The Australian Sailing Team (AST) and coaches are in Italy, ahead of the second European Olympic classes regatta for the season, the Hempel World Cup Series – Round 3, Genoa being held from 16 to 21 April.

Last week the AST competed at the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma, Spain, the first European event for the season. Coming away with range of results, the best performed were Rio Olympic silver medallists Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin, who took Gold in the Nacra 17 multihull.

Next best were fifth placed Mat Belcher and Will Ryan in the 470 Men’s class. The two are the Rio Olympic silver medallists, while Belcher previously won Gold in the class at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The pair will be looking to up the ante in Genoa.

At the end of Palma, Australian Sailing’s Performance Director Iain Murray said, “We hope we can take away the hard lessons we learnt this week and put them into better practice in the next weeks and regroup.”

Murray, who represented Australia at the 2008 Olympic Games in the Star class, will be on the water each day in Genoa to assess the Team’s performance: “Genoa will be a testing event, just as Palma was,” he said.

The Team in Genoa will face most of the same competition they did in Palma, and with that regatta under their belts, better results are the aim.

Genoa is the penultimate stop of the 2019 Series with the event the last opportunity for sailors to book a spot at the Hempel World Cup Series Final in Marseille, France at the start of June.

The Australian squad of 25, representing across six classes, has enjoyed a short break since Palma and returns to the water for pre-event training today. Courses will use the entire area of Fiera di Genova, the same venue that hosts the International Boat Show every year.

This campaign and others this year are crucial for selection for the 2020 Olympic Games.

The Australian Team in Genoa comprises:

470 Men’s

Mat Belcher and Will Ryan

Chris Charlwood and Josh Dawson

470 Women’s

Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries

49er

David and Lachy Gilmour

Sam and Will Phillips

Thomas Needham and Joel Turner

Kurt Hansen and Simon Hoffman

49erFX

Tess Lloyd and Jaime Ryan

Amelia Stabback and Caitlin Elks

Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot

Nacra 17

Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin

Paul Darmanin and Lucy Copeland

Finn

Jake Lilley

Photo Credit: Beau Outteridge