Points
chase begins at the Sailing World Cup Melbourne
The midday activation of four
course areas signaled the start of the Sailing World Cup Melbourne for the
seventh time. With the last of the humidity and smog blown off by yesterday
afternoon's strong sou'westerly change, the major international city by the
bay put on a cool day with ample wind for Olympic class competitors to kick
off their points chase.
Racing between today, Wednesday December 9, and Saturday, will be divided
into two sessions starting daily at 12 noon and 14:30 local time. Big crowds
are expected on the weekend when St Kilda turns into a massive stage for the
sailing unfolding along the foreshore, in particular Sunday's Medal Races.
Olympic and Paralympic classes opened Melbourne's World Cup program in fickle
southerly winds and easy-going seas. By the afternoon session 22 knot
sou'easters and white capped waves had whipped up Port Phillip and turned the
outing into a challenging physical contest at the upper wind limit for some
classes.
When the invited and youth classes begin their competition tomorrow, 900 plus
competitors racing across the full nine courses mean the World Cup is in full
swing along the bay's eastern shoreline. Breezes are forecast to be south to
south-easterly 10-15 knots ahead of another strong sou'wester on Friday with
predictions of 20-30 knots in the afternoon.
Optimist vs Olympic
Challenge
Tomorrow morning there's a unique opportunity for those on holidays or out
exercising on the waterfront when five Australian Olympic gold medallists and
a number of Sailing World Cup ambassadors are pitted against a fleet of
junior Optimist sailors off the front of the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron
at 09:30.
A mini race course will be set up and afterwards the Optimist sailors and
future champions on the path to the sport's highest level later, and schools
students involved with the Discover Sailing program will have the opportunity
to meet and chat with the sporting greats. The public is welcome to attend.
Results
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The Conway twins of Alex and Patrick made their finals plans known from the
outset, banking two bullets from two races to be leading the early pointscore
from two more Australian pairs, Angus Galloway and Josh Dawson (AUS) and
Chris Charlwood and Seamus Mullholand-Patterson (AUS), after two races.
"That was an ideal start to the regatta,” Patrick acknowledged. "We
had a comfortable speed and a good handle on the breeze.”
49er
Two bullets for David Gilmour and crewman, Rhys Mara, was plenty to give them
an early break on the quality 49er fleet before the wind strengthened to the
point some crews struggled to stay upright.
On their Sailing World Cup day one Mara said, "It's really good to be back in
Australia and sailing in some really good conditions. The first two races
were in moderate conditions, shifty as the wind tried to go to a sea breeze.
Then it picked up significantly and we got some true Melbourne conditions.
There were a few capsizes by the other boys, thankfully not us. It's good to
get back to the front of the fleet and back to our winning ways after a
slightly disappointing worlds.”
On the leap of faith to the new St Kilda venue there is good feedback from
competitors. "We're
rigging right on the beach and launching into calm waters, and it's good to
enjoy some of St Kilda and some of typical Melbourne.”
2.4mR
Not unexpectedly, France's Para World Sailing 2.4mR champion Damien Seguin
began his World Cup strongly posting a second and a first to Norway's Bjornar
Erikstad third and second in the 2.4mR Paralympic class racing off
Williamstown. Australian Mark Durnan broke his rudder during racing and
overnight will fit a replacement.
Laser
The Laser class completed two races, Luke Elliott (AUS) surfing the swell to
finish race one well ahead of Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy (MAS) with Mark
Spearman (AUS) squeezing in front of Anders Karlsson (SWE) to take third.
Race two was "super
windy with steep waves” according to winner Mitch Kennedy (AUS).
"It was Luke and I neck and neck the whole race. We popped clear and had
our own race at the front. Colin Cheng (SIN) caught up a bit and then it was
all on around the top mark.”
Overall Elliott holds first, Kennedy is second and Karlsson third.
Laser Radial
Consistency is the name of the game and Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR) and Ashley
Stoddart (AUS) showed the way in the Laser Radial.
Drozdovskaya won the first race by just four seconds from Stoddart then found
herself on the back foot for the second race start. "We were to-ing and
froing, one of us would pass the other and then vice versa. It was good fun,”
said Stoddart who has just returned from the Laser Radial World Championships
in Oman where the conditions were significantly lighter than today.
RS:X Women
Joanna Sterling (AUS) was on fire in the fresh Port Phillip breeze, winning
three from three races. Hot on her tail is Lauren Mackenzie (NZL), another
young sailor using the Sailing World Cup Melbourne to help prepare for the
ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Malaysia later this month.
Mackenzie finished second in all three races and Singapore's Audrey Yong
completed two of the races to be third equal overall with Lara O'Brien (AUS).
SKUD18
The Para World Sailing Championship finished last week but the on-water
rivalry between 2015 world champions Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS)
and second placegetter, Great Britain's Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell
continues in the SKUD18.
Fitzgibbon and Tesch let their guard down in race one today allowing Rickham
and Birrell to score a first in the gusty conditions off Williamstown. By
race two, Fitzgibbon and Tesch had returned to form, taking the win from the
British team.
Sitting in third overall is Rolf Schrama and Sandra Nap (NED).
Sonar
With John Robertson's (GBR) world championship winning team off the water
today, the door opened for France's Bruno Jourdren, Eric Flageul and Nicolas
Vimont-Vicary to take two firsts.
As the breeze kicked up to 18 and then 20 plus knots, Jourdren had tight
racing with New Zealand's Richard Dodson, Andrew May and Chris Sharp in race
one and then had to keep World Championship silver medallists, Australia's
Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden, at bay in race two.
At the end of today just one point separates Harrison from the third place
Kiwis.
Open Kiteboarding
The Kites offered the best spectator action, roaring around the course set
just off St Kilda Beach in the day's strongest conditions.
Florian Gruber (GER) finished with the perfect scorecard, six from six, and
Croatia's Martin Dolenc followed closely behind Gruber, placing second in all
six races. Third overall is Australia' Ric Black.
49erFX
The small fleet of women in the 49erFX Olympic class demonstrated early they
are going to push each other hard for the entire series. New Zealanders Ellie
Copeland and Erica Dawson at the helm finished a point off Tess Lloyd and
Caitlin Elks after three races.
"It was a reasonable
first day, we felt like our speed was really good,” Copeland
said. "We are trying
to learn a lot while we are here. It would be awesome to win, I love it here,
it's closer to the city and I really like the sailing waters, I feel like
there are good courses.”
Finn
Croatian Finn sailor Josip Olujic and Oli Tweddell (AUS) went head to head to
finish first and second on equal points. Tweddell is a World Cup ambassador
and though the fleet is small he anticipates good racing over the five day
series.
"The Croatian is a
really good sailor and I reckon in light winds Nick [Kennedy] will stick it
to us. It will be tight racing and definitely different to sailing at the
Finn Worlds when we had 75 boats in the fleet. This will be short, sharp and
intense racing.”
More than 900 sailors of all ages will be on Port Phillip tomorrow as the
invited classes commence competition but it's business as usual for the
Olympic guys who start at 12:00 local time.