Sophie Jackson takes Gold at Australian sailing championship

Sophie Jackson will be heading into the Aero Sailing World Championships later this month with a National title under her belt, having taken out the 2019 RS Aero Australian Championships last weekend.

The 19 year old Secondary Health and Physical Education student took the lead in the first day of sailing at the event at Black Rock in Melbourne, and was able to hang on to finish first in the fleet of male and female competitors, despite tough weather conditions.

Sophie has been sailing solo since she was six years old, but is new to the Aero Class and said the win was very exciting.

“When it’s really windy the fleet spreads out a lot, and there are a lot of capsizes. I was actually the only boat not to capsize on the last day. But the first day the racing was pretty tight,” Sophie said.

“We’ve had quite a lot of windy weather, especially through the winter. So I’ve been doing a lot of training in those conditions, which definitely helped.”

“It’s my first open national championship win, so racing against the blokes as well. It’s pretty cool.”

Sophie has competed previously in two World Championships in the 420 Dinghy, a double handed class, but decided to take up the opportunity to compete at the local event in the single handed Aero after struggles to find a committed crew. 

The Aero World Championships will also be held at Black Rock, which Sophie said will hopefully give a slight advantage to the home competitors who are used to the conditions.  

“Hopefully we get a bit more of a typical Port Phillip sea breeze set up for the World Champs,” she said.

“In the 420 Class I had a bit more of a gauge of where I was in the international fleet. Whereas this time I’m new to the Aero Class, so I’m not sure how I’m going to be comparatively to the international boats, but definitely hoping to be up there.”

After the World Championships, Sophie is planning to return to competition in the 470 Olympic Class, and find a crew to compete with in the 2020 470 Junior World Championships in Poland next July.

Congratulations on the achievement Sophie, and good luck at the World Championships!

Written by Nell O’Shea Carre, Media Coordinator.