Showery grey skies and light winds greeted competitors for day one of the 2019 NSW Youth Championships but that didn’t stop lots of on water action. 

David Harris MP for Wyong made the trip out to see all the competitors take to the water “I am pleased to open the NSW Australian Youth Sailing Championship at Point Wolstoncroft today, with 350+ young sailors set to compete over this long weekend”.

Despite the overcast conditions talent shone through across all classes on day one:

In the Nacra it was a very tight battle for the top spot with Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown finishing just 1 point ahead of Sarah Hoffman and Tom Dawson.

In the 420’s the powerhouse combination of James Jackson / Lachie Caldwell hold the top spot with Daniel Links / Jack Ferguson hot on their heels.

In the flying 11, New South Wales crews dominated on day one holding the top 3 spots in the pack with Tyler Dransfield and Pearl Twomey, Jamie Stodart and Ash Napper, Darby Jones and Luke Sullivan. 

Queenslander talent took a few top spots with Hamish Swain taking out top finisher in the Techno Plus, in the 29ers Maxwell Yoshida and Brayden Daunt took the lead whilst in the Laser 4.7 with Hugo Ralph and Talia Bulstrode also dominated. 

In the Laser Radial top spots were secured by New South Wales Otto Henry followed closely by Western Australia’s Steffen Elliott-Shircore.

In the Optimists it was the Victorians that have taken to the top of the leader board in the Intermediate with Henri Levenspiel and in the Open with Riley Cantwell.

Former Olympian and Head of State Coaching Victoria Carrie Smith summaries the day. “Day one had an amazing turnout across classes with lots of new talent and lots of transitioning athletes from the juniors which is great to see. I got to see three races today on the bravo course which included Optimists, 420’s and Techno Classes. It was good racing, the morning started with a postponement to begin with but ended up with light south east breezes 6 – 8 knot.  Close racing on bravo course with multiple lead changes in the later stages of the races. Tomorrow we are looking at north east breezes, middle strength increasing in the afternoon which should provide some very good racing.

Follow all of the NSW Youth Championship action online at www.sailingyouth.org.au and via the socials for the latest interviews, images, videos and racing updates @AustSailYouth on Facebook and Instagram

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Australian Sailing team & Olympic athlete Lisa Darmanin will be attending the NSW Youth Championships tomorrow to lead a clean-up event before racing at 8:30am – please meet at the Regatta Office. We encourage all participants to put on their sailing gloves and join in our clean up. Lisa is excited to be visiting the NSW Youth Championships “We hope that everyone attending can roll up their sleeves to help ensure that we leave Point Wolstoncroft cleaner than when we arrived” says Lisa.

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Website | www.sailingyouth.org.au