After two days of waiting on good weather it was more than fitting that all got their just deserts for Wednesday’s racing in Palma at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia regatta.

Technical Director of the Australian Sailing Team (AST), Michael Blackburn said after the sailors had returned to shore, “Some nice classic sea breeze conditions today, so we got some quality racing in. Today was the regatta pivot point into the gold fleet tomorrow and two of our 49er teams moved up and in, so they'll be pleased with that.”

Blackburn highlighted Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and Fremantle Sailing Club ILCA 6 sailor Zoe Thomson, who sits second in a field containing seven of the top ten sailors from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“Zoe continues to sail well, although had a hiccup in Race Five, when she missed a good right hander,” said Blackburn.

Zoe Thomson CREDIT Sailing Energy

“We expected young Grae Morris in the iQFOiL would start mixing it with the big boys, and he's impressed so far, also keeping his equipment in one piece. The ILCA 7 scores are super close, so the real action will happen in the next two days of gold fleet racing, which also look like nice sea breezes again.”

Morris may be considered laconic in the classic Aussie sense, but there is a steely determination in his character as well. By way of example, when asked how it was going, he replied, “One of my biggest struggles last year was getting off the start line into clear air. I’ve got that sorted now, which is allowing me to use my speed throughout to course. Today I managed to get some top 10 finishes, which I’m happy with. There’s still a lot of work to put in for the next couple of days.”

The AST Nacra 17 team of Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin are known for their consistency, having a certain fire in the belly, and for being hard taskmasters on themselves, too. After all, they do have Olympic Silver in the Nacra 17 foiling catamaran amongst their list of accolades.

Darmanin said after scoring a pair of fifth places and a tenth today, “We should have done better today. We were in better positions at the top mark, but are throwing away points with boat handling and decision making. I’d say that we are a little racing rusty and a bit scrappy around the course. We are hoping we can pull it together and post some better results as we move into the finals.”

Jake Liddell and Lucy Copeland CREDIT Sailing Energy

London 2012 silver medallist Olivia Price knows her way around the racecourse at Palma, and along with new crew Evie Haseldine have qualified for the 49erFX Gold Fleet in tenth place.

Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine CREDIT Sailing Energy

Fellow Aussies Annie Wilmot and Laura Harding find themselves in 28^th after a challenging day.

“We had three races today in a building sea breeze,” said Wilmot. “We were on the closest course to shore, so it took a bit of time for it to settle, and being close to land there was some influence. It wasn’t the day we wanted so we’ve missed out on gold fleet by three points. We’ve got clear ideas of where we can make the biggest improvements going forward and are going to use the rest of this regatta to focus on those areas before Hyeres (France April 22-29).”

Australia has significant representation in the 49er skiff class with five crews out on the water all vying to get into the medal racing at the end of the week. AST athlete Shaun Connor is sailing with Jim Colley and commented afterwards, “As a squad we are really strong and get along really well. We are happy, enjoy hanging out together, and push each other to improve and build upon our weaknesses together.

“Here in Palma we have a different coach, Brady Lowe, whom we don’t normally work with, but integrating him into our group has been seamless, and has gone really well. I think this is a testament to us as a collective.”

Formula Kite Coach, Shane Smith, reflected on the regatta so far, “In the men’s fleet it was another solid day for Hector (Paturau), having only a handful of days with his new brand of kites there is still much to gain. A few average starts held his progress, and unfortunately has missed the cut for gold fleet by the smallest margin, so will use the rest of regatta to work on the starts and finish off on a high.”

“In the women’s fleet Brei (Whitehead) has had a mix of results adding another fourth place, but then a breakage saw her not complete the next race (DNC). A rapid repair meant she was slightly late start to the last race, but she had a good recovery to post a thirteenth place and secure a spot in the finals series starting tomorrow.”

Racing in the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta in Palma concludes with the medal races on April 8, 2023.

Visit the event website for full results.

Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS), Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) and Australian sailors at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta:

Women’s ILCA 6 – 112 Entries

2^nd - Zoe Thomson (AST) – 6, 2, 1, 3, (17) (12 points)

18^th - Elyse Ainsworth (ASS) – 15, 9, (17), 4, 10 (38 points)

19^th - Mara Stransky (ASS) - 12, 21, (33), 4, 3 (40 points)

24^th - Casey Imeneo (ASS) – 12, 17, 10, 6, (18) (45 points)

56^th - Sylvie Stannage (ASF) – (39), 26, 13, 36, 21 (96 Points)

70^th - Paige Caldecoat (ASF) - 35, 27, (43), 26, 33 (121 points)

Women’s 49erFX – 64 Entries

10^th - Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine (ASS) – 17, 5, (18), 2, 5, 9 (38 points)

28^th - Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot (ASS) – 11, 11, 12, 9, 19, (22) (62 points)

35^th - Tess Lloyd and Dervla Duggan (ASS) – 15, 10, 11, 14, 19, (26) (69 points)

Men’s ILCA 7 – 188 Entries

11^th - Matt Wearn (AST) – 4, 1, BFD (63), 4, 13 (22 points)

26^th - Finn Alexander (ASS) - 9, 6, 11, 11, (13) (37 points)

35^th - Ethan McAullay (ASS) – 1, 18, (53), 22, 7 (48 points)

36^th - Luke Elliott (ASS) – 3, 6, (31), 20, 19 (48 points)

64^th - Zac Littlewood (ASS) – BFD (63), 3, 12, 33, 30 (78 points)

87^th - Stefan Elliott-Shircore (ASF) – 28, 31, DNC (63), 20, 21 (100 points)

144^th - Will Sargent (ASF) – 48, 35, 42, (49), 49 (174 points)

Mixed Nacra 17 – 53 Entries

12^th - Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AST) – 3, (10), 10, 5, 5 (23 points)

13^th - Jake Liddell and Lucy Copeland (ASS) – 4, (8), 5, 8, 6 (23 points)

20^th - Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown (ASF) – 9, (13), 6, 10, 13 (38 points)

23^rd - Rueben and Rita Booth (AUS) – 12, 9, 7, (13), 12 (40 points)

29^th - Archie Gargett and Sarah Hoffman (ASF) – 9, DNC (27), 15, 17, 14 (36 points)

Men’s iQFOiL – 138 Entries

16^th - Grae Morris (ASS) – 15, 5, 16, 12, (29), 7, 5 (60 points)

50^th - Stephen Allen (ASS) – 35, (39), 22, 35, 21, 9, 7 (129 points)

72^nd - Harry Joyner (ASS) – 17, 25, 41, 33, 26, (49) (175 points)

117^th - Jack Marquardt (AUS) – 39, 29, (62), 47, 45, 58, 62 (280 points)

Mixed 470 – 72 Entries

16^th - Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas (ASS) – 11, (12), 5, 12, 3 (31 points)

46^th - Sophie Jackson and Angus Higgins (ASF) – 21, 24, 25, 5, (27) (75 points)

Women’s Formula Kite – 53 Entries

19^th - Breiana Whitehead (AST) – (13), 11, 4, 8, 10, 4, DNC (28), 13 (50 points)

Men’s 49er – 101 Entries

21^st - Tom Burton OAM and Max Paul (ASS) – UFD (34), 8, 7, 5, 6 (26 points)

24^th - Jim Colley and Shaun Connor (AST) – STP 11, STP 3, 9, 10, (13) (33 points)

41^st - Tom Needham and Joel Turner (ASS) – STP 17, UFD (34), 12, 9, 9 (47 points)

42^nd - David Gilmour and Simon Hoffman (AUS) – 4, 5, 21, (22), 11 (49 points)

51^st - Tom Cunich and Miles Davey (ASF) – 13, 18, (19), 8, 19 (58 points)

Men’s Formula Kite – 81 Entries

32^nd - Hector Paturau (ASS) – 7, 5, 7, (12), 10, 6, 9, (11) (44 points)

62^nd - Oscar Timm (ASF) – 13, 11, (19), DNC (30), 13, 11, 11 (81 points)

Women’s iQFOiL – 100 Entries

84^th - Samantha Costin (ASS) – DNF (51), 39, 29, 41, 28, 36, (47), 42, 41 (256 points)

By John Curnow