Gareth Bishop and Gregory Myers represented Sailability Middle Harbour in the Hansa Class World Championships held at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Newport.
Below are Gareth Bishop’s reflections of this event:
“The Hansa Class World Championships held at Newport, Pittwater was a great opportunity to take part in a world championship event, amongst the best Hansa sailors in the world, virtually on my doorstep! I spent every Saturday racing at Sailability Dobroyd in the lead up to the event, in the hope I wouldn’t come last! The event itself was an amazing experience, meeting people who’d come from all over the world, and I’ve made friends that I hope I see at future regattas. Conditions were tricky, with quite light, shifty winds for most of the week and the last day unfortunately being abandoned due to gale force winds. Overall, I came 60th out of 75 boats in the 303 singles – I think I could maybe have done better, but it was a great learning experience, I was happy not to come last and I can now say I’ve competed against paralympic gold medallists!
I’m very grateful to Sailability Middle Harbour for the use of the boats and for transporting them to Pittwater, as well as the volunteers who helped there. RPAYC did a brilliant job of organising and hosting the event and overall it was a very memorable occasion – it has whet my appetite to do similar championships in the future!”
Gregory Myers also reflects:
“My first regatta! The Worlds!! It wasn’t until I actually got there that I realised what I had got myself into. Ten races scheduled over a week, 182 sailors from 19 countries, supported by over 130 dedicated volunteers and officials. Many teams with matching, slick uniforms, coaches, support boats and so forth made me suddenly so nervous that I began race 1 with a false start (UFD) along with a few other boats. Noticing that the yellow group was still jockeying for position on the start line, I turned around and did my penalty 360 over the line but the damage was already done. I finished the race in a not too shabby 19th place out of 38 but was hit with a penalty score of 39.
In race 4, my rudder suddenly broke right at the start and despite the best efforts of the course boat it couldn’t be repaired in time. Another score of 39 for a DNC. The final 3 races on the last day had to be abandoned because of dangerous weather, so I had no chance to drop any of my 39s unfortunately. Despite these mishaps, I still made it onto the podium for 3rd place in the NSW 303 1P class.
It was a steep learning curve and a great opportunity to watch up close a lot of very good sailors. The Europeans dominated every race with an Australian, a Korean and a Japanese filling out the top 10 or so. Very intense and a lot of fun. I can’t wait for the next opportunity to race in a similar regatta! My sights are now set on the 2027 Pacific Games in Tahiti!”
