After three days of challenging circumstances with extremely light wind to an abandoned third day, Sail Melbourne has had its fair share of varying conditions. For day 4, sailors were met with another light breeze at around 5 – 10knots that faded in and out throughout the day. This caused difficulties for race committees across the different courses. However the breeze stayed in for the afternoon at a steadier 5 knots.
In the 420 class, Queenslanders Eloise Brake and Jamie Ryan led again after three days of consistent racing. With a 2,2 and a 1 to wrap up day 4, the Queensland pairing have a big lead of 10 points over rival women’s team Carrie Smith and Ella Clark from Western Australia. With a second in Sail Brisbane and a third in Sail Sydney, the girls are hoping for a win in their final regatta of the 2010 SailDownUnder circuit.
Across to the 29er racing, Queensland Sailing Team members Josh Franklin and Lewis Brake have bounced back with a 1st and two 3rd’s to lead overall on day 4. The boys have had some promising results in Sail Brisbane and Sydney and hopefully can hold their four point lead.
In the Laser racing, Madison Kennedy has held her lead of nine points, and is in a strong position to lead the last three races of the regatta. Top ranked men’s radial sailor Mitchell Kennedy sailed another clean day with a 2nd and a 1st to put him in third overall. Mitch commented on the tricky conditions “Today was another tricky day, I was lucky enough to be in the right places in the first two races, which allowed me to get some great results. I’m looking forward to some more close racing tomorrow.”
Laser radial women sailor Ashley Stoddard sits in 28th position racing against Olympic and international competitors. Ashley a member of the Australian Sailing Development Team and Queensland Sailing Team has raced well over the regatta and found the fourth day one of the toughest. Ashley stated how” It was a good, tough and light southerly gradient that tested our speed and skill. I have been working on positioning and aggression at the start, and it seems to have paid off today.”
The competitive Skud 18 with a fleet of seven, including international competitors, is led again on day four by Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell from Great Britain. However Queenslander and Australian Paralympic Sailing Team member Daniel Fitzgibbon sits in 3rd position after a tougher day on the water.
With the fifth day of racing to start tomorrow, and a predicted moderate to strong northerly, there will be some definite intense and close racing within all the fleets. Queensland leads in the 420 class, 29er’s and Laser 4.7’s, and with only a small amount of racing to go, the Queensland Sailing Team again looks set for a promising finish to what was a very successful SailDownUnder series for 2010.
Andrew Gough