2:16 AM Thu 14 Jan 2010 GMT
Competitors from five nations could give the 2010 Warren Jones International Youth Regatta its most diverse and international field in this its eighth year, with competitors from Japan, Denmark, Great Britain, New Zealand and of course Australia expected to line up for the event in the first week of February.
New Zealand are, as ever, sending a strong contingent, including last year's winner Phil Robertson, who will hope to become the third skipper to win the event twice, following in the footsteps of fellow Kiwi Simon Minoprio and world no. 2 skipper Torvar Mirsky of Australia.
Robertson and his Waka Racing Team came to the 2009 event ranked 51st in the world, and in the past year have risen as high as 24th on the ladder, before slipping back to 25th in the latest ranking list.
'We're stoked to be coming back, we love Perth, so we always jump at the chance to get over there,' said the enthusiastic young skipper. 'We've had a great season since last year, we did better than we expected, really successful, and we're just trying to plan where to go from here.'
The Warren Jones Regatta is considered to be a bridge from the youth circuit to the senior circuit, and has become a launch-pad for match racing stars, with the top two on the current world rankings, Adam Minoprio and Torvar Mirsky, past winners.
The event takes on a new format this year, with two regattas being run over the period of a week. Starting with the Collins Mullins International Youth Regatta, which is being used as a qualifying series to whittle the fourteen hopefuls down to ten who will make it into the Warren Jones Regatta.
Four skippers have already qualified for the main event, defending holder Robertson and fellow Kiwi skipper Rueben Corbett, along with Even Walker of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australian and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron's David Chapman.
The Collin Mullins Regatta kicks off on Thursday 28th January, with the Warren Jones Regatta starting Monday 1st February, both managed by Swan River Sailing and hosted by the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club on the Swan River.
ENTRIES CLUB RANKING
Peter Nicholas - Royal Freshwater Bay Y.C. - 143
Robert Gibbs - Royal Perth Y.C. - 196
Tristan Brown - Royal Freshwater Bay Y.C. - 340
David Gilmour - Royal Freshwater Bay Y.C. - 391
Evan Walker - Cruising Y.C. of Australia - 58
David Chapman - Royal Sydney Y.S. - 72
Jordan Reece - Royal Sydney Y.S. - 170
Kyle Langford - Newcastle Cruising Y.C. - 1142
Phil Robertson - Royal New Zealand Y.S. - 25
Rueben Corbett - Royal New Zealand Y.S. - 46
William Tiller - Royal New Zealand Y.S. - 66
Mark Lees - Poole Y.C. - 157
Martin Boidin - Royal Danish Y.C. - 220
Kosaku Yoshida - Japan Yacht Match Racing Assoc - unranked
www.warrenjonesregatta.com.au
by John Roberson
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