News & Features | ISAF | World Sailing | Official Site : Two Weeks Until Racing

News

2 December 2005, 11:13 am

Two Weeks Until Racing

Sydney International Regatta 2005

Sydney, Australia

With racing just two weeks away entries are flowing in for this years Sydney International Regatta (SIRs). SIRs will see Australian Athens Olympic 470 men's crew Nathan WILMOT and Malcolm PAGE changing classes to race in the 49er class for the four day regatta being held December 17 - 20.

WILMOT and PAGE will join Nathan OUTTERIDGE and Ben AUSTIN in the 49er class and are looking forward to racing on Sydney Harbour. 'We have raced at SIRs for the last four years and always enjoy racing at the regatta and at home on Sydney Harbour,' commented PAGE. OUTTERIDGE is returning to sailing after a year of recovery from a car accident earlier this year. AUSTIN has been recently been racing on the 18 footer's and won the Youth World Championship in 2000 in the Laser class.

Yachting NSW has been the organiser of SIRs for the past 14 years and the 2005 event will see a number of invited international classes returning to join the Olympic, Paralympic and Youth classes, including Laser 4.7's, 505's, Moths and OK Dinghy classes and for the first time, the new Olympic board class - the Neil Pryde RS:X Board.

Current Moth World Champion and ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards nominee Rohan VEAL will be racing with the SIRs Moth fleet this year. VEAL who has World Champion, European Open Champion, South Pacific Champion, Australian Open Champion, Australian Champion, and British National Open Champion titles to his name has made huge impact on the skiff classes with his development of the foiling technique in the International Moth class boat.

'After a number of years of being invited to SIRs, I am really looking forward to competing this year on Sydney Harbour along with a number of other foiler Moth's from Sydney. The Moth class has grown in both members and interest levels over the last few years, so it is also good to be mixing our racing with the Olympic classes on a more regular basis,' commented VEAL.

Sydney International Regatta is the Sydney stop of the Sail Down Under series and will be hosted by the Woollahra Sailing Club with the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron hosting the keelboat classes. The classes for the Olympic, Paralympic and Youth classes will be 49ers, 470s, Laser, Laser Radial, Finn, Yngling, Tornado, Neil Pryde RS:X Board, Star, 29er, 420s, 2.4mr and Sonar.

The NOR is available on the Yachting New South Wales's website via the link below. Entries close December 9.