Olympic Sailors Making The Most of Melbourne’s Summer of Sailing

Less than 200 days out from the Tokyo Olympic Games, Australia’s iconic Sail Melbourne International regatta will see the world’s best sailors from 25 countries and from all around Australia battle it out on Port Phillip at yet another world-class sailing event in the 2020 Melbourne Summer of Sailing series.  

Sail Melbourne International 2020 will be hosted by both Royal Brighton Yacht Club and Sandringham Yacht Club, with racing to get underway on Friday, 17 January 2020 and the final race day scheduled for Tuesday, 21 January 2020. The event includes the Laser Oceania Championships, the inaugural 2020 Australian Kite Foiling Championships, as well as the 2020 Australian Para-Sailing Championships and Australian Championships in the International 505 Class. 

Sail Melbourne International (SMI) continues the exciting 2020 Melbourne Summer of Sailing which kicked off with the 2019 Finn Gold Cup, the world championships of the International Finn Class, in December and continued with the Australian Open Laser Championships at the start of January. Also leading into next week’s racing are the 2020 Australian Sailing Youth Championships, which will see Australia’s future Olympic sailors vying for national honours at Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club from 10-14 January 2020. 

With close to 300 entries, SMI will be the biggest sailing event this summer and a welcome opportunity for sailors from around the world to test the waters ahead of their Melbourne Summer of Sailing class world championships in February and March. 

“We are very excited to be hosting the world’s best sailors here in Melbourne this summer and to see Sail Melbourne International once again attracting such a strong field of competitor across the classes. It is also very exciting to see new classes, like kite foiling adding to the quality and depth of the event,” Australian Sailing President Daniel Belcher said.

“2020 is an important year for our Olympic sailors especially, and we are proud to be hosting so many of them in Melbourne over our summer. Sail Melbourne and the Melbourne Summer of Sailing shows that we have some of the world’s best sailing territory, world class race management, clubs and volunteers right here at home with many of our international sailors returning competitors, who are making the most of our Southern hemisphere summer.”

It’s been a busy summer of sailing already and with more events coming up we also thank all our volunteers and host clubs as well as the Victorian State Government for their continuing support in making this happen.”

The Laser Standard and Laser Radial events have attracted the largest number of entries with Sail Melbourne International another exciting opportunity for the world’s best International Laser Class sailors to test the Port Phillip waters ahead of their class world championships at Sandringham Yacht Club in February and with the event ranked as the 2020 Laser Oceania Championships. 

With the Laser Standard (9-16 February) and Laser Radial (21-28 February) World Championships just four weeks away, the International Laser classes have attracted the who is who in the class.  Amongst others, Rio Olympic champion in the Laser Radial Marit Bouwmeester from the Netherlands will be contesting the event as will Australian Sailing Team’s Matt Wearn, who will be representing Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. 

In the men’s events the three top-ranked Laser sailors in the World, Tokyo 2020 Olympic team sailor Matt Wearn (AUS), Rio 2016 Olympic champion Tom Burton (AUS) and Olympic bronze medallist Sam Meech (NZL) have all entered SMI, along with 2015 and 2016 World Champion Nick Thompson (GBR).  

The RS:X windsurfing class has also attracted a high-calibre field from around the world, including Olympic champion in the women’s RS:X event at the Rio 2016 Olympics Charline Picon from France, with athletes testing the waters ahead of the RS:X World Championships at Sorrento in February. 

All eyes will also be on the strong field from all around Australia that will be contesting the inaugural Australian Kite Foiling Championships – the class that will premiere at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

A fine selection of the world’s best Finn sailors are also making the most of the summer in Australia and have stayed on in Melbourne following their world championships in December to contest Sail Melbourne International next week. Amongst the entries are Switzerland’s Nils Theuninck, who took out second place in the U23 category at the Finn Gold Cup as well as the Norwegian and Canadian Finn sailors, who are all escaping the Northern Hemisphere winter. Back at the start line in the Finn will be Australian Sailing Team's Tokyo 2020 hopeful Jake Lilley, who finished fifth at the Finn Gold Cup and secured Australia the Oceania quota spot for the Olympic Games. 

In the non-Olympic events, the International 505 class will see the world champs from the USA Mike Holt and Rob Woelfel take on the 34-strong fleet. 

Tasar, Liberty and Laser 4.7 classes complete the program as well as the para sailing classes of 2.4mR and Hansa 303.

For more information about Sail Melbourne International head to www.sailmelbourne.com.au 

Join the Melbourne Summer of Sailing

Locals will also have the opportunity to join the Melbourne Summer of Sailing action and test out the sport of sailing with Sail Melbourne International host club Royal Brighton Yacht Club offering Australian Sailing’s OutThere Sailing program in the lead up to Sail Melbourne on January 13-16. 

The OutThere Sailing program in cooperation with VICHealth is aimed at 12-17 year old’s offering an opportunity to experience sailing, stand-up paddle boarding and windsurfing while having fun with friends and learning valuable skills. This opportunity is open to anyone and all the necessary equipment will be provided. To find out more about the program visit www.discoversailing.org.au/outthere

Another opportunity for the community to get involved is to join the SailPass program, which offers a flexible pass that allows non-sailing club members to discover sailing in a fun and affordable way at SMI’s host clubs. Find out more here: https://www.discoversailing.org.au/sailpass/

About the Melbourne Summer of Sailing 2020  

The 2019 Finn Gold Cup in December kicked off the Melbourne’s 2020 Summer of Sailing with Port Phillip Bay hosting a series of Olympic class World Championships over the months December 2019 to March 2020. 

Sail Melbourne International, Victoria’s premier event for Olympic class sailing continues the series in 2020 with Royal Brighton Yacht Club hosting the 2020 Sail Melbourne International regatta in January together with Sandringham Yacht Club (17-21 January 2020). 

In February, the Laser and Laser Radial World Championships are coming to Sandringham Yacht Club, while the 49er/FX- and Nacra World Championships will be hosted by Royal Geelong Yacht Club. 

Melbourne’s Summer of Sailing 2020 is proudly supported by the Victorian State Government.

The key events for the 2019-2020 Summer are:

1. 2019 Finn Gold Cup. 13-19 December 2019 at Royal Brighton Yacht Club – the Finn is the oldest and most prestigious of the Olympic classes being the heavy weight men’s division. See the 2019 Finn Gold Cup website for more: http://2019.finngoldcup.org

2. 2020 Australian Youth Championships. 10-14 January 2020 at Sorrento Couta Boat Sailing Club.   This event attracts 300+ of the best youth sailors from all over Australia across all of the youth classes to be crowned as the Australian Youth Championships and importantly selected to compete in the World Sailing Youth Championships held in Brazil later in 2020: https://www.sailingyouth.org.au/competitor-information/

3. 2020 Sail Melbourne International. 17-21 January 2020 at Royal Brighton YC and Sandringham YC – Australia’s premier annual Olympic and Youth classes sailing regattas and the largest of its type in the southern hemisphere.  Held annually since 1992 the SMI has put Melbourne on the annual Olympic Circuit and considered by World Sailing as one of the key “Majors” around the world.  For 2020 SMI will also be acting as the Oceania Region Olympic qualifier for some classes as well as the Oceania Laser Championships: http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au

4. 2020 ILCA Standard Men’s World Championships. 9-16 February 2020 at Sandringham Yacht Club – the Laser Standard is the athletic light weight men’s single-handed boat of the Olympics sailing in over 120 countries.  It is the most universal of all of the Olympic Classes, with Australia having won gold at both the London and Rio Olympic Games. https://www.laser2020.com/

5. 2020 ILCA Radial Women’s World Championships. 21-28 February 2020 at Sandringham Yacht Club – the Laser radial is the sister class to the Laser men’s and the female single-handed boat at the Olympic Games.  The best female sailors from around the world will converge on Sandringham for both selection and preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games. https://www.laser2020.com/

6. 2020 ILCA Radial Men’s World Championships. 21-28 February 2020 at Sandringham Yacht Club – although not an Olympic discipline the Radial Men’s uses the same boat and sail as the Olympic Radial women’s and is predominantly the youth / boys single handed boat used throughout the world, with those sailors then transitioning to the larger Olympic Standard rig. https://www.laser2020.com/

7. 2020 49er World Championships (men). 10 – 15 February 2020 at Royal Geelong Yacht Club – the 49er skiff is Australian designed and first introduced to the Olympic games as the high-performance skiff for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. It is the spectacular, fats and athletic men’s two-person skiff.  Australia has a great chance in this event, after winning gold at London 2012 and silver at Rio 2016. https://www.rgyc.com.au/on-water/regattas/2020-49er-49erfx-nacra-world-championship/

8. 2020 49erFX World Championships (women). 10 – 15 February 2020 at Royal Geelong Yacht Club – held at the same time as the 49er men’s World Championing the FX is the female two-person high performance skiff introduced to the Olympics for the first time in 2016.  This class provides high speed spectacular racing on the flat waters of Corio Bay. https://www.rgyc.com.au/on-water/regattas/2020-49er-49erfx-nacra-world-championship/

9. 2020 Nacra 17 World Championships (mixed). 10 – 15 February 2020 at Royal Geelong Yacht Club – the Nacra17 was introduced to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games as the first missed gender class where men and women sail together. Since Rio the class has further evolved to be fully foiling thus being the fastest of the Olympic Classes foiling above the waters.  Australia again will be a favourite in this class with current silver medallists from Rio returning for Tokyo. https://www.rgyc.com.au/on-water/regattas/2020-49er-49erfx-nacra-world-championship/

10. 2020 ILCA Laser Masers World Championships. 19 – 28 March 2020 at Royal Geelong Yacht Club – to close out on the summer of sailing is one of the largest events being the Master’s Laser Worlds.  Sailed in the same boats as the Olympic Laser divisions this regatta is for the non-professional / non-full-time sailors. With over 300 sailors descending on Geelong this event is equal parts fun and comradery as well as on water competition, but a once in a lifetime holiday for many of the sailors. https://www.laser2020.com/

In addition to these ten pinnacle Sail Melbourne Summer of Sailing events there will be over 20 supporting events taking place around the bay over the whole summer.  These include the RS:X World Championships at Sorrento in March as well as Oceania and National Championships in many of the Olympic, youth and junior classes as well as practice and world championship warm-up events.

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