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News Archive
October, 2011
Winners announced at 2011 Australian Yachting Awards The Australian sailing community recognised excellence in the sport on Friday evening at the 2011 Australian Yachting Awards, held at Sydney’s Luna Park.
More than 230 guests from across the country came together to celebrate another outstanding year on and off the water for Australian sailing. Yachting Australia again received a long list of worthy nominees with 65 nominations for the eight categories. The Male Sailor of the Year Award was won by triple Laser World Champion Tom Slingsby, who had an outstanding year, winning the 2010 Laser World Championship, being the first Australian to win the prestigious ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award, winning the ISAF Sailing World Cup, and a further two regattas at the London 2012 Olympic Games venue in Weymouth, including the official test event. Queensland Laser Radial sailor Lyndall Patterson was named Female Sailor of the Year, after success at the highest level, winning the 2010 Laser Radial Grand Master World Championships at Hayling Island in England. The OAMPS Insurance Brokers Youth Sailor of the Year Award was won by 420 crew Angus Galloway and Alexander Gough following outstanding performances both at home and abroad. The pair won the 2011 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Australian Youth Championships, before heading to Europe where they won Gold at Kiel Week in Germany before winning Bronze at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships. They finished the year off in style by winning the Junior 420 European Championships in Belgium. Australian Skud 18 crew Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch won the Sailor of the Year with a Disability Award after an amazing start to their sailing career together. Fitzgibbon and Tesch kicked off their partnership in style, winning Gold at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Miami before a win at the World Cup round in Weymouth, England. The pair then backed this result up a few weeks later with Bronze at the 2011 IFDS World Championship at the same venue. Matthew Owen was named Sport Professional of the Year, Matthew has been manager of the Canberra Yacht Club since 2001 and is now the CEO, and is also the Executive Officer of Yachting ACT, playing a major role in sailing in the ACT. The Sport Promotion Award was won by Victorian Gavin Wall, who works tirelessly with the Royals Training Centre, a part of the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, to develop, promote and manage a number of successful programs. The Volunteer Award was shared between West Australian Cherry Calcott, who couldn’t attend the every due to volunteering commitments, and Victorian John Chatham. Both Calcott and Chatham were recognised for their continual commitment to sailing. Yachting Australia President David Gotze presented the President’s Award to Bob Oatley and family for their ongoing contributions to sailing both on and off the water. Three Lifetime Achievement Awards were also presented, to Ian Kingsford-Smith, Jim Orrell and Gary Ticehurst, who was represented by his son Matthew. All three individuals have given so much to sailing over the years and Yachting Australia thanks them for the ongoing role they have played in the sport. For more information visit www.yachting.org.au. |
2011 Australian Yachting Awards to be held this Friday The 2011 Australian Yachting Awards will be held this Friday evening at Sydney’s Luna Park, recognising outstanding achievements in the sport of sailing over the last year.
Yachting Australia again received a long list of worthy nominees with 65 nominations for the eight categories. Competition is set to be tight for the Male Sailor of the Year award with 18 nominations received. The finalists include 470 crew Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page, Etchells World Champion John Bertrand, 49er team Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, Farr 40 World Champion Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, Laser World Champion Tom Slingsby, Moth World Champion and 49er skipper Nathan Outteridge, and Rolex Sydney to Hobart overall winner Geoff Boettcher. The Female Sailor of the Year Award will also be a tight contest between windsurfer Jessica Crisp, Laser Radial Masters World Champion Lyndall Patterson, and Laser Radial sailors Alexandra South and Krystal Weir. The Youth Sailor of the Year Award will go to either Women’s Match Racing skipper Olivia Price, Australian Youth Sailing Team members Angus Galloway and Alexander Gough, Matthew Wearn or Ashley Stoddart, or International Cadet sailors Anton and Julian Sasson. Finalists in the Sailor of the Year with a Disability Award include two representatives from Australia’s Special Olympics team, Allister Peek and Alyse Saxby, and two Skud 18 crews, Ame Barnbrook and Lindsay Mason, and Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch. The winner of the Sport Professional Award will be either Sail Melbourne Event Development Manager Kate Allen, Australian Sailing Team Laser coach Michael Blackburn, Yachting Victoria Sport Development Manager Daisy Brooke or Yachting ACT Executive Officer Matt Owen. There is a highly competitive field in the Sport Promotion Award with Yachting Victoria’s Go Sailing program, the Noosa Yacht and Rowing Club, the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria’s Gavin Wall and Sail Melbourne all vying for the award. Volunteers are the lifeblood of sailing and there are four nominees in the Volunteer of the Year Award; Cherry Calcott from Western Australia, Victoria’s John Chatham, Dugald Henderson of Queensland and New South Wales’ Robert Starky. There will also be three Lifetime Achievement Awards presented, with Gary Ticehurst being honoured posthumously, and Ian Kingsford-Smith and Jim Orrell also being recognised for their contribution to sailing. Yachting Australia President David Gotze will also present the President’s Award. Details of the category winners will be released on the Yachting Australia website, www.yachting.org.au, following the event on Friday evening. |
New Zealand wins team trophy at Interdominion Secondary Schools Team Racing Championship Australian athletes suffered defeats on either side of the Tasman on Sunday with New Zealand winning the team trophy at the 2011 Interdominion Secondary Schools Team Racing Championship in Port Lincoln, South Australia, to go along with the All Black’s win at the Rugby World Cup. The Kiwis’ sailing win in Port Lincoln was a much closer affair than the Rugby semi-final, with the New Zealanders coming out on top 21 points to 19.5 in one of the closest finishes to an Interdominion Secondary Schools Team Racing Championship in years. Racing was held at Port Lincoln Yacht Club with six schools, three from Australia and three from New Zealand competing in the bi-annual event.
There were a number of positives for the Australians with South Australian school St Josephs being the top placed team overall.
St Josephs finished the regatta on 19 points, five ahead of New Zealand’s Kerikeri High School, after three days of close racing.
South Australia’s St Michaels College and New Zealand’s Tauranga Boys College finished the event tied on 10.5 points with the Australians taking the final place on the podium after a count back.
New Zealand’s St Kentigern College was just half a point further back in fifth position with Shenton College from Western Australia finishing sixth.
For more information and full results visit www.plyc.com.au.
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Australian Open and Women’s Match Racing Championships decided in Queensland The 2011 Australian Match Racing and Women’s Match Racing Champions have been crowned following four days of racing at Southport Yacht Club in Queensland. After a double round robin the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s entry, skippered by Ash Rooklyn, defeated local skipper Jessica Hansen three-nil in the best of five final. Racing was tight throughout the final with Rooklyn and his crew of Tim Austin, Byron White and Ezra Pritchard only taking the lead in the first two races in the final stages.
The crew then went on to lead race three from start to finish to claim the title from Hansen, Stacey Jackson, Georgia Cronin and Melissa Turner.
The petit-final was an all Southport Yacht Club affair with Jack Sherring and his crew of Coen Comadira, Fletcher Sewell and William Bates defeating Sophie Lahey, Ali Blundell, Kodey Sherring and Georgie Toner for the final place on the podium.
A day earlier the Australian Women’s Match Racing Championship was decided with Jessica Hansen and crew claiming the titles.
Hansen, Stacey Jackson, Georgia Cronin and Melissa Turner defeated fellow Queenslanders Sophie Lahey, Kodey Sherring, Georgie Toner and Ali Blundell two wins to one in the best of three final.
Hansen and crew won the opening race by less than a second in one of the closest finishes of the regatta, with the race being decided with the last gybe on the finish line.
Lahey and crew bounced back to win race two by 10 seconds, sending the final into a deciding race.
After losing the start Hansen and her crew fought back well, taking the lead and then the win by 14 seconds, claiming their first Australian Women’s Match Racing Championship.
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Yachting Australia seeking nominations for Athletes’ CommissionYachting Australia is calling for nominations from sailors to form the organisation’s Athlete Commission, to represent the views of athletes to the Yachting Australia Board. The Yachting Australia Athletes’ Commission will advise the Board on all matters relating to athletes within the Yachting Australia’s High Performance Programs and members of the Athletes’ Commission will be available to provide advice and support to Australian athletes. The Yachting Australia Athletes’ Commission will aim to increase the awareness of its role among athletes in all Yachting Australia High Performance programs.
Members of the Athletes’ Commission will ensure that athletes are aware that they can approach them on any matters relating to the High Performance Program and athletes may approach members of the Athlete’s Commission with any issues that they would like raised with the Yachting Australia Board, in particular, on athlete-related issues.
The Athletes’ Commission will be represented on the Yachting Australia Board of Directors by one member, who will be appointed by the Yachting Australia Board.
The Athletes’ Commission will be made up solely of Athletes, shall comprise at least three members with at least two of which are elected, and non-elected appointments may be made to seek a balance of representation of gender, geography, sailing class, and Olympic and Paralympic pathways.
Those interested in being a part of the Athletes’ Commission, or making a nomination, should contact Donna Jones, donna.jones@yachting.org.au, no later than Wednesday 19 October.
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Two Australian crews sit at the top of sailing world rankings The Australian Sailing Team’s 470 men’s crew of Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page, and Laser sailor Tom Slingsby sit at the top of their respective classes following the latest release of world rankings overnight. While Belcher, Page and Slingsby continue to lead the way for Australia a number of their teammates and countrymen are working their way up the rankings as the prepare for the upcoming Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships in December. Belcher and Page’s stranglehold on the 470 men’s number one position stretches back to the middle of last year with their most recent results of a Gold medal at the 2011 European Championships and then Silver at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, ensuring that they remain unchallenged at number one.
Tom Slingsby has retaken the number one position in the Laser class, after briefly sitting second in the last release of rankings. The three-time Laser World Champion is still undefeated in Weymouth, following his win at the London 2012 Olympic Games test event in August.
Australia’s 49er crew of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen are hot on the heels of Belcher, Page and Slingsby, and ended the last ranking cycle second overall. Outteridge and Jensen are also undefeated in Weymouth, winning the test event by the narrowest of margins, on a count back after the final medal race, and also claimed the 49er European Championship this year.
Krystal Weir has moved up to sixth overall in the Laser Radial rankings after being 11th in the last release and is continuing her push towards her second Olympic Games appearance in 2012.
In the RS:X women’s class Jessica Crisp is ninth, while Brendan Casey is 13th in the Finn rankings.
Laser sailor Tom Burton has jumped up to 12th, his best ever ranking, after being 27th in the last list.
A number of Australian Sailing Squad members are being rewarded for their hard work on and off the water, moving up the ranking list following a successful European season.
Will and Sam Phillips are the highest ranked Squad members and are currently eighth in the 49er fleet, following a number of strong European events highlighted with a fourth place finish at the ISAF Sailing World Cup round in Weymouth in June.
470 sailors Sam Kivell and Will Ryan have worked their way into the top 10 and are currently ninth overall, up from 13th.
Ryan Palk has risen 14 places in the Laser class, to be 10th, his best ever ranking. With Palk alongside Slingsby and Burton, Australia now has three Laser sailors in the top 12.
The Women’s Match Racing world rankings work on a different cycle and will next be updated on 12 October 2012.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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