2008 Canadian Olympian Mike Leigh in the Laser class and 2008 Paralympic Gold Medallist Paul Tingley in the 2.4 mR class both sailed to victory in in the Sail Melbourne Regatta in Melbourne, Australia in December and you will find below a link to the Sail Melbourne website with really good video of the final day of racing (along with good Aussie accents).
Hosted by Sandringham Yacht Club, Melbourne, Australia, Sail Melbourne officially kicked off the second season of ISAF’s Sailing World Cup. Conditions on Port Philip Bay were outstanding with winds in the upper teens and huge waves greeting the international competitors.
The Laser class was the most hotly contested class at this year’s event with 43 competitors from 19 nations. The international flavour was evident after the first days racing with 8 countries in the top 10 overall in the Laser class.
Leigh claimed victory in the Laser class, with his fourth place in the Medal Race enough to give him a two-point win over American Clayton Johnson.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better Medal Race,” said Leigh. “I kind of figured that Clayton and I would have a little bit of a pre-start match race, we were playing cat and mouse out there. But once we got underway he went left and I went right and I just had him at the top mark.”
“It was tight the whole way and came right down to the final downwind, there was nothing between the ten of us the whole race,” he said.
Beijing Paralympic gold medallist, Canadian Paul Tingley won the final 2.4mR race, and in the process won the regatta ahead of Michael Leydon (AUS) with Peter Russell (AUS) third.
“Today was great, I won the race and won the regatta,” said Tingley. “The wind was a little more consistent and it was more about boat handling out there, going into the race I kept it simple, I knew if I could win the race the overall win would be mine as well.”
“I started at the pin end and had good speed off the start, I made sure I protected the left and covered Michael throughout the first half of the race until I had a good lead,” he said.
See the action first hand at http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/home.html
Footnote: Information from CYA website