Liam sets sail for Poland
Local sailor heads to World Optimist Champs in Poland.
TWO KZN lads will soon be leaving SA’s shores to compete in the 2015 World Optimist Champs held in Dziwnów, Poland. Representing Point Yacht Club, Hillcrest’s Calum Gaughran and Durban North’s Liam Fennessy will join two other national competitors in representing South Africa in the upcoming world champs. The KZN duo will travel together with Western Cape’s Alexander Brooks and Matt Inglis from Gauteng.
The coltish youngster first travelled to compete in the Youth Nationals as a novice in the Optimists at Sedgefield in 2012, then the following year in Midmar. 2014 was a hugely successful year for him, representing South Africa in the Optimist African Champs in Morocco in 2014. Following up on this experience, he finished in the top five of the SA Nationals that took place in December last year, where he qualified as one of four of sailors to head to Poland to represent South Africa.
The beaming, enthusiastic chap stated, “A moment that stands out for me was being selected to sail for South Africa at the Africans and World’s Optimist Champs. Oh, and being able to help my sister beat several of the top sailors in one race at the youth nationals last year, she was also racing in the Oppie class.”
Fennessy’s love of sailing has been instilled from an early age with his father, Sean, being a well-respected and experienced Hobie sailor.
“I enjoy sailing because of the exhilaration of the movement of the boat through the water in response to the wind, and the challenge of racing. I would love to sail a wide range of bigger boats to get as much experience as possible.”
On the back of the highly successful KZN Youth Provincials held at the beginning of July, offshore of Durban, Calum Gaughran enjoyed the bigger winds and tallied up three wins over the two days of racing. The quieter Fennessy showed how talented he was in all weather and finished consistently towards the front of the fleet in both the lighter breeze and the more gusty conditions.
The Durban North sailor looks up to local sailors, Benji Daniel and Euan Hurter, who have just returned from racing in the 29-er worlds in Wales, and also Western Cape’s Arin Long, who was one of South Africa’s top Optimist sailors, and his dad, who has sailed Hobies for many years.
The 53rd edition of the World Optimist Champs, hosted in the north-west of Poland, Dziwnów is situated on the Baltic Sea in a town renowned for sailing. Due to the huge international interest in this event, the racing has been moved to a recently-built marina that can accommodate the expected 300 boats. Racing will take place on the Baltic Sea.
