The sea breeze returned on the fourth day of the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships in Canada, with the Aussie teams doing their best to move up before tomorrow’s penultimate day. 

Sailing in her very first 49erFX World Championship is Evie Haseldine, who is in good hands as she is being skippered by Olympic silver medallist, Olivia Price.

Price and Haseldine are currently in 25th place, so how does the young sailor see it all. “I think it’s been a really tough first world championship for us. We came into the regatta with the mentality to enjoy the racing, whilst achieving our team performance goals. We have certainly been able to do just that, which is promising, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to correlate to the results, because the fleet here is so strong.”

“For me it’s been a balance between comparing myself to the older, more experienced girls, and sticking to my own progression. Similarly, it’s a fine line between putting too much pressure on myself, and just needing to enjoy the experience and what it has to offer.”

Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine

Olivia Price was part of the much-loved Women’s keelboat crew from London 2012. The 49erFx is a very different craft, so what does it all mean for her? “I’m excited to be back at a world championship after five or six years off sailing. To be honest, I needed the break, and have now come back loving the sport more than ever.”

“It’s great to see the evolution of the class, and the level of competition is always being raised each regatta we go to. To be racing against the best 49erFX sailors in the world is a great opportunity for a new team like Evie and I for us to learn and take everything we can from this week, as we move into a summer season at home.”

Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot

Rhiannan Brown is sailing with Brin Liddell in the Nacra 17 foiling cat. They are part of the Australian Sailing Futures program, and have been climbing up the standings to now be in 20th place.

“The regatta has been really good. Lot of ups and downs, and a lot of learnings, which is really good. As a team we can really see that we’re really progressing with the fleet. It is great to be in Canada, and we have a lot to work on when we get back home.”

“Sometimes it feels a bit crazy, but it is nice to see that we can be up there in some of the races against all the international crews. We need to work on consistency, and a big part of that will be downwind in the waves, which is where some of our big losses have been.”

Nacra 17 coach, the highly decorated Darren Bundock commented, “Had really good breeze today; a nice seabreeze (Southerly) arrived, after a half hour wait or so, and came in at very consistent 12-13 knots.”

“The first two races were pretty simple. A bit of a left hand track in general, but the breeze was phasing back and forth. The third race got mixed up a bit, with a big left hand shift. The teams on the right did very well timing the phase.”

“In general, it has been a pretty good regatta for Jason and Lisa. The Italians are setting the pace for sure, but Jason and Lisa are on par with the rest of the world. They’re sailing well, but struggling a little with the weed. Of course, that issue is affecting everyone, as well.”

Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin

Lisa Darmanin and Jason Waterhouse posted a sixth and third today, then a 14th, which consolidated their fifth place overall. Darmanin discussed the 14th, when she said “We had a good pin end start, but the rest of the fleet saw something on the right. We got back into it in about 5th place up the second beat, but hit a big bit of weed on our leeward foil, and had to tack out to clear it. It’s super frustrating, but overall a good day.”

Racing concludes on Monday September 5, 2022.

Visit the event website for full results.

Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) and Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) at the 2022 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships: 

49er – Gold Fleet
23rd - Tom Burton and Simon Hoffman (ASS) – (DNF), 20, 5, 9, 7, 12, 17, 4, 20, 19, 24 (137 points)
24th - Jack Ferguson and Max Paul (ASS) – 18, 1, 18, 12, (29), 7, 1, 21, 24, 21, 15 (138 points)

49er – Silver Fleet
26rth- Tom Needham and Joel Turner (ASS) – 12, 14, 6, 24, 20, (29), 11, 4, 8, 5, 10 (114 points)
35th- Jim Colley and Shaun Connor (ASS) – 22, 25, 8, 32, 15, 6, 19, 5,2, 7, (UFD) (141 points)
51st - Ryan Littlechild and Jack Hildebrand (ASF) – (DNF), 26, 28, 27, 3, 25, 24, 14, 27, 27, 25 (212 points)

49erFX – 36 entries
20th - Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot (ASS) – 21, 10, 10, 11, 6, 25, (31), 17, 21, 28, 10, 29 (188 points)
25th - Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine (ASS) – 23, 7, (29), 25, 20, 20, 19, 26, 28, 12, 28, 25 (233 points)
27th - Tess Lloyd and Dervla Duggan (ASS) – 28, (29), 15, 19, 22, 18, 29, 22, 26, 24, 25, 15 (243 points)

Nacra 17 – 34 entries
5th - Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AST) – 9, 5, 5, 3, 14, 5, 5, (21), 5, 6, 3, 14 (74 points)
20th - Jake Liddell and Lucy Copeland (ASS) – 6, 14, 10, 22, 10, 14, 27, (31), 23, 23, 21, 25 (195 points)
20th - Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown (ASF) – 21, 21, 17, 15, 21, (22), 6, 15, 22, 17, 18, 22 (195 points)

Words by John Curnow 

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