Windsurfer Australian Championship at Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club - Overall
by Mitch Pearson / SurfSailKite 27 Jan 2020 00:36 NZDT
23-26 January 2020
The fourth and final day of the 2020 Australian Windsurfer National titles saw freestyle, slalom finals and the all important marathon competed.
The morning was for the freestylers with more than a dozen competitors donning costumes and styling it up to their chosen music for a three minute routine. While the veterans threw down the technical moves some young guns showed that there is plenty of life left in this entertaining discipline.
The seabreeze finally kicked in before lunch for the first time in the regatta allowing the men's and women's slalom finals to be run. The fresher breeze meant scintillating action with tight quick races sorting out the business end of the discipline with Mel Webb and Timothy Gourlay coming out winners.
Finally it was the marathon to put the icing on a fantastic event. 116 sailors crammed the 200 m start line for two laps of the glorious Seacliff beachfront. With the breeze finally getting into the teens it was again Tim Gourlay who absolutely blitzed the fleet to take home first place. Mel Webb came through in first for the women and Tony Schnaars first in the cruiser division.
The regatta concluded with the presentation where the top three juniors were awarded scholarships to the upcoming Windsurfer worlds to be held at Mounts Bay Sailing Club in Perth in December of this year.