#1 in Formula at the Australian Championships

Sean successfully defended his Formula Class Australian Title last night in Fremantle, Western Australia. A strong fleet of the nation’s best Formula sailors and a few internationals from Europe contested the four-day regatta at both South Beach, Fremantle and the Swan River, in Perth.

After two days of battling the weed and choppy conditions of South Beach, the event was moved into the smoother waters of the Swan River. Sean was sitting comfortably in 2nd heading into the third day after winning the first race of the series and stringing together another six 2nd’s behind the Danish champion, Jesper Vesterstrom (DEN-111). The racing proved tricky in the shifty waters of the river, with winds on the 3rd day getting up around 30knots. Despite being beaten in a few heats by Western Australia’s Jesper Orth (AUS-10), Sean was too far ahead to be troubled for the top Aussie spot. Overall Sean finished 2nd to world #1 ranked Jesper Vesterstrom (DEN-111) by a clear margin with Jesper Orth (AUS-10) and Sam Parker (AUS-3) in 3rd and 4th.

The Australian Slalom Championships was also held as a combined event at South Beach. WA didn’t deliver the ballistic winds it was famous for and the competition was over after only four rounds of slalom racing. A fifth round was raced as an all-in race with the 26 competitors, but this was later scrapped due to poor conditions, despite Sean finishing 3rd in this race. Overall, Sean dropped back to 5th behind Holland’s Peter Volwater (H-24), Jesper Orth (AUS-10) , Jesper Vesterstrom (DEN-111) and Chris Lockwood.

For those interested, most of the Top-10 in the Formula racing wore a GPS unit during the event, allowing you to view a GPS Action Replay of each race during the week. Go to http://www.windsurfingnsw.com/html/results/GPSAR.html to see the racing replays.