News

Palma Day 1: Laser Sailors Lead The Way

Published Tue 03 Apr 2018

Australia’s Laser team has made a strong start to the Palma regatta, the 49th Trofeo Princesa Sofia in Spain, with Finn Alexander taking first place in one of the three groups contesting the mammoth 183-boat fleet and two other Aussies achieving top 15 rankings.

Variable but mostly light winds allowed for only one race in the Laser Standard and Radial classes and former youth world champion Alexander finished first in red group to head the list. Rio Olympic gold medallist Tom Burton ended up fourth with a second in blue group and fellow Australian Sailing Team representative, world No.4 Matt Wearn holds 13th after a fifth in red group.

Other national team Laser sailors Luke Elliott (49th) and Mitch Kennedy (67th) are in the top half and Dan Self is 139th.

Two races were staged in the 470 classes with world champions Mat Belcher and Will Ryangrabbing a two and 13 to settle into ninth in the 79-boat men’s fleet, ahead of Chris Charlwood and Josh Dawson, who are 46th, and Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries ending up 26th in the 48-boat women’s fleet.

After coming a discarded 19th in the opening race in the 49er class, Kurt Hansen and Harry Morton finished a powerful third and fourth in the next two contests to slide into 12th spot in the 91-boat fleet. Lachy Gilmour and Ryan Donaldson are 30th, while Australian champions David Gilmour and Joel Turner scored a 10, 4 and discarded 11th to end up 24th and 13 points behind the leaders.

In the 54-boat 49erFX fleet, Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot sit 20th after two top-10 finishes among the three races and Amelia Stabback and Ella Clark are 32nd.

Two races were held in the Finn class, where Jake Lilley is the best placed Australian in 16th, Oli Tweddell is 30th, Jock Calvert 47th and Lewis Brake 60th in the 73-boat fleet.

Laser Radial sailor Paige Caldecoat is 85th of 113 competitors and Nacra 17 pair Tayla Rietmanand Lachie White are 44th after three races.