Tokyo Olympic champion Matt Wearn has continued his domination of the ILCA 7 class, with the Western Australian posting his sixth straight race win in his return to competition at Sail Melbourne today.
“It’s nice to be back in the boat, feeling refreshed and recharged after almost six months off,” said Wearn.
Despite his status as the reigning Olympic champion, Wearn humbly concedes that there’s always space for growth.
“There are still plenty of aspects to work on, you can’t just sit idle and expect to be good enough. I’ve started regattas slow at times, that’s one area we’ll be working on, he said.
With a successful Tokyo Olympic Campaign under his belt, Wearn plans to fine tune his approach as he prepares to defend his title at Paris 2024.
“The biggest change is that I am working with a new coach (Rafael Trujillo). That will require some adapting after ten years of working with Blackers (Michael Blackburn).”
Australian Sailing Squad athletes Zoe Thomson and Grae Morris also enjoyed the strong winds on offer, as they lead the ILCA 6 and iQFOiL classes respectively.
The Waszp and RS100 classes joined racing today, capitalising on the crisper winds which made for ideal racing conditions.
Laura Harding and Annie Wilmott continue to lead the 49erFX fleet despite some on-water mark rounding contention today.
“It came down to the wire at a few moments, but it’s great to have some girls that have sailed in past Olympics to push the limits and provide some competitive racing,” said Harding.
“It’s great to have that pressure now as we prepare for the larger fleets that we will come up against as we continue our campaign in Europe later this year.”
Wing Foiling is making its Sail Melbourne debut this year, and the competition is doubling as the inaugural Wing Foiling National Championship.
Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club’s Jack Abbott has been one of the key drivers in the growth of the Wing Foiling class.
“A lot of the wing foiling competitors are sailors that had fallen away from sailing and have joined back in,” Abbot explained. “Wind Foiling will continue to attract that kind of sailor, which is a testament to how exciting and fun wing racing can be.”
Three full days of racing have brought plenty of action at Sail Melbourne 2022, and with some classes entering their final days tomorrow, the next two days are set to provide more on-water fleet racing.
Sail Melbourne is supported by the Victorian Government.
Australian Sailing Team & Australian Sailing Squad Results:
ILCA 7 (10 boats)
1st: Matt Wearn (1), 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 – 5 pts
ILCA 6 (28 boats)
1st: Zoe Thomson 1, 3, 1, (10), 1, 1 – 7 pts
3rd: Mara Stransky 5, (RAF), 9, 1, 3, 2 – 20 pts
8th: Casey Imeneo (8), 2, 7, 6, 7, 8 – 30 pts
Mixed 470 (7 boats)
1st: Chris Charlwood & Amelia Catt 1, 2, 1, (2), 1, 1 – 6 pts
2nd: Nia Jerwood & Conor Nicholas 2, 1, 2, 4, 2, (8) – 11 pts
49er (6 boats)
1st: Jim Colley & Sean Connor 4, (7), 1, 3, 3, 1, 2, 2, 3 – 19 pts
2nd: Thomas Needham & Joel Turner (7), 1, 7, 2, 1, 4, 3, 4, 1 – 23 pts
4th: Tom Burton & Simon Hoffman 1, (5), 4, 5, 2, 2, 5, 3, 2 – 24 pts
5th: Jack Ferguson & Max Paul 3, 2, 3, 6, 4, 6, (DNF), DNC, DNC – 38 pts
49erFX (5 boats)
1st: Laura Harding & Annie Wilmot 1, 1, (2), 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2 – 11 pts
2nd: Tess Lloyd & Dervla Duggan 2, 3, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, (OCS), 1 – 15 pts
Wing Foil (21 boards)
1st: Grae Morris (3), 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 – 8 pts
Full results: https://sailingresults.net/?ID=81250
