Australian Sailors Impress At Palma Regatta

After two days of waiting on good weather it was more than fitting that all got their just desserts for Wednesday’s racing in Palma at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia regatta.

Technical Director of the Australian Sailing Team (AST), Michael Blackburn said after the sailors had returned to shore, “Some nice classic sea breeze conditions today, so we got some quality racing in. Today was the regatta pivot point into the gold fleet tomorrow and two of our 49er teams moved up and in, so they’ll be pleased with that.”

London 2012 silver medallist Olivia Price knows her way around the racecourse at Palma, and along with new crew and NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Evie Haseldine have qualified for the 49erFX Gold Fleet in tenth place.

Fellow Aussies Annie Wilmot and Laura Harding find themselves in 28^th after a challenging day.

“We had three races today in a building sea breeze,” said Wilmot. “We were on the closest course to shore, so it took a bit of time for it to settle, and being close to land there was some influence. It wasn’t the day we wanted so we’ve missed out on gold fleet by three points. We’ve got clear ideas of where we can make the biggest improvements going forward and are going to use the rest of this regatta to focus on those areas before Hyeres (France April 22-29).”

Australia has significant representation in the 49er skiff class with five crews out on the water all vying to get into the medal racing at the end of the week. AST athlete Shaun Connor is sailing with Jim Colley and commented afterwards, “As a squad we are really strong and get along really well. We are happy, enjoy hanging out together, and push each other to improve and build upon our weaknesses together.

“Here in Palma we have a different coach, Brady Lowe, whom we don’t normally work with, but integrating him into our group has been seamless, and has gone really well. I think this is a testament to us as a collective.”

Formula Kite Coach, Shane Smith, reflected on the regatta so far, “In the men’s fleet it was another solid day for Hector (Paturau), having only a handful of days with his new brand of kites there is still much to gain. A few average starts held his progress, and unfortunately has missed the cut for gold fleet by the smallest margin, so will use the rest of regatta to work on the starts and finish off on a high.”

“In the women’s fleet Brei (Whitehead) has had a mix of results adding another fourth place, but then a breakage saw her not complete the next race (DNC). A rapid repair meant she was slightly late start to the last race, but she had a good recovery to post a thirteenth place  and secure a spot in the finals series starting tomorrow.”

Racing in the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta in Palma concludes with the medal races on April 8, 2023.

Article and image courtesy of Australian Sailing