Learning experience

“I’m sorry we didn’t make the podium, but we held onto our fifth place and we’re very happy. Very relieved, actually.

“I’d like to say a big thank you to our and coaches and to our family and friends back home. Some of them have been with us since we started sailing the 49er. We’re grateful to them because we wouldn’t be able to do this without the support we get.”

Fellow ASS athletes Tom Needham and Joel Turner also made the 49er Medal Race. The Queensland duo finished ninth overall after placing eighth in the Medal Race.

“A tricky Medal Race,” Needham said. “Conditions were much lighter than we’ve had all week. The course was close to shore on super flat water and it was shifty again.

“It was really good to lock in and back up our performance at Kiel Week.”

In June, the two sailors finished fourth overall after making their first Medal Race at Kiel Week in Germany.

“From where we were at the start of the season, to make it to two Medal Races, we’re stoked,” Needham continued.

“We would’ve liked to have done better today, but we’re happy with our consistency in the variable conditions we had this week.”

Needham and Turner will now head home for training ahead September’s 49er Worlds in Canada. The two 49er pairs pushed each other hard all week, contributing to both crews’ impressive results.

Rio Olympic silver medallists Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AST) finished the Nacra 17 Medal Race seventh to maintain their tenth place overall.

“We made some big leaps with speed, but nothing went our way with breakages, it was frustrating,” Darmanin explained.

“We didn’t quite nail it this week. We definitely want to move up in the rankings. We were up in second in the Medal Race, but those behind us came through with pressure… But you have to go through the hard times to get better.

“We know what we need to work on. We need easy speed, which means time to look around when you’re racing,” she said.

On the 49erFX course, the final two races in the Gold fleet were held in ten to 15 knots on a relatively flat sea with a little chop, a couple of miles off Aarhus. These were vastly different to the conditions the 49er and Nacra 17s faced.

Tess Lloyd and Dervla Duggan (ASS) finished best of the Australians in 15th overall, while Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot dropped to 21st. It meant neither qualified for the Medal Race.

Lloyd, who took an extended break after representing Australia in the 49erFX at the Tokyo Games, returned to the class recently with her new crew, Tasmanian Dervla Duggan.

“We came to learn and get better on the boat together,” Lloyd said.

“We’re here working towards the Worlds. We weren’t expecting great results. We’re more working on the processes and developing as a team together.

“There are lots of new pairings in the class like us doing the same thing. It’s been good to spend some time in Europe racing against the European boats.”

Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) and Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) results and overall placings:

Nacra Medal Race final results (Medal Race points in brackets)

Gold – Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti (ITA) (4) – 21
Silver – Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson (NZL) (8) – 86
Bronze – Sinem Kurtbay and Akseli Keskinen (FIN) (6) – 93
10^th Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AST) (7) – 138

Nacra 17 – 14 races (one drop) 

15th – Jake Liddell and Lucy Copeland (ASS) 14, (23), 23, 13, 12, 18, 15, 17, 6, 8, 13, 19, 17, 14 = 189pts
20th – Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown (ASF) (26), 16, 19, 25, 26, 22, 14, 19, 10, 21, 21, (28), 16, 21 = 256
22nd – Archie Gargett and Sarah Hoffman (ASF) 20, (28), 31, 20, 27, 27, 25, 16, 18, 24, 19, 18, 10, 26 = 278

49erFX Gold fleet – 14 races (one drop)

15th – Tess Lloyd and Dervla Duggan (ASS) 12, 17, 5, 13, 9, 7, (18), 8, 13, 11, 14, 13, 7, 12 = 140pts
21st – Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot (ASS) 20, 2, 3, 23, 11, 2, (27), 4, 6, 20, 22, 8, 12, 25 = 157

49erFX Silver fleet – 14 races (one drop)

32nd – Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine (ASS) 21, 14, 17, 10, (30), 22, 6, 17, 8, 25, 7, 2, 14, 14 = 177pts
48th – Chloe Fisher and Laura Thomson (ASF) 16, 24, 18, 26, (28), 9, 14, 27, 18, 19, 16, 27, 27, (35) = 269
60th – Mina Ferguson and Madeleine McLeay (ASF) (DNC), DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, 13, 27, 27 22, DNF, DNC, 11, 17 = 379
68th – Lilly Richardson and Matilda Richardson (ASF) DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, 35, 36 = 487

49er Medal Race final results (Medal Race points in brackets)

Gold – Diego Botin and Florian Trittel Paul (ESP) (8) – 68pts
Silver – Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken (NED) (12) – 83
Bronze – James Peters and Fynn Sterritt (GBR) (4) – 84
Fifth – Jim Colley and Shaun Connor (ASS) (14) – 102
Ninth – Tom Needham and Joel Turner (ASS) (16) – 115

49er Gold fleet – 15 races (one drop)  

24th – Jack Ferguson and Max Paul (ASS) 5, 6, 18, 10, 9, 1, 8, 1, 9, 22, 23, 19, (DNC), 24, 20 = 174pts

49er Silver fleet – 14 races (one drop)

26th – Tom Burton and Simon Hoffman (ASS) (28), 7, 11, 14, 4, 10, 14, 5, 13, 21, 1, 3, 1, 1, 7, 11 = 123pts
40th – Thomas Cunich and Miles Davey (ASF) 10, 13, 13, 15, 16, 16, 12, (26), 12, (UFD), 24, DNC, 9, 6, 12, 20 = 239

49er Bronze fleet – 14 races (one drop)

64th – Otto Henry and Flynn Twomey (ASF) 26, 29, 19, 19, 21, (DNC), 10, 25, 22, 1, 1, 13, 9, 5 = 200pts
90th – Ryan Littlechild and Jack Hildebrand (ASF) (DNC), DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC = 428

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