Olympic aspirants, Tasmanian high-performance female sailors, Jasmin Galbraith and Chloe Fisher, begin their European campaign in the 49erFX skiff Olympic class in Germany this week.
Joining them at the huge Keiler Woche (Kiel Week) regatta is another young Tasmanian with Olympic aspirations, Jock Calvert, this week ranked as 29th in the world in the single-handed Finn class.
Galbraith from Hobart, and Fisher from Launceston, are the only women’s 49erFX skiff sailors in Tasmania, sailing out of Sandy Bay Sailing Club.
The three Tasmanians are due to start competition at Kiel Week overnight, the women in the exciting women’s 49erFX Olympic skiff, Calvert in the demanding Olympic single-handed Finn class.
After putting in many hours of hard work at home, training at the gym and sailing on the Derwent most days of the week this year, the young women say they are “very excited to be able to put their efforts into practice in the European circuit.”
Their ultimate goal is to represent Australia one day at the Olympic Games, as is the aim Calvert, an off-the-beach member of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
The major focus for Galbraith’s and Fisher, and Calvert’s European campaign will be representing Australia at the World Sailing Championships held in Aarhus, Denmark in July and August.
The women earned a place to complete at this championship event based on their performance and after being allocated one of the limited entry places assigned to Australia.
The World Sailing Championships will count towards qualification for the Olympics, and it will host all 10 Olympic sailing classes with 1,500 competitors from 100 nations and an estimated 400,000 visitors.
Competing in Kiel Week this week in Germany (16 to 24 June) is an exciting opportunity for these young sailors to hone their skills and complete at the highest level at the largest sailing event in the world that typically attracts competitors from 70 nations and up to three million visitors.
Following Kiel Week, Galbraith and Fisher will then head off to Gdynia in Poland to train and compete at the European Championships from 8 to 13 July.
Galbraith and Fisher came together as a youth sailing team in 2015 when they started sailing the fast moving 29er Skiff, where they found great success. Last year, they transitioned into the exciting Women’s Olympic 49erFX Skiff.
The two sailors have both sailed competitively since they were eight years of age and currently train with the Tasmanian Institute of Sport and Australian Sailing, as members of the 49erFX Class Training Squad.
In late 2017, Galbraith and Fisher were the first Tasmanian sailors in over 30 years to podium in a World Youth Sailing Championship. They achieved this as part of the Australian Youth Sailing Team, winning a Bronze Medal in the 29er Skiff class in Sanya, China.
Earlier this year, they won the Tasmanian and Victorian 49erFX State Championships, and came fourth at the Oceanbridge Regatta in New Zealand.
Adding to their achievements, in 2016 they were the Tasmanian Female Sailors of the Year and were recently one of three Finalists in the Tasmanian Young Achievers Awards (Sporting Category) in April 2018.
Jock Calvert, will also be competing on the European summer sailing circuit, starting with the Finn class at Kiel Week, followed by the World Sailing Championships. His hard work is paying off and he has just placed at 29th on the World Sailing world rankings.
Calvert has graduated through Sabots, Lasers and sailboards (including representing Australia at the World Youth Sailing Championships several times) before moving in the Olympic Finn class.
Words: Liza Fallon/Peter Campbell
Photos: Australian Sailing/International Finn class
18 June 2018
Only six of the 25 boats entered for the Derwent Sailing Squadron/Battery World Winter Series braved today’s miserable winter weather for the opening race.
Who could blame those crews who stayed at home, in warmth, rather than heading out onto the Derwent on such a bleak, cold and wet morning.
But heaps of praise for the hardy ones who did, sailing in a cutting 15 knot sou-wester, gusting to 20 knots plus during the morning.
Rain squalls at times reduced vision on the river to a couple of hundred metres while heavy cloud covered a snow capped mountain.
Kindred Spirit won the two-boat race in DIvision 3.
For David Aplin and the crew of Whistler, it was a walkover (or sailover) as the only starter in Division 1, but there was some close competition in the other two divisions, with three starters in Division 2 and two in Division 3.
The sole SB20 entered, Phil Reid’s Mind Games was out on the water for some early spinnaker practice. She took line honours but had to concede first place on corrected time to the Latham Syndicate’s J24, Another Toy, although the margin as just 27 seconds.
Off-Piste (Paul Einoder) placed third, 15 seconds behind Mind Games.
Serenity (Graham Hall) won the two-boat fleet race in Division 3 but Kindred Spirit, skippered by Alastair Douglas, took first place on corrected time by a comfortable margin.
Words & photo: Peter Campbell
17 June 2018
An excellent fleet, in quantity and quality has been entered for the opening race of the Derwent Sailing Squadron/Battery World Winter Series, which starts on Sunday.
In change from recent winter series, races will start and finish off Castray Esplanade, with ‘Biddy’ Badenach again the race officer. The first division of the 23-boat fleet starts at 9.40am.
Rolex Sydney Hobart overall winner in 2013, Mike Pritchard’s Cookson 50 Oskana, heads Division 1 with Wayne Banks-Smith’s Farr 40 Wargames likely to keep pace with Oskana in light breezes.
However, fresh to strong southerly winds have been forecast for Sunday. The latest BOM forecast is for 25-40 km/hour winds freshening to 35 to 45 km/hour during Sunday morning.
Australian Yachting Championship winner Philosopher and her crew are using the DSS Winter Series as the start of their campaign to retain the IRC Division 3 national championship on Melbourne’s Port Phillip next January.
Also in the sights of owner/skipper Shaun Tiedeman is the Riversdale Wines Launceston to Hobart Yacht Club in late December, the first real long offshore race for the Sydney 36cr.
“We are using the Winter Series to tune up the boat and train up young crew members who are keen to do the L2H race as well as harbour pennant races,” Tiedemann said today.
“We also aim to do better in the summer pennants, although we did quite well considering we missed several races whilst competing in the Australian Yachting IRC Championships in Melbourne.
Tiedemann, who is general manager of the DSS, was delighted with the response for the Winter Series. “It’s an exceptionally good line-up for Division 1 and also for Division 2,” he added.
Unlike Hobart’s summer pennant racing on the Derwent which is a combined clubs event, the winter race series are run individually by Bellerive Yacht Club, the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and the Derwent Sailing Squadron on alternative Sunday mornings.
Sunday’s DSS opening race has attracted an excellent fleet of 23 boats, with Sydney Hobart racer Oskana, Mike Pritchard’s canting keel Cookson 50 heading Division 1.
Keen to outpace to the bigger boat, particularly in lighter winds, is Wayne Banks-Smith’s Farr 40 Wargames while strong PHS handicap contenders in Division 1 include Philosopher, the Mumm 36 B&G Advantage (Jeff Cordell), the classic 8-metre yacht Juanita (Jock Young), Zephyr (Ian Johnston), Whistler, David Aplin’s MBD36, Neil Snare’s NSX38 Winstead Wines and the Fred Barrett designed-and-sailed sports boat, Fang to the Max.
Only one SB20 has entered the DSS Winter Series, Phil Reid’s Mind Games, while a newcomer to Division 3 is Mimi, Keven Jacobson’s Jeanneau Sun Odyssy 369.
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Alex McKinnon and Peter Watson
15 June 2018
