WASS sailors triumph at KiteFoil national titles while youth sailors prepare for first domestic regatta in over two years

For WASS sailors it has been a busy summer of training and multiple local regattas. With the WA border recently opening, it has presented a flurry of opportunities our sailors have been ready to jump on.

KiteFoil National Titles 

Over the March long weekend, the KiteFoil National Championships were held at Jervoise Bay Sailing Club with 23 competitors. KiteFoil is a new, fast and exciting Olympic discipline in sailing for the 2024 Olympic Games with medals for men’s and women’s fleets.

After 18 hard fought races, WASS sailor Hector Paturau came out on top overall with an impressive display of speed and strategy. Fellow WASS sailor Alex Landwehr finished strongly on the final day to place third overall, one point off second. In the women’s, Jane Taylor placed second and ninth overall, improving throughout the event. A special mention to 12-year-old Noah Karantonis for competing in his first KiteFoil event! Keep working hard and enjoying it Noah!

It was incredibly pleasing to see the development of the WASS sailors and WA KiteFoil fleet from this time last year with our sailors making significant gains to leapfrog our competitors. Over the 18 months WASS has supported the KiteFoil fleet in WA with regular training and hopes to see more juniors exploring the class and foiling in the future.

Results here: https://www.sailres.com/view.php?s=1685

Youth Classes

Over Easter, 24 WA sailors, their families and coaches will head to Melbourne to compete at the Victorian Youth State Titles in Williamstown in 29ers, ILCA 6 & 4s, IQ Youth Foils and Nacra 15. This is the first opportunity for WA youth sailors to compete domestically in two years since Jan 2020 due to the pandemic and border closures. Definitely a mix of excitement and nerves!

WA sailors have been preparing at home training and competing in various local events including Sail Freo at FSC, ICR at RFBYC, the Goolugatup Sailing Carnival at SoPYC, Refined Edge Mini Series at RPYC and regional events in Walpole and Busselton over the long weekend.

The event serves as the Youth World Championship qualifier for Australia, the event to be held in The Netherlands in July. Some of our sailors have the goal of qualification, some have aged out, but all are going for the experience to learn, perform at their absolute best and finish a faster and smarter sailor than they arrived.

WA Coaches at the event will be Hayley Clark, Denis Jones, Ben Walkemeyer, Mikael Lundh and Matt Jerwood.

The event concludes our extended year for WASS with squads to be reselected in May to resume in June.

PHOTO: Lindsay Preece