F16 Europeans: Teenager crew takes Crown to Australia
Photo: Carlo Restano – Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin – By 2BSailing — Teenager crew outgun star-studded fleet-
Just a week after her younger brother sailed away with a gold medal at the ISAF World Youth sailing titles, Lisa Darmanin and her skipper cousin Jason Waterhouse have raced to their own success on Lake Como in Italy, holding off a top-class fleet boasting two Olympic sailors and some of the rising stars of multi-hull racing to claim the Euro F16 crown.
The young Australian pair, who last year secure their own world youth crown, were the surprise winners of the event having never raced a Viper in a regatta before the championship start last week..
Their win followed on from Lisa’s younger brother Paul Darmanin and his skipper Chase Lurati securing the gold medal in the SL16 Sirena open multi-hull class at the 2010 youth sailing world championship in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I’m so happy to win because now I can face my little brother when I get home, ” Lisa Darmanin said.
“He is so chuffed with his result at the ISAF Youth Worlds last week and reminded me about it every time I spoke to him this week.
“We have both won a youth worlds but now I have gone one better winning a Euro’s.
“I can’t believe we won this actually. We just went out there to try our best and have fun doing it. And it worked.””
Part of Team Viper, Waterhouse and Darmanin, both 18, benefitted from the cancellation of the final day of racing due to heavy rain and storm activity on the picturesque Italian Lake to beat 17-year-old Dutch skipper Froukje Feenstra and her crewmate, two-time Olympic medallist Darren Bundock..
Photo: Marco Iazzetta
“I’m really proud of them,” said multiple world Tornado champion Bundock, who provided the pair with the boat for regatta along with some tuning tips.
“What a talent they are. But I think part of their success was the fact that they always looked like they were having fun out there, whether it was 10 knots or whether it was 20 knots.”
Italian sisters Laura and Silvia Sicouri finished third in the event with the Dutch crew of Thijs Visser and Diemer Feenstra fourth.
Former Tornado catamaran Olympic sailor Carolijn Brouwer and crewmate Liz Wardley on Sojasun paid the price for an untimely OCS on the second last day which pushed them out of second place overall and saw the duo finish fifth.
Team Viper comprises:
BEL Carolijn Brouwer & Liz Wardley – Female
AUS Jason Waterhouse (18yrs) & Lisa Darmanin (18yrs) – Mixed
NED Froukje Feenstra (17yrs) & Darren Bundock – Mixed
ITA Lara Sicouri (24yrs) & Silvia Sicouri (22yrs) – Female
NED Thijs Visser (20yrs) & Diemer Feenstra (17yrs) – Male
GBR Chris Sproat & Rossana Jury (18yrs) – Mixed
AUS Christa Van Helden (25yrs) & Brett Goodall (25yrs) – Mixed
