The four days of the ISAF Grade 2 Sail Brisbane 2007 have come to a close after a variety of wind conditions, extremely high humidity and many tussles on the start and finish lines.
Overall the visiting competitors enjoyed their time at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron with many now heading south to Sydney for the ISAF Grade 1 Sydney International Regatta, before venturing further south to Victoria for the ISAF Grade 1 Sail Melbourne in January.
Inconsistent conditions at times made it difficult to lay not only a course, but a start line as well, however after the delays racing was well and truly underway with only the Laser Standards not getting in their total amount of scheduled races.
The two largest fleets, Lasers and Radials certainly made an impact on Waterloo Bay with international visitors taking home the gold.
Great Britain sailor and Olympic campaigner Penny CLARK
was able to secure first place ahead of local talent Klade HAUSCHILDT
(AUS) with Ben PRICE
(AUS) coming in third.
"This has been a really great place to sail and the conditions were similar to what I expect to get in Miami. The competition was fantastic, there are some talented sailors here and it was a privilege to be able to race against them,"
Rutger VAN SCHAARDENBURG
from the Netherlands was first in the Laser fleet well clear of Jeemin HA
from Korea and Kevin LIM
from Malaysia. These internationals will begin their travels to Sydney tomorrow morning.
The 470 fleet was solely supported by the Korean Sailing Federation who used the four day regatta to train for the future events they will be competing in here in Australia.
The local Tasar fleet was well represented with husband and wife team Wayne SAMPSON and Michele PETTY-SAMPSON finishing in first position. SAMPSON was impressed with the amount of Tasars in attendance for the regatta and is looking forward to building the fleet in South East Queensland.
The SEQ Sabot team who head off to their National Championships shortly took Sail Brisbane as an opportunity to train before their major regatta. Shelley WHITE from Keppel Bay Sailing Club had seven wins ahead of Southport Yacht Clubs Sean Ott. Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron sailor Alistair RANKIN placed third ahead of the tactically challenging young fleet.
Future Paralympian Dan FITZGIBBON (AUS) used Sail Brisbane as an opportunity to sail against other boats and as part of his overall training programme. Sailing without Rachel COX, FITZGIBBON opted to race with friend Jake BROOMHALL as COX prepares for her relocation to Brisbane early 2008.
Talented North Queensland 4.7 sailor Andrew TORPELUND finished one point ahead of local Jacqueline VAN SOEST in what was a very challenging and exciting regatta for these sailors. Sasha RYAN, also from RQYS took third place having only entered the 4.7 fleet some 6 months ago.
Former Sabot National Champion Nick PEATE from Ballina in Northern NSW and Rhys MARA together raced extremely well in the 29er fleet finishing 13.5 points clear of second place. PEATE and MARA have been racing the 29er together for two seasons now and will well and truly make their mark on the international 29er circuit.
The 125 fleet is consistently building in South East Queensland with Brisbane river sailors Tim ROBBA and Kerri SAYER taking home the gold. Along with the ever growing 420 fleet these two classes are constantly racing against each other with each loving their chosen class and the challenges they endure on the race course. Angus GALLOWAY and Alex GOUGH from RQYS were the overall champions in the 420 class leaving them ready to take on their Sydney counterparts at SIRS.
Last by definitely not least was the mixed fleet of Sabot 2ups and Minnows. These youngsters hit the water each day for Sail Brisbane with some competitive racing amongst themselves, and the Sabot senior sailors. Lake Cootharaba sailor Louise EVENS was the overall championship after seven wins from ten races.
Dates for Sail Brisbane 2008 will be confirmed and announced shortly. Be sure to keep up-to-date via the dedicated website - www.sailbrisbane.com
Final results - http://www.sailbrisbane.com/07-results/
Photo gallery - http://www.sailbrisbane.com/07-gallery/