Blood is thicker than water

current Australian champion sailors, Felicity Allison and her son, Hugo, will both be competing at this month’s Bellerive Regatta, something rare in Australian sailing.

Felicity, the 2018 SB20 Australian women’s champion skipper and Commodore of the Sandy Bay Sailing Club, will be helming Cook Your Own Dinner in the SB20 Tasmanian championships at the Crown Series.

Her son, Hugo, who last month won the 2019 International Cadet Australian championship, and his crew James Gough will be racing Shmoken in the Cadet class.

Hugo’s elder brother, Jack, will also be sailing in the Crown Series, crewing on a SB20s and competing against his mother.

Their father Will, who owns Peter Johnston Ship Chandlers and is also a sometime crew for Felicity, will be the back-up man ashore for the three sailors in the Crown Series.

In July, Hugo — who turned 14 a week ago — and James will head off to Poland to compete in Hugo’s sixth world championship in International Cadets.

Hugo has been sailing since he was six, as a member of Sandy Bay Sailing Club.

July’s world championships in Poland will cap off a remarkable year in his still short sailing career.

Not only did Hugo, then 13, and 12-year-old crew James win the Cadet nationals on the Derwent, but Hugo also sailed as crew in the SB20 sports boat world titles, and more recently crewed on an International Etchells in the Australian championship in Brisbane.

Mercury yachting writer Peter Campbell says Hugo has obvious sailing talent, both as a crew and a helmsman, and shows keen tactical sense.

“He has been very lucky to have extraordinary skippers as mentors right from the beginning,’’ Campbell said.

“This has continued, with Hugo now having adult mentors who have supported him and given him opportunities to experience sailing at many levels and in many classes.”

Victorian yachtsman Kirwan Robb included Hugo in SB20 sailing, both at national and world level. He recently invited Hugo to participate in the very competitive Etchells nationals at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.

“They sailed against the cream of the crop, including Iain Murray, Mat Belcher just to name a couple of the highcalibre sailors,’’ Campbell said.

“They finished fourth out of the 27-boat fleet and won one race.”

Sailing International Cadets, Hugo has won a world championship as a crew, with Sam Abel as skipper, and has won three national titles, two as a crew and most recently his first time as a skipper, with James as his crew, sailing in Shmoken.

This will be Hugo’s sixth world championships competition, his second on the helm. Last year in Germany, he finished 20th out of a fleet of 63 boats and was the No1. under-15 skipper.