Today saw the end of the 4th day of competition. Unfortunately, it was spent on shore at Singapore’s National Sailing Centre as the breeze faded away to nothing early in the day and failed to return. This leaves the competitors having completed six races and now down two. It looks unlikely that we will complete the scheduled 16 races.
Both Madison Kennedy (QLD) and Mark Spearman (WA) have had moments of brilliance, each having several good races. The light and shifty winds and the world class competition make it difficult to be consistent with even the regatta leaders having bad races and bad results outside the top ten.
After the third day of racing Madi was protested by the girl from Chile about a bottom mark rounding incident involving rule 18.2 Mark room and 14 Avoiding a collision. Madi was clearly in the right and after a protest hearing with the International Jury, Madi’s first real protest. The Chile girl was disqualified from the race and Madi’s results stood. After this first protest Madi was then required as a witness for the Swiss girl involving a port starboard incident with the Chinese girl. The incident was clear cut and the Chinese girl was disqualified. Madi definitely learnt a lot from the experience.
Tomorrow is a lay day on which no racing is allowed so the teams will be enjoying the cultural education experiences at the Youth Olympic Village and exploring the sights and sounds of Singapore.
With three days of racing to go, the competition is still very wide open and the Aussie sailors are keen to improve their overall results with a strong finish.
By Ben Callard
21 August 2010