IOM World Championships - Gladstone 2024

We gave Michel Roure the microphone to interview his fellow French teammates in their own language about their experiences at the World Championships in Gladstone and Australia.

We'd love to understand exactly what Alexis, Michel and Anthony had to say - but we're not fluent in French, so we'll have to believe the little bit of English explanation at the end.

Oh and by the way, Anthony... congrats at becoming a Grandpa!

Interview - IN FRENCH! with Alexis, Michel and Anthony (with a little bit of English at the end 🙂) We gave Michel Roure the microphone to interview his fellow French teammates in their own language about their experiences at the World Championships in Glad...

One of our favourites at this regatta was Brit, Nigel Barrow (and that's hard to admit from a bunch of Aussies!). Nigel is a student of the sport and has a fantastic website with a library of interesting and informative blogs at https://www.nigelbarrow.co.uk
Nigel arrived a good week before the championships to acclimatise to sub-tropical Gladstone and spent quite a bit of time on the course getting used to the short, slightly confused chop that comes down the marina in the standard local conditions. Nigel may have been a little confused with our incredible sunsets in Gladstone, thinking it may be pollution (which it most certainly isn't!), but we were keen to hear his thoughts about his tuning and set-up for this championship.
Turts and Coops decided to head down to Tent City and catch up with Nigel, to get his thoughts on tuning his IOM to these quite different conditions for many racers.

Interview - Nigel Barrow One of our favourites at this regatta was Brit, Nigel Barrow (and that's hard to admit from a bunch of Aussies!). Nigel is a student of the sport and has a f...

Greg Torpy has been around the Australian and International sailing scene for some time. Not only is Greg accomplished in RC sailing, coming into this regatta ranked equal 2nd in Australia, but as an Olympian and World Etchel Champion (to name a couple), Greg has salt water in his blood. Greg makes his own sails (360 Sails) and decided to campaign his Venti in these worlds, leaving a brand new V11 in the cupboard. Greg even stayed on the water, 50 metres from the race precinct, on his 45 Benetua Oceanis 45ft cruising boat moored in the Gladstone Marina for the championships.

We asked Greg ..... Do you have a bit of a rivalry going at these Championships, to which he answered: "David Turton (who wasn't sailing), if he ever puts his big pants back on and comes radio yachting again, instead of milking cows all day long!"

.. a dangerous game when you sledge a guy with a microphone!!

Interview - Greg Torpy Greg Torpy has been around the Australian and International sailing scene for some time. Not only is Greg accomplished in RC sailing, coming into this regatt...

Resuming our posts for the interviews of the 2024 IOM World Championships - Sean Wallis is the president of the Australian Radio Yachting Association and was the highest-ranked Australian, sailing out of Champion Lakes in Perth, coming into these championships. The four-time Australian champion got into radio sailing around 2007 and quickly moved through the ranks.
It may not be known that Sean raised a few eyebrows when putting his weight behind an Australian regional city bid for the host of the 2024 Worlds. Sean believed in the Gladstone location, and the group assembled to run the event and lobbied nationally and internationally for this to happen. This belief and effort were ultimately vindicated when the Gladstone Championships were so successful.

Interview - Sean Wallis Sean Wallis is the president of the ARYA and was the highest-ranked Australian, sailing out of Champion Lakes in Perth, coming into these championships. The ...

Dave Turton ambushed his old mate 'Dougie' Allen, for a quick chat on Day Two about his sailing background and why RC yachts. Dougie was leading the Aussie charge for the first couple of days and was sailing fast. A great bloke to sail against and socialise with.

Doug Allen Dave Turton ambushed his old mate 'Dougie' Allen, for a quick chat on Day Two about his sailing background and why RC yachts. Dougie was leading the Aussie c...

If there was a hard-luck story of the championships, it would have to go to Shaun Priestley from GBR. It started terribly for Shaun and just seemed to worsen; however, Shaun soldiered on and, from all accounts, still had a great time. Dave Turton managed to get a quick interview with the man from Fleetwood, England on day two.

Shaun Priestley If there was a hard-luck story of the championships, it would have to go to Shaun Priestley from GBR. It started terribly for Shaun and just seemed to worsen...

One of our favourite competitors was Italy's Paola Cappa. Always with a smile, always having a laugh, even winning sails from Brad Gibson at the nightly Debrief, Paolo was a great man to be around. Hailing from Genoa, where the is no RC Club, he is a member of YCV in Verona, but has never been there as it's 250km away!
Paolo is an experienced sailor competing in Lasers, 470s, Melges, X Yachts, J Yachts, Swan, and Classic Boats, plus nine seasons as a helmsman on Maxi Yachts. And RC circles have competed at high levels in 10R, Marblehead, Iom, RG65, DF95, and DF65s.
One warm afternoon during the regatta, Paolo decided to cool down with a swim at the Race Precinct, only to be reminded by Coops that there could be 'large bite things' in there. Paolo found the beach reasonably quickly. 🦈

"Ciao Paolo... è stato bello conoscerti" 🙏

Interview - Paolo Cappa One of our favourite competitors was Italy's Paola Cappa. Always with a smile, always having a laugh, even winning sails from Brad Gibson at the nightly Debr...

When Dave mentions, "the man has done some miles...", you'd better believe him. Gordon Maguire is one of the most famous skippers in the fleet - sailing RC, dinghies, keelboats and multihulls, being a professional sailor for over 36 years.
Gordon was a part of the British Team that won the Admiral's Cup in 1989, is a multiple world champion, has competed 5 times in round-the-world races (Whitbread, Volvo, Ocean Race, etc.) and has won every major offshore race in the world (too many to list here). Gordon started RC sailing in the early 90’s when he lived in the UK, winning the National Marblehead championships in 93 and was 3rd in the Marblehead World Championships in Melbourne, Australia in 96. Now living in Australia and representing Ireland at these IOM Worlds, Gordon is sailing his own one-of-a-kind IOM called a Rouge. Meet one of the nicest guys in the sport - Gordon Maguire.

Interview - Gordon Maguire When Dave mentions, "the man has done some miles...", you'd better believe him. Gordon Maguire is one of the most famous skippers in the fleet - sailing RC, ...

So this has happened!!
Thank you so much to everyone who made these championships so exceptional, earning this nomination. The winner will be announced at the Gladstone Regional Council Australia Day Awards on the 26th January 2025.

Make on mistake, sailing out of JK Zenta in Croatia, Zvonko Jelacic was in Gladstone on a mission to win back his world crown. The 3x World Champion not only has put that pressure on himself, but he has also turned up with his latest VISS-designed IOM, a brand new piece of RC engineering that Zvonko is excited to push to its limits on in its first big competition.
This interview was on Day 2, early in the regatta, and while around the pointy end of the results, Zvonko hadn't made his move yet.

Interview - Zvonko Jelačić Sailing out of JK Zenta in Croatia, Zvonko is here in Gladstone on a mission to win back his world crown. The 3x World Champion not only has put that pressur...