The Australian Sailing Development Squad teams skippered by Katie Spithill and Nicky Souter battled it out for the top two podium places in Kiel, Germany yesterday. 

The semi finals saw Spithill and Souter finishing on equal points, but with Souter’s only loss being to Spithill, the placings were then decided, Spithill, first and Souter, second.  Spithill and her crew of Nina Curtis and Nicole Douglass elected to sail against Julie Bossard and her French team.  Spithill made short work of Bossard, with three straight wins taking her directly to the final.  Souter and her team of Jess Eastwell and CYCA YSA member Olivia Price took a little longer to get to the finals, sailing her semi against the Dutch team skippered by Renee Goeneveld.  Souter won the first race but then Goeneveld evened the score.  Souter fought back and went on to take the next two setting up an all Australian final.

And it was quite a final as these closely matched teams took it down to the wire.  Souter took the first two wins and it looked like it might be all over but Spithill fought back to win three in a row and take the title.

Women’s Match Racing coach Dayne Sharp said that all four Australian crews gained a lot of experience racing in round six of the ISAF Sailing World Cup and the all-Australian final showed that the squad is progressing well.
 
“I am very pleased with the results,” said Sharp. “We achieved our aim of an All-Australian final and both crews fought hard. Our experience in Elliott 6’s has definitely paid off here, despite the differences between the boats we’ve used before and the new models being used at this regatta and for the Olympic Games.”

From Kiel, the Women’s Match Racing Squad travels to Sweden to compete in the Women’s Match Racing tour event, the Swedish Match Cup, in preparation for the ISAF Women’s World Match Racing Championship, also in Sweden, in late July.

Other results in Kiel for our YSA members:
49ers
Euan McNicol and Sam Newton  26
David O’Connor and Rob Bell  28

470
Sam Kivel and Will Ryan   15

Laser W
Gabrielle King    17