WA Sailors Complete 470 World Champs

WA’s 470 class sailors have completed the 2017 World Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Two young crews led the way, with newly formed men’s partnership Chris Charlwood and Joshua Dawson (NSW) and women’s combination Nia Jerwood sailing with Monique De Vries posting some impressive results.

In the men’s competition there was gold medal success for the Australian pairing of Mat Belcher and Will Ryan. It was the fourth world title for the duo and seventh overall for Belcher.

Charlwood and Dawson finished their campaign in 19^thposition, slipping from medal race contention towards the backend of the week, but not before giving a highly commendable account of their future potential.

Their championship was highlighted by four top ten finishes across gold fleet racing.

In the women’s fleet, 19 year-old skipper Nia Jerwood, sailing with 22 year-old Monique De Vries enjoyed a highly competitive week of racing, narrowly missing the medal round in 13^th position overall.

The girls returned five top ten finishes, with a best effort of fourth in a campaign that saw them finish highest ranked of the four competing Australian crews.

Olympian Carrie Smith and her crew Jaime Ryan overcame a difficult preparation to record a 22^nd place finish in gold fleet.

Post Worlds, the 470 race schedule lessens for short period of time, before the next competition gets underway in Enoshima, Japan which will provide athletes with a glimpse at the venue set to host 2020 Olympic Games.