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| WAIS Sailors Win Medals at Youth World Champs |
| 23 July 2012 |
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WAIS sailors have won medals in two classes at the youth
Sailing World Championships in Ireland over the weekend with Mark Spearman
taking gold in the laser radial and Carrie Smith and Ella Clark silver in the
420.
Spearman went into the final race 13 points behind
American sailor Mitchell Kiss, but with the Australian’s worst result a 17th
and the American’s a black flag Spearman’s plan was simple, make sure the
American finished as deep as possible.
Spearman was in command in the light conditions,
controlling his opponent and matching his every move, ensuring that they both
finished at the back of the fleet but the Australian with the gold medal.
"My worse race was 17th so I was always going out to do what
I did,” said Spearman. "We stayed on a knock for ages and when we tacked back
we were last and second last.
"It was an unbelievable finish to the regatta that is yet
to sink in,” he said. "Amongst such a high scoring regatta I have held
consistent results that allowed me to use extreme tactics to take the title, I
think I’m the happiest person ever to finish 51st in a race.”
Spearman showed that consistency pays on his way to gold at
his first ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship appearance with the West
Australian’s best finishing during the week a sixth, while managing to avoid
the high scores picked up by those around him.
Australia’s 420 girls crew of Carrie Smith and Ella Clark
started the final race one point behind the leading Italian pair. The Italians had the better race, crossing the line fourth
with the Australians 10th, with the two securing gold and silver respectively.
"Again we had really tricky conditions today,” said
Clark. "We came back from a bad first beat to secure our second in the regatta
overall making us really grateful for how hard we have worked.
"We stayed consistent the whole regatta to end up
with a podium finish,” she said. "We hope to come back next year in our last
year of youths and do Australia proud again!"
The silver medal was a great reward for the pair after a
year of hard work following their fourth place finish at the 2011 ISAF Youth
World Championship in Croatia.
- Yachting Australia
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