Kiel Week Title for Gilmour

David Gilmour has taken victory in the 49er class at the Kiel Week regatta in Germany.

Sailing with crew Joel Turner, the Australian duo entered the medal round race with an unassailable lead, established courtesy of a highly consistent campaign, in which they were routinely towards the front of the fleet.

With partnership between the pair still in its infancy, Gilmour said the result was an encouraging sign as they look to build towards their next major competition.

“It’s a pretty nice feeling going into the medal race unable to be overtaken and it gave us a bit more practice for the Europeans here next month,” Gilmour said from Kiel. “As this was Joel and my first international regatta we are pleased to know we’re on the right track.

“The competition here has been pretty good, as this is our first international event of the quad there are a lot of new faces, but still the top 15 guys have been around for a while and maybe 5 or 6 top teams are missing who will be at the Europeans.”

Kiel Week was a busy regatta for WA’s elite sailors, with results also fetched from men’s and women’s 470 racing.

Olympian Carrie Smith and her crew Jaime Ryan finished just shy of the medal dais in fourth place, with victory taken by a local German crew.

The Aussie pair had been firmly in the hunt for a podium finish over the course of fleet racing, but a costly medal round performance – finishing in eighth place – saw them relegated to fourth position overall.

An excellent campaign from young WA sailors Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries saw the pair qualify for the medal round and finish fifth overall.

In the men’s 470, WA’s Chris Charlwood and his crew Josh Dawson recorded an eighth place finish showing plenty of promise, including a fourth place effort in the medal round.