Meet Australia's best eSailors
Today we introduce you to the names to take note of ahead of this weekends Trans-Tasman showdown; these esailors finished top two in their National Championships and are ready to carve up the course for their country come Sunday!
Australia
Josh Griffith (above)
Age: 17
Club: Sandringham Yacht Club, VIC, AU
ESailing boat name: NO///NAME
Australian ESailing challenge: 1st place
eSailing experience: World number 266, played for about 1 year
real life sailing experience: sailed 29er for 2 years, 3rd in Victorian sailing cup 2018-19
Best result: 15th at NSW youths, 4th at Vic states
My ambition: To sail representing Australia
Matt Blakely (above)
Age: 41
Club: Port Melbourne Yacht Club, VIC, AU
Boat name: Hitchhiker
Australian finals position: 2nd
eSailing experience: 7th world championships 2018, 10th world championships 2019.
Regular sailing experience: Lasers for the last 24 years,
Results: Australian youth laser champion 1997, nz national laser champion 2001, Asia Pacific laser champion 2005, 2nd world apprentice masters championships 2015
Sailing ambition: World champion. Masters laser or esailing.
New Zealand
James Bichener (above)
Age: 18
Club: Plimmerton Boating Club. I'm also a member at the Worser Bay Boating Club, NZ
eSailing boat name: James B
Finishing position in Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge: 1
eSailing experience: Roughly three months
Regular sailing experience: I sail predominantly a Laser Radial and have been doing that for roughly six months.
Best result: I haven't done any notable regattas in it yet
Sailing ambition: I would love to travel around the world sailing and competing in different locations and boats, but most of all I just want to get faster sending it
Chris Salmon (above)
Age: 51
Club: Pupuke Boating Club
eSailing boat name: CoolRunning - the reason I chose this name is that, just like the Jamaican bobsled team, I had no idea about sailing when I started eSailing so the name seemed appropriate
Finishing position in Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge: 2
eSailing experience: two years
Regular sailing experience: I am a non-sailor in the real world but I'd like to buy my own boat or crew on a keelboat
Best result: N/A
Sailing ambition: To sail on a real boat under race conditions
Tune in to watch these guys in action via the live stream of the event on the Australian Sailing Facebook page this Sunday, with racing scheduled to commence at 6pm AEST.
