Mirror Worlds at Albany, Australia - Overall

New World Champions crowned

As the final day dawned, the sun rose over Albany, the clouds cleared and the winds picked up from the west-south-west cutting across the bay from land and out to sea. Albany weather didn’t let us down and before long we had a constant ‘breeze’ of 17-19 knots gusting to 33 knots. Sitting in the lee, a relatively calm sailing club started to buzz as the competitors arrived.

With all to play for, the pressure at the top of the leader board was immense. We had the current European Champions, Ross Kearney from Ireland and Max Odell from England, in the lead by 5.2 points from Millie Newman and Jessica Rust of Team GBR (and the ROL Cruise sponsored Brightlingsea SC Squad), closely followed by the Filipino Olympic 470 crew and the top South African boat of the Robinsons. ‘Languishing’ down in 5th-8th were the top Aussie boats with all to play for on the final day of 2 races.

The fleet were led away from the line by Lachlan & Finn Gilbert of Australia in race 14, with the Filipino boat 4th and Ross Kearney in 3rd. Millie and Jessica got a horrible start and passed the first windward mark in about 28th position. Then came a most remarkable run, reach, beat and run that saw the girls risking a different line to the other boats. By the time they turned the final mark to beat to the line, the girls were up to 6th place and gaining on the leaders hand over foot. But it was all in vain and the race finished in the order listed above ... requiring a miracle in the final race for Team GBR to take the overall title.

Race 14 also saw the end of David Conlon and Charlotte Bond’s campaign. A collision with Aussie National Champ, Paul Taylor, as they passed the windward mark for the 2nd time caused a huge gash in their port side, only just reaching land before the boat sank. Their subsequent protest was later upheld and average points awarded for the final 2 races.

In Race 15, Lachlan & Finn Gilbert once more led the fleet from start to finish (if only the Aussie Tornado Olympic sailor had shown this form all week). Unfortunately for Millie and Jessica they started in the middle of the pack again but were not able to pull back the deficit. With Ross Kearney/Max Odell and Filipinos ahead again the die was cast.

With a performance over the week that contained four 1st places, an incredible display of consistency and despite carrying a taped up hole from the first day, the final honours and overall World Champions of 2011 went to Team Pinnel & Bax’s Ross Kearney (Ireland) and Max Odell (GB). Very deserving winners, who have been great ambassadors for the sport all week.

This is the second time Ross has taken the world crown, the first person ever to achieve this magnificent fete. It was also Max’s first world championships.

We all wish Ross well for the future as he retires from competitive Mirror racing. Winning both European and World Crowns in a season proves Ross and Max really are the top team and the guys to emulate for all those aspiring world champions.

Second place overall went to the Olympic 470 hopefuls from the Philipinnes, Rigdgely Baladeres & Rommel Chavez, who achieved three 1st places over the week. It was a great effort from the Filipino Navy entrants who had never stepped into a Mirror before the event. We wish them well for 2012 (but not too much luck).

With two 1sts over the week, the Team ROL Cruise GBR girls, Millie Newman and Jessica Rust, picked up the World Youth and Ladies Champions trophies as well as third place overall. This is a truly exceptional performance; especially given the high level of competition, the extremely tough weather conditions and the pressure of leading the pack outright for two days.

Fourth place went to the ‘pocket rockets’ of the Ryan & Ricky Robinson from South Africa. With Lachlan & Finn Gilbert of Australia 5th this made it 5 different nations in the top 5 proving what a competitive and healthy class the Mirror fleet is.

With two more exceptional performances in the final races (11 and 14), the World Junior Crown went to Matthew and Ben Lulham-Robinson, who finished in 10th place overall. With the consistency, boat speed and race tactics the boys have shown this week, I predict we are looking at future world champions, and with a raft of the top helms retiring at the end of the Albany Worlds, they will be front runners for the 15th Mirror Worlds in Ireland in 2012.

Elsewhere on the water:

David Conlon and Charlotte Bond finished 14th overall (average points awarded for the last 2 races)
Miles & Rory Odell finished 15th overall (15 and 12 in the last 2 races)
Nigel & Rob Thomas finished 17th overall (13 and retirement in the last 2 races)
Ed Grayson and Matthew Foster finished 19th overall (43 and 22 in the last 2 races)
Emma & Rachel Grayson finished 26th overall (19 and 36 in the last 2 races)
Craig Bond and Tom King finished 31st overall (34 and retirement in the last 2 races)
Martin Egan and Ruth Smith finished 38th overall (26 and 29 in the last 2 races)
Ollie & James King finished 55th overall (45th and 47th in the last 2 races)
Vicki Bond & Ben Eeles finished 61st overall (55 and retirement in the last 2 races)

Many thanks from all the competitors and support crew to the Princess Royal Sailing Club and the City of Albany for hosting such a tremendous event. The location was beautiful, the sailing was incredible, the organisation was impeccable and the hospitality shown to us all was second to none. What a fantastic place to come to. We definitely plan to return to either compete or for a vacation in the future.

A final thought to our sponsors; The World Championships has been amazing and would not have been possible without your involvement and assistance. The sport needs companies like yours to allow our young talent to progress in competitions like this.

The Brightlingsea SC squad would specifically like to thank:

• ROL Cruise, Squad Sponsor
• NEEB Holdings - Kit Sponsor
• Brightlingsea Town Council - Dry-kit Sponsor
• Teamb4ego.com for inspiration and our war cry - BSBS

We all thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

Signing off from Western Australia for now, the dash to pack up and make the flights back to the UK has commenced – full pictures of the sailing and award ceremony to follow.

More information on the event website.