WAIS Sailors in Form in Spain

WAIS sailors have enjoyed an impressive campaign at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia regatta in Palma, Spain with athletes earning top ten finishes across a range of classes.

WAIS athlete Caitlin Elks, who contests the 49erFX class earned a fifth place ranking in Palma, along with skipper Tess Lloyd.

In light sailing conditions and on a short course for the final, opportunities to make gains towards a medal were hard to come by.

Lloyd and Elks managed to hang onto fifth place in the women’s skiff and take confidence, plus a list of areas to work on, to the next event, which is the 49erFX European Championship in Barcelona as they continue to chase Olympic selection. 

Lloyd however, said the pair would take little out of the result if they didn’t replicate the performance at the Championships in Barcelona.

“We managed to stay in fifth.  It was pretty light out there… six knots and a short course, so it was hard to make gains,” Lloyd recounted. “The Europeans is our next event and a really important event for us. We have to keep up our performance.”

On the 34-strong fleet Elks said, “There was a really good mix of experience in the fleet. Palma was quite challenging with all sorts of conditions, it was about who managed the conditions the best and who transitioned to the next weather thrown at you. We managed that quite well.”

WAIS sailor Carrie Smith, competing in the 470 class along with crew Jaime Ryan, enjoyed a strong campaign in what was in reality a world cup quality field, to finish on a significant high after winning the closing medal race.

“We won today’s medal race which was a great result for us. That’s our first win together in a medal race,” a jubilant Smith said. “It was quite tricky out there. The wind was light and all over the place so it was a complicated race but we managed to stay on top and get ourselves one spot closer, into seventh.  Essentially, we need to keep improving, to keep proving ourselves to the [selectors]. We’d like to be top 10 at both the Europeans and at Hyeres, that’s our goal.”

“We are really happy with the event,” agreed Ryan. “We’ve seen a bit of everything and it’s been good practice for us for our Europeans next week, we have more of an idea what to expect. We are feeling pretty good about it.”

In the men’s 49er class, David Gilmour (WAIS) and his crew Lewis Brake finished their campaign in eighth place, whilst WAIS laser sailor Luke Elliott was eighth in his class.

-AusSailingTeam