Tokyo 2020: Jason Waterhouse, Lisa Darmanin up for Nacra 17 world titles
It’s the smelly, green obstacle standing in the way of cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin’s quest for redemption at the Tokyo Olympics.
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It’s green, slimy and Tokyo 2020 hopefuls Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin have cause to be more worried about it than their international rivals as they chase Olympic selection next week.
Large clumps of weed have caused consternation for sailors in a lead-up event to the 2020 Nacra 17 world championships in Geelong.
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Run into patches of weed and their foiling Olympic class boats stop dead in the water.
“There was a lot of weed in the water. You can’t foil if you hit it. Weed is the danger,’’ Darmanin said.
“We hit a weed patch, lines of weed but lots of it.
“We went flying round the front (of the Nacra). It’s a nightmare.’’
The world championships is the final major regatta for the northern beaches cousins who make their Olympic debut at the Rio Olympics four years ago.
The pair are in the box seat to secure the one spot on offer to Australia in the foiling Nacra 17 after a fourth in last years test event, sixth in a following World Cup and then third at the 2019 world championships.
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Major rivals for the sport - the brother and sister teaming of Nathan and Hayley Outteridge - have not finished ahead of the cousins in any of these events.
Coached by former multiple world catamaran champion and Olympic medallist Darren Bundock, Waterhouse and Darmanin won silver on debut on Rio.
“We were happy with third in Auckland (2019 world championships) but you sail to win,’’ Darmanin said.
“We will go out to win. There are 17 races over six days so it will be a big week. Consistency will pay.’’
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Originally published as Tokyo 2020: Jason Waterhouse, Lisa Darmanin up for Nacra 17 world titles