Turner up for top offshore award

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2019 themercury.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397 TASMANIAN Phillip Turner, owner of Alive, the overall winner of last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, has been nominated for Australian Offshore Sailor of Year.

The winner will be announced by Australian Sailing at its awards dinner in Sydney on October 18.

Alive was the first Tasmanianowned yacht in 39 years to win the bluewater classic and only the third yacht from this state to win the Tattersalls Cup. She has returned from a US campaign to defend the Sydney Hobart title.

Three other Tasmanians are finalists among the 14 awards. Matthew Bugg and Chris Symonds are both finalists for Sailor of the Year with a Disability, and Scott Ragg is finalist for the Volunteer award.

At the end of racing yesterday in the Australian Youth Match Racing Championships on Sydney Harbour, Tasmanian sailor Will Sargent and his crew from the Derwent Sailing Squadron were down 2-0 to Finn Tapper, representing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

Nevertheless, each race was not decided until the final metres, with Tapper and Sargent trading the lead back and forth as well as penalties throughout each race.

In Race 1, Sargent looked set to take the early lead in the series, having penalised Tapper at the final top mark. On the run, Sargent continued to lead, but a problem with their spinnaker drop saw them penalised and Tapper gybing away to finish.

In the second race, Tapper clawed back after a great start by Sargent and held on to a two-boat-length lead on the final run to go 2-0 up.

“We had a great third round robin and definitely feel we have come a long way since Day 1. We were super happy to win that round but obviously very disappointed with how this afternoon went,” Sargent said.

Unbeaten series leader James Hodgson (CYCA) has a 2-0 lead in his semi-final against Alastair Read (RPAYC) with the semi-finals to be completed this morning before the final of Youth Match Racing Championships. THE Olympia Warriors have appointed Andrew Brown as senior men’s coach for the 2020 season.

Brown was approached by the Warriors following his success with Hobart United in which he led the team to the Southern Championship title as well as being named the Southern Championship coach of the year. Rob Clarke, Brown’s predecessor, will stay on at the club in the role of football manager and the two are expected to work closely.

Along with the coaching change, the Warriors also announced the arrival of brothers Callum and Declan Brown, sons of Andrew, who have signed from Glenorchy Knights.

Callum won the 2018 Vic Tuting Medal with the Knights in the Southern Championship, however his 2019 season was marred by injury.