420
Worlds At Sail Melbourne - Rechichi And Parkinson
Hold 420 Ladies World Championship Trophy Aloft
Following
on from her ISAF Youth 420 Worlds win in Portugal
earlier this year, Elise Rechichi and her crew
of three months, Tessa Parkinson (AUS), kept their
cool to finish 1-9-1 in today’s final races
to win 420 Ladies World Championships 2004 at
the Sail Melbourne International Regatta.
The
girls, who took out the Australian Ladies and
Youth Championship titles at Sail Melbourne last
week, come from Perth in Western Australia. They
notched up an incredible six wins from 12 races
for series points of 43, after two race drops,
to deservedly win the title. Their nearest rivals,
sisters Lucy and Nicola Macgregor (GBR), finished
19 points behind the winners with a total of 62,
their best place today a second in Race 11.
The
sisters defeated their third-placed English rivals,
Charlotte Savage/Hariette Trumble, who were in
second place going into today’s races, their
19th place in Race 10 putting paid to any chance
of a top three position.
Camille
Lecointre /Gwendolyn Lemaitre (FRA) were sixth
overall when they left the dock from the host
club, Mornington Yacht Club this morning; however
a consistent 5-4-5 today lifted them up into third
place overall.
Thirty
seven girls from around the world contested the
420 Worlds, including representatives from Italy,
Great Britain, France, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore,
Switzerland, Brazil, Belgium and of course, Australia,
the latter allowed 14 entries as the host Nation.
It
has been a phenomenal past 12 months or so for
Rechichi. What makes this win remarkable is the
fact they are still Youth sailors. They also went
into today’s final three races knowing that
any of the six top-placed girls could take the
title, which would have added strain.
Rechichi
is thrilled with their win. ‘It’s
my 18th birthday today, but I didn’t tell
anyone in case it put a bit of a hex on us, but
it’s just the best birthday present’
she said.
Asked
if they expected to win the Worlds, Rechichi said,
‘we had a goal to be in the top three. We
thought we had more chance if it was windier,
we’re not as good as some others are in
light airs, but we sailed really well at this
regatta and mostly it was light, so we are both
very, very happy, but also a bit surprised at
that.
I
think the reason we are doing so well is that
Tess (who is 17) is a fantastic crew and we get
on so well, we are really good friends and never
fight. We are both so happy. My Dad arrived here
today, and he is quite excited – so is my
Mum who was here earlier in the week to watch
us, but had to go home.
Tess
and I go off to McCrae tomorrow to start the Australian
Youth Worlds and we want to do well there too
– with my crew from before, Rachel Martin,
we missed Gold by one place at the Youth titles
in Canada in 2002, so I hope we can win here,’
she said.
After
that, Rechichi and Rike Ziegelmayer will team
up again to contest a number of 470 regattas.
Paying
tribute to their coach Denis Jones, Rechichi said,
‘we couldn’t have done this without
him, he has coached me for the last two years,
he was here to see us win and I can’t thank
him enough for his support, he is such a good
support to both of us.’
Rechichi
went on to say their major threats for the title
were the eventual second, third and fourth place
getters – ‘those girls were always
going to be very hard to beat,’ she said.
Places
this afternoon are of course provisional pending
protests.
Competitors
from the World fleets, the Silver fleet and the
420 Mornington Regatta will join together tonight
for their presentation and farewell.
All
Information and results from the 420 World Championship
will be on the official site at:
www.sailmelbourne.com.au
Di
Pearson
