Three young sailors from Hobart’s Sandy Bay Sailing Club have finished among the top nine placegetters in the 62-boat fleet at the International Cadet world championship which ended in Poland yesterday.
Hugo Allison and James Gough finished fifth overall, just five points from third place after a 6-7-12-2 result on the final day of racing in the international fleet.
Over the 12 races, the two 14-year-olds finished seven times in the top 10 in fleet, including a win, a second and a fourth, sailing well against more experienced 16-year-olds from mainly European countries.
Hugo is already a Cadet world champion, as crew for Sam Abel in winning the title three years ago, but these were his first worlds as a helmsman.
They also had to contend with a controversial penalty in race two which set them back to 27th in fleet after day one.
Both lads come from strong parental sailing backgrounds, Hugo’s mother having represented Australia in Cadets as a teenager and is now a prominent SB20 helm. Jimmy’s father Rob Gough is a past world champion in windsurfers and foiler Moths.
The third young Hobart sailor to do well was Olive Cooper, sailing as crew for Elliot Hughes from Royal Geelong Yacht Club. The pair finished ninth overall, winning the second last of the 12 races.
The 2019 champions are Julian Finsterbusch and Franco Barone from Argentina with European sailors dominating results on the shallow Polish lake. A Belgium crew placed second, a Polish crew third.
Emma Kellu and William Farnell from Royal Geelong Yacht Club finished 26th, while SBSC’s second crew in the Australian team Ben Boman and Sam Hooper, finished 31st overall.
Thomas Johnston and Kylan Johnston from Sandringham Yacht Club placed 34th overall, Sarah Haris Moore and Evie McDonald (RGYC) 36th, Thomas Gordon and Alicia Gaffney (Larges Bay Sailing Club) 47th.
The 2020 world championship for the International Cadet class will be sailed on Melbourne’s Port Phillip, hosted by the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria at Williamstown.
– Peter Campbell
