7:43 PM Wed 16 Dec 2009 GMT
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'Peter Burling / Blair Tuke - NZ (49er)
2009 Sail Melbourne regatta
ISAF Sailing World Cup
? Sport the library/Jeff Crow'
? Sport the Library
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Sail Melbourne, Day 3 report.
Summer hit in Melbourne and as the temperature headed towards the high 30s the racing stepped up a notch on the water in the first session of the day.
The 49er, 29er, 2.4m, Skud 18 and Laser 4.7 and OK Dinghy classes started racing on day three at 12pm, with the remainder of the fleets heading out from 3pm.
In the 49er class current World Champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) had a fight on their hands all day with New Zealand crew Peter Burling and Blair Tuke winning the opening two races. The Kiwis led the fleet from start to finish in race one before Outteridge and Jensen hit back in race two, only to be beaten over the finish line by the smallest of margins by Burling and Tuke.
Heading into the final race of the day the New Zealanders had a slender one point lead but the final honours went to Outteridge and Jensen with Burling and Tuke third behind brothers Will and Sam Phillips (AUS). So after nine races it's the World Champions one point ahead of the Kiwis with the Phillips brothers third.
'We had to fight all day to stay up there,' said Outteridge. 'In race one the Kiwis didn't make a mistake and we had to follow them around the course, while in race two we led the whole way only to have them get past us at the last minute for the victory.'
'In the third race the Kiwis had a bad start which we were able to force on them and they got to the top mark in fourth with us in second. Will and Sam Phillips had the lead and on the final lap we went left and he went right and we managed to gain 40 seconds. We followed them down the last beat and when they gybed we gybed and we managed to roll them and cross the line about a boat length ahead,' said Outteridge.
Peter Thompson (AUS) had a much better day three in the 2.4m class, winning both races ahead of Canadian Paul Tingley, with the pair tied for the lead on ten points, with Michael Leydon (AUS) third.
In the Skud 18 fleet Duncan and Peter Macgregor (AUS) continue to lead the way, having a first and second place finish to move ten points clear of Krista Bailey and Michael Lewenhagen (AUS) in second place with Ame Barnbrook and Lindsay Mason (AUS) moving into third.
Adam Lahey and Troy Rushton (AUS) jumped up the ladder in the 29er fleet, winning both of today's races to be tied on points with Byron White and Thomas Koerner (AUS) with James Sly and Andrew Gillies (AUS) third. The 29er class is destined to go down to the wire with just one point separating the top three crews.
In the Laser 4.7s Lloyd Collings (AUS) continues to lead but it was second placed Ella Evans (AUS) who was the star of the day, winning both races to consolidate second place ahead of Stephen Collings (AUS).
The OK Dinghy class joined the regatta today with Tim Davies (AUS) jumping into the early lead with a first and third to be two points ahead of Roger and Andre Blasse (AUS).
Shifting winds dominated the afternoon racing on day three of Sail Melbourne, with the conditions keeping sailors on their toes and forcing them to work hard for every position gained.
The Australian Sailing Team's Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page kept their 100 per cent record intact, moving out to a seven point lead from American's Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl with local sailors Sam Kivell and Will Ryan moving into third position after a strong day.
'The racing was very win orientated today, instead of the fleet based racing we had in the opening two days,' said Belcher. 'It was all about risk management on the course, you had to be very careful and weigh up all the consequences before making any decisions, and then after all of that sometimes you can't always get it right.'
'But in saying all of that we still had two wins and have a comfortable lead so we can't complain too much,' he said.
New Zealanders Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie continue to lead the 470 women's class but they suffered their first race loss today, to West Australian's Stacey Omay and Chelsea Hall. Aleh and Powrie now have a five point lead over the Australian crew with Singapore's Dawn Liu and Siobhan Tam third.
Canadian Michael Leigh has taken the lead in the Laser class, moving two points ahead of American counterpart Clayton Johnson. Both Leigh and Johnson had a mixed day with a 20th and 11th respectively in race one followed by a one and six in race two.
'It was very shifty out there today,' said Johnson. 'It seemed like the left was very good on the first beat of each race but then the right came on in a huge way.'
'These shifty and puffy conditions are a bit of fun as long as you stay calm and don't get frustrated by what the wind is doing. At one stage it was blowing about 20 knots in the first race and then died down to about five so transitioning well was really important,' he said.
In the Laser Radial women's fleet American Paige Railey continues to lead the class, with a win and seventh today leaving her two points clear of Marit Bouwmeester from the Netherlands in second with German sailor Franziska Goltz third.
'Pretty much wherever I went today the wind didn't,' said Railey. 'In the first race I managed to start at the wrong end but fought back well to win, at one stage there were less boats behind me than in front. Then in the second I managed to bang the wrong corner each time and slipped back a bit.'
'It was a bit weird out there today, one side was favoured on one beat and then the next one it was the other side, at one stage I headed out by myself and got a huge shift and ended up reaching into the winward mark,' she said.
The Australian Sailing Development Squad's James Paterson continues to lead the Finn class, having a first and a fifth today to move eight points clear of Henry Bagnall, Tim Castles and Warick Hill (AUS), all tied on 14 points.
Leonard Ong (SIN) has a one point lead over Columbian Nicolas Lozano in the RS:X men's class with Australian Tim Gourlay third. While in the women's class Australian Jessica Crisp overcame a tough opening race to hit back with a win to open up a five point buffer over Norway's Jannicke Stalstrom with Angeliki Skarlatou (GRE) third.
Singapore's Seng Leong Koh is in control in the Laser Radial men's class, ten points clear of Elliott Noye (AUS) with Christopher Jones (AUS) one point further back.
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Jo Aleh / Olivia Powrie - NZ (470)
2009 Sail Melbourne regatta
ISAF Sailing World Cup
? Sport the library/Jeff Crow -
Jeff Crow- Sport
the Library ©
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Full results can be found at
www.sailmelbourne.com.au
by Craig Heydon
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