12:07 AM Fri 4 Dec 2009 GMT
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'Tasmanian members of the Australian team for the International Cadet world championships to be sailed at Buenos Aires, Argentina, late this month'
Peter Campbell ©
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Five young Tasmanian sailors are in the team of ten to represent Australia at the International Cadet World championships to be sailed on the River Plate at Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the end of this month.
The Tasmanians, all from Sandy Bay Sailing Club, assembled at the club today to try out their new uniforms with team members flying out of Hobart at the weekend to begin two to three weeks of intensive training in chartered
boats.
Eleanor Ransley, aged 17 and the oldest in the team, will helm one Tasmanian entrant, with fellow Fahan School student Laura Barker (13) as crew. Eleanor is in her fifth season of sailing Cadets.
Alec Bailey (15), a Hutchins School student, will helm the other boat with his 12 year old sister Samantha, also a Fahan student, as crew. They were runners-up in the 2008 Australian Championships.
Fifth Tasmanian in the team, Caitlan Moody (14) will crew for a sailor from Royal Geelong Yacht Club in Victoria which is sending two crews, with the fifth crew coming from the Redlands School in Sydney through Balmoral
Sailing Club.
Tasmanian sailors have an outstanding record in the World championship racing in the International Cadet, a class designed by the famous English designed Jack Holt, although there was a gap of 20 years in a top three result until Tom Kennedy and Ellie Chesterman finished third overall in the Worlds in Medemblik, Holland last year.
However, this will be the first time any of these teenage Tasmanians has qualified as an International Cadet representative for Australia.
'We have been able to charter Mark IV fibreglass hulls and the team will have South Australian Shane Hughes as coach in our preparation for the Worlds which will run from the 27 December through to 4 January,' team manager Don Bailey said today.
Bailey said that event organisers were expecting a fleet of up to 60 boats from Australia, Britain and Europe. The Argentineans have dominated the Cadet worlds in recent years and with a 10 boat team will be hard to beat on their home waters.
by Peter Campbell
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