by Craig Heydon
Australian sailors have won a silver and bronze
medal on the final day of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup on Lake
Garda in Italy, including the country's first medal in the new Nacra 17
class.
Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin won silver in just their second
event in the new mixed multihull Nacra 17 class, with Ryan Palk claiming
bronze in the Laser class.
Waterhouse and Darmanin started the day third overall, winning the
final race to take the silver medal, with Austria winning gold and Italy
bronze.
“The medal race went really well today, it was a nice short course
and about 12 knots of breeze which allowed us to two trapeze around the
course, both upwind and down,” said Waterhouse. “The goal was to hold
onto a medal position and put ourselves ahead of the two boats in front
of us on the scoreboard.
“We had a great start and sailed our strategy up the first beat and
rounded in the lead,” he said. “We were overtaken by the regatta
leaders on the downwind but clawed them back on the second upwind.
“Despite our best attempts to slow the Austrians down on the final
leg to get a place in between us it wasn’t to be, we won the medal race
but finished second overall,” he said. “We’re very happy to have
achieved all of our goals this regatta and many lessons were learnt,
we’re off to Holland next week to take on a very competitive fleet and
are looking forward to more racing and training in the coming weeks.”
While Waterhouse and Darmanin may be new to the Nacra 17 class they
have a long history in multihull sailing with success across a number
of classes, including a gold medal together at the 2009 ISAF Youth
Sailing World Championships.
In the Laser class Ryan Palk won bronze, with his fourth place in
the final race enough for him to hold onto his overnight third and take
the final place on the podium, behind New Zealand and France.
Fellow Australian Tom Burton started the day first overall but with
an experimental point score system that did not reward Tom’s consistent
sailing throughout the regatta, the top six boats were bunched right
up. His sixth place in the final race saw him slip to fifth overall.
“The final race was super tight, the experimental point scoring
system used here put everyone so close that you couldn’t afford to
protect one boat,” said Palk. “I had a good first beat to lead around
the top mark but got into some tight battles with the French boat to be
third at the bottom.
“From there Tonci Stipanovic from Croatia, Tom Burton and myself
started battling at the head of the fleet with some great, tight, racing
between the three of us in the building Ora lake wind,” he said. “It
looked like it was going to be a three-way battle between us but then
right at the top mark the other three boats came in on a very good shift
and stole the lead away.
“It then turned into a race to keep a podium position and I was
able to pass Tonci on the last run and keep my third. Even though there
were only six boats in this race the points were so tight it was hard to
protect one person,” said Palk. “In the end I’m happy to have sailed as
well as I did to keep the bronze but it was certainly a little
frustrating to be so close to the win and have it slip away.
“My teammate Tom sailed a great week as well and it’s harsh to lose
it like that on the last day off essentially what was one shift but
that’s what you get with this point system,” he said. “I’m feeling good
now after what was a tense week with all kinds of conditions and am
happy to be sailing well and more consistently and am taking it all in
and learning heaps every day.”
Next stop for Australian sailors is the Delta Lloyd Holland Regatta in Medemblik, beginning on May 21.
Full results from Garda, including the Australians who finished racing on Saturday, can be found here.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au
