Third Place for Thomas and Brownie at National Championships
WAIS sailing athletes have produced some impressive results at the Australian 49er class Championships on Lake Macquarie.
WAIS athletes Steven Thomas and Nick Brownie sailed well to finish third overall behind the Australian Sailing Team’s 49er crew of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen who continued their winning ways, with a second Australian 49er Championship on Wednesday.
Outteridge and Jensen’s win continues their extraordinary run, now sitting at 10 wins from 11 regattas since teaming up together in early 2009.
Hosted by Wangi RSL Amateur Sailing Club, competitors in the 2010 Australian 49er Championship faced a mixture of conditions across the four days with close racing throughout the 16 boat fleet.
“The conditions we very difficult for the entire week” said Outteridge. “On the first day it was really fresh and we managed to pick up two race wins before the race committee sent us ashore as the wind was up over 25 knots.”
“From then on the conditions really changed with only five to 10 knots and it was a challenge for all the crews as the breeze was shifting around all over the place.”
“There were some races where we were leading with just 50 metres to the finish before getting caught in a hole and being swamped by a couple of boats right on the line,” he said. “The light winds really evened things out and made for some incredibly close racing throughout the fleet.”
Outteridge and Jensen were in a close battle across all four days with New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke with the two crews neck and neck for most of the regatta until the Australian’s pulled ahead on the last day with three wins from four races.
The Australian Sailing Development Squad’s Steve Thomas and crew Nick Brownie were also at the pointy end of the fleet finishing in third place, just two points behind Burling and Tuke.
Thomas and Brownie finished in the top three in nine of the 13 races, including three second places behind Outteridge and Jensen on the last day to close right in on Burling and Tuke.
Australian Sailing Team 49er coach Emmett Lazich jumped back on board a 49er for a couple of days racing, sailing alongside Australian Sailing Development Squad crew Sam Phillips.
SamPhillip’sbrother Will was unable to compete in the regatta due to injury, with Western Australian Institute of Sport athlete David Gilmour set to skipper the boat for Sam for the week. Unfortunately David injured his ankle on the first day of racing allowing coach Lazich to spend some time out of the coach boat and back on board the 49er.
Lazich and Phillips had a number of strong races including two seconds and a third in the tricky conditions.
The 49ers now head south to Sydney with racing at the second round of the 2010 Sail Down Under Series, Sail Sydney, beginning at Woollahra Sailing Club on Monday.
“We’ve got a couple of busy days ahead of us now before Sail Sydney kicks off,” said Outteridge. “We’re taking the boats down on Thursday and then I’ve got a Farr40 regatta on Saturday and Sunday before getting back on the 49er for racing on Monday morning.”
– Yachting Australia