Local West Australian sailors have shared the honours with international competitors at the final City of Perth Regatta held as part of the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships Emerging Nations Programme. Eleven young Laser and RS:X sailors from ten countries were joined by a group of Perth sailors for the regatta on Perth Water in front of the city.
With winds gusting between ten and 20 knots, conditions were challenging with several spectacular capsizes and closely contested mark roundings. The series of short races tested the skills learnt by the ENP athletes over a number of camps held in Perth ahead of the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championship in December.
The regatta also gave both established and developing local sailors the chance to measure themselves against international athletes. Non-ENP athlete, Swiss Olympian Christoph Bottoni, finished first in the full-rig Laser class, followed by ENP athlete from Serbia Dany Stanisic with WAIS sailor Matt Wearn and Andrew Lewis of Trinidad and Tobago sharing third. ENP athlete Andrea Aldana of Guatemala won the Laser Radial class, ahead of local WAIS sailor Mark Spearman and fellow ENP athlete Rohini Rau of India.The RS-X windsurfer event was won by Howard Chang of Chinese Taipei from Colombia’s Santiago Grillo and local athlete Tim Gourlay placed third.Perth deputy Lord Mayor John Tognolini told the athletes that anticipation was building ahead of the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.
"We are looking forward to welcoming more than 1400 of the world's top Olympic class sailors and today's regatta has been a timely reminder of the excitement and energy that the world championships will bring to our city.
"With many of the international and local athletes about to head overseas to further develop their sailing, the City of Perth Regatta provided them with a final chance to race against each other in Perth before hopefully qualifying for the ISAF Sailing World Championships from December 3-18.
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