Australian Laser Championships - Winds of change fail to stop fun

by Josh Sampson on 1 Jan 2010
Competitors and coaches waited patiently inside the Adelaide Sailing Club for conditions to pick up and after observation of coastal conditions by Race Management, Race 5 finally kicked off nearly two hours after the scheduled start.

Race 5 in the Full Rig was once again dominated by Tom Slingsby with compatriot Ashley Brunning coming in 2nd followed by Jeemin Ha of Korea. It was a great start to the day also for SASI squad member Todd Hughes who placed 12th to stay well in contention for a Top 10 finish. In 4.7 Class, Frenchman Laszlo Horvath redeemed himself after a disqualification on Day 3 winning Race 5 ahead of Victorian Lloyd Collings and Queenslander Josh Franklin.

The biggest surprises of the day, however, came in the Radials with 18th-placed Western Australian Tristan Brown claiming Race 5 ahead of Malaysian stayer Romzi Mohd Mohamed and Tasmanian Youth sailor Angus Barton who, after starting the day ranked 40th overall, shot up the rankings with a 3rd place finish.

Race 6 in the Full Rig was pretty much business as usual with Tom Slingsby taking it out ahead of Swiss Christoph Bottoni and Ashley Brunning. In 4.7 Class, Laszlo Horvath did the double ahead of Josh Franklin and Queenslander Ella Evans who solidified her place in the Top 10.

It was another action-packed Race in the Radials with Queenslander Benjamin Franklin tying with Western Australian Mark Whittington ahead of Singapore’s Seng Leong Koh who tied with Romzi Mohd Mohamed for 2nd and Queensland Youth sailor Mitchell Kennedy.

The overall standings after Day 4 are as follows:

Radial –
Seng Leong Koh (SIN) (1st 15pts),
Romzi Mohd Mohamed (MAS) (2nd 19pts),
Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy (MAS) (3rd 27pts)

4.7 –
Lloyd Collings (VIC) (1st 29pts),
Terence Jianjie Choo (SIN) (2nd 32pts),
Benjamin Walkemeyer (WA) (3rd 40pts)

Full Rig –
Tom Slingsby (NSW) (1st 6pts),
Ashley Brunning (NSW) (2nd 24pts),
Kacper Zieminski (POL) (3rd 33pts)

Full results: http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/22384/default.html