Centreboard News
RPAYC Perform Strongly on the World Stage
RPAYC sailiors Shaun Connor and Sophie
Renouf had a strong regatta winning five
out of thirteen races in the open multihull but just not enough to catch the
defending champions from France. France
won the final three races with Shaun
Connor and Sophie Renouf in second and
securing the silver medal.
2014 Youth Worlds 29er sailor Shaun
Connor and Sophie Renouf had never
sailed a SL16 before the regatta, which
made the silver medal extra special.
“We’ve been training in three different
classes since our selection in July and in
the lead up to this regatta. It was a bit
tricky to get your head around this boat
on the first day, but we got the hang of it
pretty quickly,” Shaun Connor said.
And crew Sophie Renouf added:
“Transferring between boats in training
has really helped us to be able to get
used to a new boat at this regatta and we
thought we picked it up pretty well. We
came in with not too many expectations,
were aiming for the top five and are really
stoked to win a silver medal. It’s also really
exciting to win the Nation’s trophy, which
has been such an achievement for all of
us.”
“Australia has not won the Nation’s Trophy
since 2007 so this is pretty special,” Shaun
Connor agreed. “It’s been awesome to
be part of the team. The team spirit has
been great and we all know each other
really well. Everyone has been backing
each other and there’s always someone
helping you out and that’s been good to
see.”
Youth Team returner Jim Colley (NSW)
and Youth Worlds first-timer and 2014
29er World Champion Kurt Hansen
(NSW) sailed a solid regatta to finish
fourth overall. They just missed out on the
podium by four points after a sixth place
in Sunday’s final race.
“We’ve come away with fourth place,
narrowly missing third and narrowly
beating fifth, but we’re pretty happy after
the week and the work we put in and it’s a
good result in the end,” Kurt Hansen said.
And Jim Colley added: “It was a fairly tough
regatta for us. We had some shockers and
some good races. It probably wasn’t ideal
conditions for us but we managed to pull
through and we’re really stoked to come
away with fourth.”
About the event as a whole Colley added:
“The Worlds were amazing, especially the
team aspect behind it. We had a really
strong team here, we all turned it on for
this regatta and the Aussies did really well.
We were all helping and encouraging each
other so it was a really good atmosphere.”
It was the last regatta in the 29er for the
pair with new projects on the horizon.
“This was our last 29er regatta ever. We
have a 49er waiting at home and we’re
looking forward to sailing that for a bit,
possibly a 470 too. Either way, we’re
definitely looking forward to the future
and more international competitions
ahead,” Kurt Hansen said.
In the 29ers girls fleet Amelia Stabback
(NSW) and Pia Doyle (NSW) finished the
regatta with a bang by winning the last
race of the series and moving up the
results ladder to finish seventh overall.
Malaysia was the first Youth Worlds for
the pair and their first time competing in
an all-girl fleet. .
The 29er class reflects the increase in
participation at the 2015 Youth Sailing
World Championships and for the first
time was separated into a boys and girls
fleet.
Fourteen young Australian sailors and
three coaches contested the 45th Youth
Sailing World Championships in nine
classes and