NTST sailors Paris van den Herik and Aden McGrath have just finished 10 days of intense training and racing in Brisbane at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.

Paris was the recipient of a Regional Scholarship through Queensland Academy of Sport for 2018 whish has enabled her to travel to QLD for training clinics. Her ongoing commitment over the last few seasons has paid off with final results of 2nd overall, and was 1st of the females in the fleet in the Laser Radial.   

For Aden it was his first competitive step out of a Minnow and into a Laser 4.7. Aden travelled south through funding assistance from Australian Sailing NT Sailing Team grants program. He finished 6th overall in highly variable conditions even managing 3 few bullets in the lighter breezes.

The Laser class provides young NT sailors with an excellent affordable option for development, and allows them to get away to join bigger and more challenging fleets interstate and overseas. The three different rig sizes accommodate a range of sailors, and the technical nature of the boat encourages skill development.

Both Paris and Aden were supported in QLD by Danny Fuller the QLD/NT Pathways Officer and local NTST coaches Tom Winter and Nick Fewster. It’s great to see NT sailors having success in southern fleets and hope that there is plenty more to come J