Matt Wearn led an outstanding Aussie charge at the 51st edition of the Semaine Olympique Française which closed on May 4 in perfect Côte d’Azur conditions - golden sunshine, clear skies and 15-knot westerlies making a welcome change from Friday’s 25-knots.

“It’s nice to get a win under my belt in 2019 and relieve a bit of pressure,” Wearn said, adding, “It always looks good to have the ones in the scorecard (he won 8 of the 12 races), it asserts that little bit of dominance."

On Friday’s testing conditions at Hyeres Wearn commented: “It was survival mode at the end. With past experiences here with this kind of breeze it can get pretty gnarly.” Wearn had enough in the bank to claim gold before Saturday’s medal race but thought he’d add another bullet on the final day – to make it an even eight.

Four of the top six men’s results belonged to the AST and coach Michael Blackburn had this to say: “Hyères is a pretty familiar venue for us, I’ve been here 19 times and these guys are up to 6, 7, 8 times too. I think the Laser fleet is still very open. Matt (Wearn) had a great regatta here but he knows he’s only as good as his last race, and there’s more to come in two weeks at the Europeans in Porto.”

Rio 2016 Olympic champion Tom Burton posted a fourth in the medal race to win bronze while Fremantle’s Luke Elliott started the decider well but dropped back to finish seventh behind his more experienced countrymen, which tipped him out of the eventual top three by a point. 

In the Laser Radial division Zoe Thomson from Perth showed her potential among the high-calibre women’s fleet, finishing seventh among 50 starters. “It was a tricky event with plenty of tight, tactical racing. It’s cool to see the improvements, not only for myself but as a squad and we will all take away valuable lessons and experience ahead of the Europeans in two weeks’ time,” Thomson said.

In Mara Stransky’s words “I managed to stylishly flounder my way out of the medal race by collecting a UFD and a 30th on the final day of racing in Hyères.” Unfortunately the Queenslander missed the Gold medal cut by one point, placing 11th overall, but in true Stransky style happily shared valuable lessons learned via social media. 

“It was a fairly unpleasant day but one I'll be keeping with me forever as a reminder of how terribly wrong things can go if given the slightest chance, and just how much every point matters! That's sport though and I can't wait to move on and have another crack at the European Championships in Porto in two weeks.”

About SOF: After 7 years as part of Sailing World Cup series, the event is back this year as "SOF", French Olympic week. Every year, the Semaine Olympique Française welcomes around 800 competitors from 60 different countries. The racing will happen across the same 10 classes that were selected for Tokyo Olympic Games.

Event website: sof.ffvoile.fr/

Full results list HERE

Laser (69 boats)
1st: Matt Wearn (7), 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1 = 23 pts
3rd: Tom Burton 4, 3, 1, 8, 6, 3, 15, 3, 1, 3, (DNF), 4 = 55 pts
4th: Luke Elliot 3, 8, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1, 6, 4, 13, (17), 7 =  56 pts
6th: Finn Alexander 6, 4, 2, 5, 5, 4, (28), 10, 16, 14, 11, 3 = 83 pts
14th: Mitch Kennedy (BFD), 16, 5, 4, 5, 4, 21, 7, 5, 8, DNF =  114 pts

Laser Radial (49 boats)
7th: Zoe Thompson 19, 19, 4, (25), 17, 25, 2, 1, 11, 6, 9, 8 = 129 pts
11th: Mara Stransky 37, 12, 14, 8, 16, 10, 9, 3, (UFD), 30, 7 = 148 pts
28th: Elyse Ainsworth 34, (46), 9, 20, 20, 32, 33, 17, 28, 29, 30 = 264 pts

Photo Credit: Eric Bellande/FF Voile/SOF 2019

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