Pelican Alumni - Where are they now?
The Pelican sailing dinghy has provided the introduction to sailing for many of the elite of our sport as well as business and community leaders. This page will always be a 'work in progress', so if you know of a Pelican sailor that may be worthy of inclusion, let us know! Below are a few of our Alumni:
Peter Gilmour
Keith Swinton
Hailey Johnson
Conor Nicholas
While Peter may be most famous for being the only FOUR time World Championship winner in Match Racing or perhaps for skippering several America's Cup challenges and being on the Cup winning team in 2007, what most people don't know is that Peter started his sailing career, aged 7, in a Pelican at RFBYC!!
Keith began sailing a Pelican at SoPYC, aged 8. Often teaming up with his brother, the two won numerous regattas before moving on to bigger things. These days Keith leads the Black Swan Sail Racing team and is the only Australian to hold a Tour Card on the World Match Racing Tour.
Hailey was recently crowned the 2016 Australian Youth
Champion (Female) in the Laser 4.7, and she now has her sights set on a move into the 'Radials' and a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Hailey started sailing Pelicans at her home club of GBYC aged 9, skippering 'Low Profile' (623).
Conor began sailing in a Pelican at SoPYC, aged 7, before moving into Optimists aged 10 and then into Lasers. In recent years Conor has won numerous state, national and international regattas. In 2014 he was named WA Junior Sailor of the Year and in 2015 won the Youth World Champion title in the Laser Radials.
Zoe Thomson
Zoe was World Youth Champion Laser Radial in 2016
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