Australian teenager at Optimist World Championship
'Shelley White (onboard Limit - Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week 2007)'
Ian Grant
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Talented teenage sailor Shelly White (15) has enhanced her future Olympic selection prospects with an impressive performance at the 2008 World Optimist dinghy championship in Turkey.
The diminutive skipper who hardly tips the scales at 45 kilograms when dripping wet in her racing rig expressed her personal skill and determination to finish second in a championship heat earlier this week.
This was by far the best place ever expected from an Australian sailor in a fleet which has attracted 255 entries representing 54 countries.
Shelly packed all of the experience she has gained from a limited program in the class to lead the fleet at the first windward mark and then fought tenaciously to ward of the challenges from her male rivals.
She was poised to become the first Australian to win a heat of an Optimist World series only to be narrowly outpaced to finish with a deserved second place just astern of the male Greek skipper Alexandros Kavas.
However the small suntanned blond Aussie Battler was ecstatic with her result and was all smiles when she received a special hug from her proud dad Mal after she produced her best career result on the testing Turkish waters of Ilica Bay.
Both parents Mal and Kelly who first introduced Shelly to sailing on the placid waters of the Sunshine Coasts Mooloolah River have drained the reserves of the personal 'piggy bank' to provide their exceptionally talented daughter with the International exposure she needs to extend her career into the important World championship arena.
Sure the cost is an issue however Mal White was not prepared to place a price on watching Shelly achieve her career best result in the highly competitive Optimist class.
'This is the first time that Shelly has raced in a big fleet and has progressively improved with every race which has secured our target to finish in the top 100'.
'She is happy and having a lot of fun which is important'. Mal White said.
Shelly has continued to impress and has climbed to 13th in the female series and 72nd overall after 10 hard fought races contested in 36 to 40 degree temperatures and variable wind range of 10 to 25 knots.
Her last five heat results of 2-15-10-33 suggests that Shelly White who won the Australian Optimist championship at her second attempt will finish the series with Australia's best ever result when the medal deciding races are decided on the sun drenched Ilica Bay today (local time.
Meanwhile the east coast of Australia remains under threat of being buffeted by cold South Westerly winds as the Audi Sydney to Gold Coast ocean race fleet make the final sail selection for the winter classic starting on Saturday.
Fleet front runners the Mark Richard's skippered Bob Oatley owned pocket-maxi Wild Oats X will fly the New South Wales burgee against her sister design Peter Harburg's Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron 'pocket rocket' Black Jack which will be skippered by BMW Oracle Americas Cup sailor Mark Bradford.
Both crews are expected to become engaged in a mate against mate State against State dog fight for line honours in a bid to beat Brindabella's 27 hr 35 min 3 second record.
by Ian Grant 
