2026 ILCA Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championship in Hobart - Day 1
by Jane Austin / RYCT Media 3 Jan 11:03 GMT
3-8 January 2026
Matt Wearn is all class on the River Derwent in Hobart - 2026 ILCA Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championship, Day 1 © Jane Austin
The River Derwent tossed up solid conditions for the 191-strong fleet in the 2026 ILCA Oceania & Australian Open & Youth Championship in Hobart today.
Matt Wearn from the Royal Perth Yacht Club and winner of two Olympic gold medals in the ILCA 7 Class, was impressive form finishing the day with two wins.
Australian Sailing Team athletes Zac Littlewood and Ethan McAullay finished second and third behind Wearn with both on five points at the end of the day.
Rounding out the top five are the Dutch sailor, Duko Bos, who had two fourth places to finish on eight points, and in an impressive start to the championship, Hobart's Eddie Reid is sitting on 12 points with two sixth places.
The fleets battled a solid south easterly sea breeze of 16 to 20 knots in the first race with the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7s on the Alpha course just off Tranmere while the ILCA 4s had particularly sloppy conditions on the Bravo course in the shallower water closer to Bellerive.
The large tides Hobart is experiencing at present led to strong current pushing out against the southerly breeze giving the sailors very short, sharp waves to contend with.
The large number of entries saw the ILCA 6s and the ILCA 4s split into two fleets for their qualifying series.
In the Open Women's ILCA 6, Belgium's Emma Plasschaert won both her heats to lead on two points from Victoria's Casey Imeneo and Hungary's Maria Erdi, both on three points.
Sylvie Stannage from New South Wales, Queensland's Francis Beebe and Australian Sailing Squad athlete, Evie Saunders, all put in strong performances on the first day of racing and are each sitting on six points.
Current Australian ILCA 6 Australian Champion and Olympian, Mara Stransky, had a second and a costly ninth place today which pushed her down the leaderboard to ninth overall on 11 points, one place behind highly-rated Olympian Zoe Thomson on nine points following a fourth and a fifth today.
Luke Carrick from Western Australia also had a good day in the ILCA 6 Open Men's sitting on nine points after two heats, while Jasper Stay, also from WA, finished on 12 points.
In the ILCA 4s, Thomas Cooper and Hugh Healy each won their groups and are in the clubhouse on two points, while Zoe Jackson from Sandringham Yacht Club in Victoria is leading the ILCA 4 women on 10 points.
Sailors in the Solidarity Program were at times sailing close together with Tasmania's Cordelia Davey performing well on her home waters to be in 28th place after two races today.
The weather forecast is predicting lighter south-easterly breezes tomorrow.
Racing gets under way at 1300 on the Alpha Course and 1330 on the Bravo course.