Youth World Title for WA Sailor Featherstone

WA sailor Rome Featherstone has won a Youth World Sailing gold medal with his partner Otto Henry at the World titles in China.

In a strong result for the Australian Youth Team, the duo’s come from behind win in the 420 class was further embossed by a silver medal claimed by WA’s sibling pair of Shannon and Jayden Dalton who took second place in the Nacra 15.

WAIS sailing coach Belinda Stowell, who was a member of the Australian coaching set up in China, said the results were deserved reward for effort for the team members and coaching staff.

“We had top 10 finishes and three medals, including a gold for the 420 boys, which is a wonderful result and augurs well for the future of Australian Sailing. We’ve got a great team of coaches and sailors, who have really shown true Aussie spirit,” Stowell said.

Henry, from NSW, and Featherstone, from Western Australia, were second overall heading into the final race but held their nerve to come third in the last showdown, while the leaders, Americans Thomas Rice and Trevor Bornath, sailed a discarded 11th, enabling the Australians to leapfrog them and finish six net points clear at the head of the 26-boat fleet.

Mixed-multihull Nacra 17 sailors, the Dalton siblings, from WA, were poised on the penultimate day to take the gold medal but managed an eighth in the last race and were joined on 57 net points by Swiss duo Max Wallenberg and Amanda Bjork-Anastassov, whose superior total points score earned them victory.

There was also further strong results for WA sailors in the laser radial class, with Elyse Ainsworth taking seventh place in the girls’ fleet and Caelin Winchcombe taking ninth in the boys’.