Cranbrook Sailing 2nd at National Championships

Cranbrook Sailing 2nd at National Championships

Last week Cranbrook Sailing sent two teams to the Australian Schools Teams Racing Championships held down in South Australia. It was a brilliant event for the school with the 1st VI finishing second and the 2nd VI finishing 14th at the end of the week.

Teams sailing involves two teams of 3 boats each racing each other around a tight course – races are 10 minutes with 4 rounding marks for lots of tight handling. The format is all about blocking and controlling opponents to let your team mates pass them, and is very tight and dynamic. Cranbrook 1 put on a dominant display for the first 3 days which are raced in a swiss league format where the top teams continually compete against each other. At the end of the qualifying series the 1st VI had won 22 of 25 races sailed, and were 6 points ahead of 2nd place. They then won their prelim final and the semi final in dominant fashion to set up a showdown with our nemesis Scots College. The best of 5 race grand final went down to the wire with both teams at 2 wins each going into the 5th race in a rapidly dying breeze. Unfortunately, Scots was able to pull a slender advantage on the last leg and take home the series with our boys coming in second. Meanwhile our 2nd VI finished a brilliant 14th in a very tight battle amongst 11 teams in the midfield who were separated by a single point after 25 races.

If you see any of the boys around the School, I’m sure they’d appreciate your congratulations, 2nd is a huge accomplishment, but they are a little frustrated to have come so close and just missed out on the win. The big positive is that Cranbrook 1 has now qualified for the Interdominion Championship in October which pits the best 3 Australian school teams against the best 3 New Zealand school teams. The team will refocus straight back onto the task of chasing the win on an international stage.

Sailing 1st VI

  • Spencer McKay
  • Henry Myers
  • Luca Alexander
  • Harrison Lucas Martinez
  • Ethan Rushton
  • Tucker McKeon

Sailing 2nd VI

  • Jackson Parker
  • Martin Liebhold
  • Angus Baker Wood
  • Stirling McKay
  • Juliun Doumit
  • Oscar Deutsch
  • Oscar Balalla
  • Ben Richards

Regards,

Tom Brewer
Head of AFL and Sailing