Outteridge sails to victory

The weather was a sweltering 38 degrees at Waterfront City, Docklands, and the wind had almost completely died off for the final of the King of the Docklands SB3 race on sweltering Friday in Melbourne.

It was a tough day for sailors and spectators both...

But with a $55,000 luxury car at stake in one of the highly anticipated races of Audi Victoria Week, the racing of the one-design keelboats was understandably close in incredibly trying conditions.

Young Australian Sailing Team sailor Nathan Outteridge won all his heats and then cleaned up in the tricky final - which was almost cancelled due to lack of wind - landing himself the keys to a brand new Audi A4 Avant.

Outteridge, who was the 2008 and 2009 49er world champion and was runner-up at the Worlds in the Bahamas earlier this month, paired with his crew Scott Babbage and John Harris to guide their SB3 to victory in the heart of Melbourne.

"I couldn't have done it without John and Scott," said 23-year-old Outteridge, adding "I couldn’t have picked two better guys; guys who are friends. I’ll be shouting them to dinner tonight.

"It's awesome the support that Audi gives to sailing. As an Australian Sailing Team member, I get to drive an Audi all the time, because they sponsor our team. I feel very fortunate for that," said Outteridge, who is from Wangi Wangi on the Central Coast of NSW.

Part of the winners package also included the use of the SB3 vessel to the winner’s home club for two years, donated by Rod Jones from Oceanburo.

"Wangi Wangi has a lot of young upcoming sailors, they’ll really appreciate this generous prize," said Outteridge, who surprised onlookers by announcing that he'd like to race one professionally. "After sailing these boats I’d like to do the SB3 2012 Worlds if I can fit it in my program."

Check out the Audi Victoria Week website for more details on all the racing action.