Young Australian sailors have success on international waters

12:08 PM Fri 5 Aug 2011 GMT

'Queensland Laser Radial sailor Mitchell Kennedy' Christophe Breschi / ricochets17

A number of young up-and-coming Australian crews have had success at recent World and European championships.

Australian crews have finished in the top 10 at the 470 Junior World Championships in Holland, the 29er European Championships in Switzerland and the Laser Radial Men's, Youth and Laser Youth Standard World Championships in France, competing against top crews from across the globe.

At the 470 Junior World Championship Sasha Ryan and Chelsea Hall finished the week third overall, bringing home the Bronze medal in their first World Championship together.

Ryan and Hall were in the mix the whole way through the regatta, finishing behind the first placed German and second placed British crews.

The pair finished in the top 10 in seven of the 11 races, including a seventh place finish in the final medal race.

In the men's fleet Matthew and Robert Crawford were 25th, picking up four top 10 finishes along the way.

The same week in Switzerland Victorian teenagers James Sly and Tom Dwyer were competing at the 2011 29er European Championships, finishing with the Silver medal.

Sly and Dwyer finished five points behind the winning crew from the United States in the 155 boat fleet, and were two ahead of the third placed Spanish crew.

The pair had a race win and three second place finishes in an impressive display in the highly competitive fleet.

Fellow Australians Tess Lloyd and Lewis Duncan were 22nd overall in the Gold fleet.

In France, five Australian sailors were in the top 18 at the Laser Radial Men's World Championship, with Australian Sailing Squad member James Burman topping the list, finishing second overall.

Burman won five out of 11 races and was in the top six in every race of the regatta on his way to the Silver medal.

Tristan Brown finished the week fourth overall, ahead of Mitchell Kennedy in seventh, Jeremy O'Connell in 11th and Mark Spearman in 18th.

Queenslander Mitchell Kennedy was also second overall in the under 19 category.

Following the Laser Radial Men's World Championship was the Laser Radial Youth World Championships with Australian Mitchell Kennedy finishing seventh, Jeremy O'Connell 13th and Mark Spearman 14th, along with being second under 17.

The regatta featured an impressive 271 entries from all corners of the globe.

In the girls class Caitlin Elks finished the regatta 10th, including seven top 10 finish out of 11 races n the 99 competitor strong fleet.

France also hosted the Laser Standard Junior World Championships with Ki-Raphael Sulkowski finishing fourth, including 10 top five finishes, with fellow West Australian Luke Elliott sixth out of 147 boats.

At the Laser 4.7 World Championships in San Francisco Milly Bennett was ninth in the girls event, ahead of Sophie Chesterman in 22nd, Emma Barton in 30th and Emma Vaughan in 40th, including a race victory.

In the boys class Nicholas Connor from NSW was 23rd and third in the under 16 category, with Benjamin Walkemeyer was one place further back in 24th.

Many of the sailors excelling at the highest level are a part of the Australian Sailing Squad, including 470 sailor Chelsea Hall and James Burman in the Laser Radial class, while others such as 29er crew James Sly and Tom Dwyer, 470 sailor Sasha Ryan and Laser Radial sailor Mitchell Kennedy have benefited from the Youth Bridging Program

Yachting Australia website

by Craig Heydon

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Young Australian sailors have success on international waters

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