JOEL Beashel has continued his outstanding form, claiming second place in the 11-years divisional scratch series at the Beaches Optimist State Sailing Championships at Sunshine at the weekend.
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Beashel, 9, was pitted against older sailors, but revelled in the challenge on the waters of his home club, South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club (SLMASC).
His father Adam Beashel, a former America’s Cup sailor, said it was a good result in the top fleet.
“Joel won a race in the series, and for a 9-year-old to win a race in an open regatta was a pretty commendable moment,” Beashel said.
In January, Joel won the intermediate class at the Optimist Australian and Open Championship, in South Australia.
At the state titles, Joel finished 13th overall in the open fleet scratch results, which included sailors up to age 15. He was the best performed sailor at the regatta from SLMASC.
Among the other strong performers for the club was Bridget Conrad who was fourth in the scratch female skipper division series.
Trent Beashel (32nd) and Dary Hillhouse (46th) also finished in the top 50 in the overall open fleet scratch series.
Beashel said the club had several strong performers in the intermediate class, which was indicative of the club’s focus on young sailors learning the sport.
That list was headed by SLMASC’s Dylan Ryan who was second overall in the intermediate scratch series.
Ruby Cowan (8th), Jaxon Stacey (15th), Jessy Hillhouse (21st), Daniel Evans (22nd) and Logan McLean (23rd) all finished in the top 25 of that series.
Beashel said the venue, and the waters of Lake Macquarie, again impressed sailors and officials.
“The feedback has been so positive,” he said.
“We had 181 entries, which is a pretty good achievement for the club.”
Light winds forced a delay to sailing on Sunday, but boredom was never a factor.
“We had plenty of fun and games on the beach while we were waiting, which meant that the kids were certainly entertained,” Beashel said.
This was the second consecutive year that Sunshine has hosted the state Optimist titles, and Beashel said the 2018 event was likely to be hosted by a Sydney club.
He said in four years’ time the national Optimist titles were scheduled to be hosted by NSW, and SLMASC was likely to put up its hand to host that event.
Beashel commended local residents and the club’s members for the work they’d put into hosting the state titles.
“We had about 70 volunteers from the area helping to host the state titles, and without them none of this would have happened,” he said.
The event was sponsored by Beaches of Catherine Hill Bay.
