WAIS European Sailing Report

The WAIS Sailing Program has been busy recently, with the European summer season in full swing.

WAIS athletes Steven Thomas and his crew Nick Brownie are in Gdynia, Poland at the 49er European Championships and the offshore conditions proved tough for many today with big shifts on the race course close to shore,withconsistency the aim!

Steve and Nick have had some great races on the first day, startingthe regatta with a 2nd, but had some gear failure which set them back for one race. Todayin shiftier winds, they had a mix of scores and managed to hold onto 18th place overall. The Austrians are making things look easy at the front with really consistent scores and a nine point lead.

They have two races to sail tomorrow for the last of the qualifying series and then the fleets split into Gold, Silver and Bronzefor the finals.

In Holland, the 470 women crews (Chelsea Hall, Paris Stowell, Carrie Smith and Ella Clark) are battling with boat work in the preparation phase before Worlds. Getting the boats set up and ready has taken some time, but out on the water things are going well with visible improvements each day.

The conditions have been a mixture, and it is a challenging place to sail, but with great waves to catch. The event starts on the 9th, but there are three days of measurement, so racing begins on the 12th.

In Turkey, WAIS athlete Eamon Robertshaw is one day away from the start of the Volvo ISAF Youth World Sailing Championships and they get their allocated equipment in a days time, then get two days to practice before the start of the Championship.

Belinda Stowell