With a race in hand, Justin Xiaman Liu & Sherman Feng Yuan Cheng last year’s winners again dominated the Australian Open Championships at Largs Bay SC in Southern Australia. But Griselda Khng & Cecilia Low (SIN) had to concede their 2009 lead overall to the new National Women’s Champions, Lucy Shephard & Amelia Catt of Tasmania by 6 points. Liu & Cheng and Khng & Low have represented Singapore at the last two ISAF Youth Worlds (Liu & Cheng won the Junior Europeans in 2007).

Matthew Jerwood & Patrick Vos of Western Australia are the new National Champions, with an 8 point lead over the 2009 Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne winners, Angus Galloway & Alexander Gough of Queensland. George Davies & Timothy Hannah (4th overall) and Samuel Gilmour & Adam Negri (5th). They will all be contending at the Australian Youth Championships next week, aiming for the coveted passport to the 2010 ISAF Youth Worlds in Istanbul.

Lucy Shephard & Amelia Catt of Tasmania are the new National Women’s Champions. Having led the Australian women at Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne last month. Elloise Brake & Ashley Warlow of Queensland had a more difficult Championships than in Sydney and Melbourne, where the dogged the heels of Shephard & Catt. We will watch them at the forthcoming Australian Youths!

The international flavour of the big Australian events at this time a year – a real opportunity to get big fleet experience in South East Asia - has grown further this year. In addition to Sail Singapore’s team, there have been strong competition from the relatively new Malaysian 420 Class, as well as Hong Kong (who competed in the 2009 Junior Europeans in Hungary) and New Zealand. Malaysia’s Ku Anas Ku Zamil & Mohamad Hafizzudin Mazelan and Khairunnisa & Norashikin Mohamad Sayed both made the top fifteen, and Singapore’s Russell Tsung Liang Kan & Jeremiah Yeo, together with Singapore’s Chuan Yang Ko & Andrew Paul Li Jian Chan and Rachel Qing Lee & Benita Jia Hui Chua.