Arran brothers sail to success
‘We saw them make a mistake and managed to sneak through the finish line ahead and take the title’
Arran’s sailing brothers, Rory and Neil Hunter, won this year’s 49er National Championships last month.
The Lamlash siblings have ended a successful season in style, winning their second consecutive national championships.
The event was held at Hayling Island Sailing Club where the fleet was met by strong winds and challenging tidal conditions in Chichester Harbour.
Rory and Neil started strongly over the first two days of the event and found themselves in second place, only one point off the lead going into the final day of competition.
The third day was an in- tense, five-race showdown between the Hunter brothers and Team Peters Sterritt, who the Hunters had never beaten at any regatta.
Rory and Neil raced solidly all day and capitalised on a mistake from their rivals on the final leg of the final race to take the title.
Rory said: ‘At one point in the last race, the Canadian boat got in between us and the leaders’ boat, but we managed to get back in front of them. Just as it looked like we were going to finish second, we saw them make a mistake and managed to sneak through the finish line ahead and take the title.’
Following selection for the British sailing team in Jan- uary, they have had a successful season, winning the RYA spring ranking series, qualifying for the UK Sailing World Cup round and now winning the national championships.
Few people have won the 49er national championships more than once. Previous winners include double Olympic medallist, Simon Hiscocks, which shows Rory and Neil are definitely on track for their ultimate goal of a gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Next on the calendar for the brothers is the invitation-only sailing World Cup final, held in Abu Dhabi, and limited to only the 20 best sailors in the world.