collapse after six days straight of any sport - longer than a cricket test match - but there is another regatta to get to. West is leaving tonight with his boat and driving south for Sail Melbourne, to be hosted by Royal Brighton Yacht Club from December 12-16.
International 420 teammates Bridget Conrad and Gretel Payne found Sunday’s lighter breeze more manageable, after two heavy-air days at what is their second regatta together. Conrad lives in Gosford and travels by train every weekend for training. On Sail Sydney she said, “The first two days were really windy and we had a few capsizes whereas today was a lot lighter and we gained some spots.” They’ll joint the exodus south of 4WDs towing boats as the sailing community heads to Melbourne.
Sail Sydney is an annual Australian Sailing run series that was first established in 1994 to serve as a training regatta for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In 2018 the event hosted by Woollahra Sailing Club with the cooperation of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Middle Harbour Yacht Club and Drummoyne Sailing Club drew 286 competitors representing 12 countries.
Australian Sailing thanks PRO Kevin Wilson, the jury and the many on-water volunteers plus event partners Lejen Marine, Zhik, Nautilus Marine and Maui Jim.
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