Kris Bilston and I attended the 49er/49erFX Nationals on Lake Macquarie and Sail Melbourne out of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Brighton. There are limited 49er regattas in Australia, so it was great to be racing across a combined fleet of 20 boats in the 49er and FX.

We were joined by fellow RQ sailors Ayesha and Elly Albery, and Ross Beedle, Emerson Wheeler and Will Bridge for the Nationals.

We were fortunate to be invited to the pre-Nationals sailing camp with the Australian Sailing Squad under coach Josh Porebski. The Nationals was a 4-day event with fantastic racing across varied breeze conditions from light and shifty to a howling 25 Knot westerly on day 4. All RQ teams performed well given limited regatta experience. We have trained 4+ days a week since we returned from the Youth Worlds in Copenhagen and our boat handling skills have improved under the coaching guidance of Adrian and Annie from the QAS. We had a solid 3rd in the 25-knot day, within touching distance of the AS leaders. Very pleasing given the AS Squad has the 14th Worlds boat in the team.

Results link https://9ernsw.ourclubadmin.com/docs/27/Provisional_Results_Day_4.pdf

From the lake we drove to Brighton for a brief training camp and the usual Melbourne weather of sun, rain, wind, no wind and unpredictable racing. Once again, a solid fleet and a great experience in the massive rolling swell of Port Phillip Bay. Unfortunately, no racing on Day 4, but we got to experience a 30-knot squall and see the entire 49er fleet on its side on the start line, quite an experience.

Results link here https://sailingresults.net/sa/results/overall.aspx?ID=82119.11

A special thanks to RQYS, Adrian, Annie and our parents for their ongoing support.

Back to RQ now for a VX One regatta and some training before next year.

Luke Rogers