Issue date
Brothers Sean Herbert (11 years old) and Liam Herbert (13 years old) from Manly Sailing Club went across to Perth, WA during the Easter weekend to compete in the 4th Australian O'pen Bic Nationals.
With 55 boats entered in the event this year and 28 of those being from WA alone they had their work cut out for them. Sailing from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club on the Swan River which provided a fantastic venue with challenging 'Fremantle Doctor' (Fremantle sea breeze that regularly gets to around 25knots) .
For reigning world champion Sean Herbert, this was his chance to defend his under 13 title for the third time running. They both did well in the invitational race with Sean taking a 1st and Liam 9th .
After a total of 11 races both Liam and Sean reinforced their respective positions in this class and delivering for New Zealand. Liam had some respectable race results with his best race finish being a 3rd and stayed consistent at 7th place overall through the whole event which was a fantastic result from his previous year of 19th.
Sean had four 1sts with his worse race being a 9th which he was able to drop along with a 5th leaving him with 1st's and 2nds. So at the end of the event :
Liam 4th in the under 16's and 7th Overall
Sean 1st in the under 13's and 1st Overall taking out the event with a clear 12 points between him and the WA sailor. Last year Sean missed out by one point to win the overall.
The next sailing event the boys will be attending will be with the Wentworth 420 Sailing Squad at the nationals being held in Taupo during the second week of school holidays. The team is in good form after last weekend two day training event at Algies Bay against KeriKeri and the top four Auckland schools .
Find out more about the Australian Regatta on the event website.
