Sean O'Brien, Pro Windsurfer – seanobrien.com.au™

The 2008 Oceanic and Australian Formula Windsurfing Championships are kicking off at Suttons Beach, Redcliffe this week from the 22nd to 25th January. This event has been organised and coordinated by Sean  and is attracting some of the World’s best Formula windsurfers including World Champion Steve Allen, former World #1 ranked Jesper Vesterstrom as well as top sailors from all around Australia and New Zealand.

Checkout all the results, photos and information on the Official Event Website:

• www.fw-australia.com

Sean took his second overall event bullet from the second NSW Windsurfing Series event hosted at Jervis Bay, NSW over the weekend. The 2006 Series defending champion won the first event at Hawks Nest by a clear margin earlier this month to stake his claim on the current series, which features the bulk of Australia’s top Formula racer’s home beaches. Checkout the action on:

• STORM-RIDERS.com.au
• WindsurfingNSW.com

The 2006/07 NSW Racing Series finished with a bang last weekend at the final racing event at Hawks Nest. In a strong position for most of the season, Sean won the last three out of four races for the season, leaving him overall champion for the season. This title had been something Sean had been trying to win for a number of seasons, but due to his international commitments and the distances he had to drive to get to the events in NSW he had been suffering the consequences of missing events; this year was different however.

This last event in Hawks Nest also marked the first trial of a new “head-cam” worn by Sean in two of the races. Some footage of this will be available in the Media section of this website very soon … Checkout www.storm-riders.com.au for all the results and photos from the entire NSW Racing Series.

Sean continues his Australian dominance in Formula this season by taking out the New South Wales State Formula Championships at Botany Bay, Sydney yesterday. After 8 races in perfect 15 knot breezes, Sean finished the regatta with 5 bullets under his belt closely followed by Sam Parker (AUS-3) who pipped Brett Morris (AUS-080) for 2nd place after winning the final race of the event.

This has capped off a great Summer racing Season for Sean with two National Titles and two State Titles under his belt; making him the undisputed #1 racing class windsurfer in Australia. You can view the full results and coverage on www.storm-riders.com.au.

Sean finished the 2007 Sail Melbourne Regatta as 1st placed Australian, giving him the Australian Title for the RS:X Olympic Class. Sean had been sitting in 3rd for most of the week long regatta, behind Benjamin Tillier (FRA-39) Tomizawa Makoto (JAP-11). Sean was the only Australian inside the Top 10, qualifying him for the medal race on the last day…

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Sean successfully defended his Formula Class Australian Title last night in Fremantle, Western Australia. A strong fleet of the nation’s best Formula sailors and a few internationals from Europe contested the four-day regatta at both South Beach, Fremantle and the Swan River, in Perth.

After two days of battling the weed and choppy conditions of South Beach, the event was moved into the smoother waters of the Swan River. Sean was sitting comfortably in 2nd heading into the third day after winning the first race of the series and stringing together another six 2nd’s behind the Danish champion, Jesper Vesterstrom (DEN-111). The racing proved tricky in the shifty waters of the river, with winds on the 3rd day getting up around 30knots. Despite being beaten in a few heats by Western Australia’s Jesper Orth (AUS-10), Sean was too far ahead to be troubled for the top Aussie spot. Overall Sean finished 2nd to world #1 ranked Jesper Vesterstrom (DEN-111) by a clear margin with Jesper Orth (AUS-10) and Sam Parker (AUS-3) in 3rd and 4th.

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Sean dominated the Qld State Slalom Championships yesterday by winning every single race he started. A fleet of 25 of the state’s top slalom sailors competed at the Championships run off of the rock wall at Norfolk Point, Manly. Sean used his 7.8m NeilPryde RS6 and Starboard iSonic 115 combo in the 15-20 knot winds to dominate the field and successfully defend his title from last year.