Young sailors shine in China

TEENAGE Tasmanian sailors Jasmin Galbraith and Chloe Fisher have won the bronze medal in the 29er skiff class at the World Sailing Youth Championships at Sanya, China.

Their success was all the more outstanding as they were late replacements in the Australian team for 29er world champions Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot. More than 400 teenage boys and girls from around the world competed in the regatta, the premier international event for youth sailors, competing in nine different youth classes.

Only three Australians finished in the top three in their class: Galbraith and Fisher third in the 29er girls, and first in the 420 boys and Nacra open classes.

The girls, the only Tasmanians in the Australian team, began the championship with rather ordinary results, 910-10 and then a BFD (black flag disqualification for a starting line rule infringement). But they were spurred on by the BFD and followed this with a 5-17-2-6-4-1-3 to finish with a net 70 points, just four out of second place.

Their win and a third in the last two races clinched third overall from the Russian team, with the 29er championship going to an Italian crew from a French crew. Had there been two discard races the Tasmanian girls could have finished second.

Galbraith, from Hobart, and Fisher, from Launceston, are members of Sandy Bay Sailing Club, with Fisher travelling south each weekend for racing and coaching by Tasmanian high performance coach Richard Scarr, who also went to China as coach for the boys and girls 29er crews.

Galbraith and Fisher had finished second to the world champions Bryant and Wilmot at the 2017 Australian Youth Sailing Championships.

Another Tasmanian sailor, Jock Calvert, finished fifth overall in the Olympic Finn class at Sail Sydney, which also ended yesterday. Calvert had two third placings in the 22boat international fleet.