Mara Stransky & Matt Wearn – Sailors of the Year

Matt Wearn and Mara Stransky were announced as winners of respective Australian Sailing sailor of the year awards at the gala presentation in Sydney in November.
 

After Matt was held back in 2022 with long COVID he stormed into 2023 with a third in the European Championship and then won both the Olympic Test Event in Marseilles and the World Championship in The Hague. At the awards Matt said “to bounce back as the best sailor in Australia is fantastic. I’m now just really looking forward to the next 12 months.”
 

Mara along with the very competitive Australian team competed in all the big events and she put together 18 podium places and finished strongly to get into the medal race in the World Championships and thus qualify Australia for ILCA 6 for 2024 Olympics Marseilles.
 

Zoe Thompson and Casey Imeneo were also nominated as women sailor of the year finalists alongside Mara. On the night Mara said of Zoe, Casey and Elise Ainsworth “I’m proud to be doing what I love with people I love spending time with. It’s why I am enjoying sailing as much as I am”.