Well it is that time again for the Olympic Games. Albeit a year late due that pesky pandemic. WA has some strong contenders across the events, including sailing. Before we get to the specifics, some general stats about Olympic Sailing.

Matt Wearn sailing the Laser in front of the picturesque Mount Fuji

38 Countries made selection with over 350 competitors across 10 classes. Great Britain (15 Teams), Spain (14 Teams) and Brazil (13 Teams) take the gong for top three competing countries. Sailing fills the fortnightly schedule with racing from July 25 to August 4. The venue is the Enoshima Yacht Harbor in Enoshima. A small offshore island, about 4 km in circumference, at the mouth of the Katase River which flows into the Sagami Bay of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

13 Australians make up this years Olympic Team; Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (470), Will Phillips and Sam Phillips (49er), Tess Lloyd and Jamie Ryan (49erFX), Jake Lilley (Finn), Mara Stransky (Laser Radial), Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (Nacra 17). The Nacra 17 team will be looking ot go one better than their Silver at Rio 2016. The WA contingent includes Monique de Vries (SoPYC) and Nia Jerwood (FSC) in the Women’s 470 class and Matt Wearn (FSC/ RPYC) in the Laser class.

Monique and Nia have five days of heats concluding tomorrow with their class’s medal race on Wednesday August 4. Matt will have completed his heats by Friday with the Laser class medal race Today! Tune in to cheer Matt on and see if he can duplicate Tom Burton’s Gold Medal at Rio 2016.
Watch all the action at olympics.com