The second day of Sail Melbourne saw a light breeze that made for shifty racing. All athletes were happy to get through a solid patch of racing today. After three races Queensland Sailing Team members were successful across the different classes.In the 420 class Eloise Brake and Jamie Ryan had three wins to put them in the lead overall. Brake commented that “It was better wind today, still very light but it made for good racing”. The women’s pairing has been dominating 420 racing, after a European circuit and training with partners Angus Galloway and Alex Gough. In the high performance 29er class, leaders on day two are NSW team Byron White and Ashlen Rooklyn. However Queensland pairing of Franklin and Brake (2nd in Sail Brisbane and 2nd in Sail Sydney) sit in 4th position with some relatively consistent racing.
On the Laser course light wind made racing close and shifty. In the women’s radials Ashley Stoddard sits just below Australian Development Sailing Team member Alex South. With the top 5 women consisting of international competitors from China, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and Finland, racing is extremely difficult at the top. In the 4.7 Laser class, Queensland Sailing Team member Madison Kennedy sits perfectly in 1st position with a score card of 1,2,1,2. This puts her seven points ahead of her next rival Melissa Hitchen-Haw.
In the men’s racing Ryan Palk from Queensland has again produced some consistent racing and sits in 10th after a score card of 8th, 8th, 8th and 4th. Moving onto the Men’s Radial Queensland sit in the top 10 and have been racing well, in what has been difficult conditions. Top ranked Queensland Benjamin Franklin sits in 4th after some extremely consistent racing. Just behind him and on equal points is Mitchell Kennedy in 5th, followed by Jake Lilley in 8th overall.
In the Sailboard racing, today was tough with continual pumping around the race track. Queensland’s Luke Baillie is placed in 7th making him the second Australian within a top 10 of six different nations. Within one of the most difficult classes the Finn, Queenslander Brendan Casey sits in 9th position, only two places behind world renowned Ben Ainslie. Casey sits in the top 10 and is the top ranked Australian after three races.
In the 470 class Malcolm Page and Mathew Belcher lead overall after some challenging racing from American and Austrian teams. In an extremely competitive fleet Belcher and Page have both speed and tactics that are dominate in the fleet.
One of the biggest fleets in the regatta, consisting of 37 competitors is the International Optimist. Leading with a score card of 3, 1 and 1st is Kye Evans. Sail Brisbane winner Kyle O’Connell sits in 5th after the three tough races. Another Queenslander racing well in the top 10 is promising talent Klaus Lorenz, from Far North Queensland he sits in 8th position.
Tomorrow’s prediction is for more consistent and moderate breeze. Queensland Sailing Team members sit in strong positions in close to all classes, and are the leading Australians in multiple classes.
Andrew Gough