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

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.

Sean has just arrived in Gangneung, South Korea last night for the 2006 Formula World Championships. He will be writing a daily report of the event which you can find here:

• Formula Worlds Daily Report
• Sean’s Gear: Formula Worlds

And also, due to the amount of emails Sean received asking about this, he has included some information about the gear he registered and some tips on how to setup your formula gear for racing. Enjoy.

Sean has returned home early from the Euro-Cup event in Silvaplana, Switzerland. After a crash on the startline of the first race, Sean injured his neck. Nothing too serious, but it prevented him from racing again for a few days, and Sean thought it best to return to Holland and spend some time recovering in preparation for the Formula Worlds in South Korea next week.

A little disappointing as their is a good international turnup to this event, with many of the world’s top formula sailors vying for the 20,000 euros prizemoney on offer.

The 2006 PWA World Tour came to Fuerteventura in July for the 2nd Slalom 42 Grand Slam event. Fuerteventura is one of the larger Canary Islands, a little out to sea off the north western coast of Africa. This was Sean’s first PWA World Tour event and there was no better place to do it than Fuerte! This is really one of the world’s windsurfing meccas; perfect sandy beaches and crystal clear flat water as well as the super windy conditions every day!

On the second day of racing, Sean badly sliced his foot open, making the rest of the week quite difficult to race. He finished all the races however, dropping back a few places to 28th by the end of the week.

The third event of the NK-Windsurf Series in Holland happened last weekend at Hargen aan Zee which was part of a massive Volleyball, Kitesurfing and Catamaran showcase event. After a slow start in the first race Sean had a great start in Race 2 to lead for two laps only to be pipped on the last downwind by RSX champion Casper Bouman (NED-2). He was later told he was OCS and disqualified from that race.

On the second day, the wind increased and many of the sailors had rigged slalom gear hoping to get out on that instead of formula. The wind was a little gusty and so five formula races were held over the day with winds up to 25kts and seas close to 2.5m and breaking. In Race 7 after leading the entire first lap Sean had a large crash, resulting in a broken boom. This cost him a few places and he finished 4th overall by one-point to Dennis Littel (NED-13). Ron Ruiter (NED-1111) and Casper Bouman (NED-2) finished 1st and 2nd.

Check the http://www.nkwindsurf.nl/ website for some photos and the event results.