7:01 AM Wed 27 Jan 2010 GMT
|
|
'Lucinda Whitty, Jessica Eastwell and Amanda Scrivenor sailing against Lotte Meldgaard of Denmark - Rolex OCR Miami 2010'
Yachting Australia
|
Australian sailors have continued their good form at round two of the ISAF Sailing World Cup, the Rolex Miami OCR, with all crews marking Australia Day with strong results on day two of the regatta.
Nicky Souter and crew Stacey Jackson and Rayshele Martin had a great day on the water in the Women's Match Racing class, winning six of their seven races to finish on top of Group C.
'With clean starts and good course management Nicky and team lead from start to finish in most of their races,' said Australia's Women's Match Racing coach Dayne Sharp. 'However the New Zealand team lead by Samantha Osborne took it right to the Australians and maintained a two to three boat length lead for most of the race until a tacking duel close to the top mark the second time around allowed Nicky and crew to sneak in for the rounding and lead to the finish.'
'In the last race of the group another close race came from European Champion Sike Hahlbrock of Germany,' said Sharp. 'The Germans led half way up the first leg and went on to take a small win, but the Aussie girls took some good lessons away from these last races heading into the round robin for the top eight tomorrow.'
In Group A Lucinda Whitty, Jessica Eastwell and Amanda Scrivenor completed three of their four races before fading light stopped racing for the day.
'The girls started off with a nice win against the Israeli team and then faced the current world number one French team,' said Sharp. 'After a controlled pre-start Lucinda and crew led off the line forcing the French to tack away but unfortunately they found a little more wind with a shift in direction that took them to a three boat length lead that they held to the finish.'
In a must win race against Lotte Meldgaard of Denmark, the Australians came off the start line in control but a covering tack too close lost them some ground. The Danes led by three lengths at the top mark but a great approach with speed and a slow rounding by Meldgaard at the bottom mark put Lucinda and crew right back into the race. A spirited tacking duel had the boats meeting at the top mark and with a down speed maneuver the Danes were unable to recover with the Australians holding onto a narrow win.
'Tomorrow will see Lucinda sail against Anna Tunnicliffe from the USA. The results from this match and two others will determine the top two teams from the group and the other two that sail the repechage group of which two will join the top eight,' said Sharp.
'Nicky Souter will be competing in the Gold round robin with the top eight boats to decide the ranking for the knock series, there will be no easy races in what will be a very interesting day,' he said.
Victorians Will and Sam Phillips continue to lead the fleet in the 49er class, though their commanding lead after day one has shrunk to two points after the French crew of Manu Dyen and Stephane Christidis had a more consistent day of racing.
The Phillips' brother finished second in the opening race of the day to go with their three firsts from day one. The Australian Sailing Development Squad crew finished 13th and 12th in the final two races of the day to sit on 17 points, two clear of the French and seven ahead of Finish sailors Lauri Lehtinen and Kalle Bask.
Australian sailor Brendan Casey is in 10th position in the Finn class with three races completed on Tuesday, after no racing was possible on day one. Casey finished the day with a ninth, 13th and 11th and sits on 33 points, just 12 points of third in a highly competitive fleet.
In the Laser Radial fleet Megan de Lange jumped up the ladder to finish the day in 23rd position. De Lange crossed the line 36th in the day's first race before hitting back with a hard fought race win to finish day two on a high.
In the Star class Australian crew Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth are 17th overall after recording two 16th place finishes and a 14th.
Racing continues in Miami on Wednesday with all classes to be decided in Saturday's medal races.
www.yachting.org.au
by Yachting Australia
|
