Tasmanians shine in youth sailing

HOBART sailor Sam King yesterday clinched an impressive overall win in the hotly contested Laser Radial class at the NSW Youth Sailing Championships at Trinity Point on Lake Macquarie.

In another good result for the Tasmanian youth team, 29er sailors William Wallis and Brendan Crisp stormed home to take third place overall.

The NSW youth championships is one of the biggest off-the-beach regattas in Australia, with 277 youth sailors competing in 20 classes.

Both the Laser Radials and the 29ers had fleets of 20-plus boats from NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.

After winning the first three races for the Laser Radials, King overcame an OCS disqualification (premature starter) mid-regatta with consistent further placings of 5-1-2-4-3 to finish seven points clear of his nearest rival, Queenslander Thomas Needham. Two other young Hobart sailors also turned in impressive results in the Laser Radial class, William Sargent finishing fourth overall and Max Gluskie fifth.

Sargent followed his win in Race 7 on Sunday with a seventh and a ninth, taking fourth place on a countback from Gluskie, who ended the regatta yesterday with a fifth and fourth. Wallis and Crisp stormed home on the final day of racing with a second and a third, giving them third place overall in the spectacular 29er class.

Rupert Hamilton and Fynn Sprott finished seventh overall, with two seventh places yesterday.

In the Laser 4.7 class, RYCT sailors Abby Calvert finished 15th overall and Sarah Sargent, 19th.