Olympic Champion Nathan Wilmot to skipper GAC Pindar in St Petersburg
by Neil Brotherston 21 Jun 2014 11:33 BST
26-29 June 2014
GAC Pindar Extreme Sailing Series skipper Nathan Wilmot © Andrea Francolini / Team Australia
GAC Pindar has named Olympic gold medallist Nathan Wilmot as its new skipper for Act 4 of the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series in St Petersburg, Russia (26-29 June).
Wilmot, 34, takes over from David Gilmour for the St Petersburg leg as GAC Pindar look for a formula that can improve their performances in the Extreme Sailing Series. Five-time 470 class World Champion sailor and Gold medallist in the Beijing Olympic Games Wilmot brings a wealth of competitive experience to the GAC Pindar crew including further World Championship success in the Swan and 420 classes.
Wilmot will be joined in St Petersburg by fellow Australian James Wierzbowski, 22, who is a member of the Australian Olympic Sailing Programme.
It's the first time Wilmot will sail for GAC Pindar. He said: "It's an honour to get the chance to sail with a team like GAC Pindar. James and I have been training hard with Ed, Troy and Seve ahead of St Petersburg and we're confident that we can move quickly up the leaderboard. We've put the hard work in on and off the water and can already see the results in training, so it's now up to us to replicate that in competition."
Wierzbowski said of his GAC Pindar inclusion: "It's been a pretty incredible year for me already. First of all I was selected for the 2014 Australian Sailing squad and now I have been asked to join the GAC Pindar crew in the action packed Extreme Sailing Series. I can't wait to get out on the water in Russia and start racing."
GAC Pindar principal Andrew Pindar commented: "Nathan brings with him a mountain of experience at the pinnacle of sailing competition and we are very excited to have him leading the team in St Petersburg. While the series hasn't necessarily gone as well as we'd have hoped so far, we believe that the make-up of our new crew and the re introduction of Seve Jarvin in a different role has interesting new ingredients which might well allow us to make a stronger challenge. James is also an exciting young prospect and his inclusion, at just 22, reinforces GAC Pindar's focus on helping generate the next generation of world class sailors."
Nathan Wilmot and James Wierzbowski will join existing GAC crew members Seve Jarvin, Ed Smyth and Troy Tindill in St Petersburg.