Top mark of the Bravo course - photo Andrew Gough
The second day of the OAMPS Australian Youth Championships gave the 164 entrants near perfect conditions on Botany Bay. With an increasing northerly, race officials fired off the first starts at 11:00. The breeze held in at around 10 knots, and competition was tough as youth athletes both nationally and internationally battled it out on the race track.
The youth position in the men’s radial is still quite undecided as Mitch Kennedy leads as the first Australian behind international rivals Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini from Great Britain and Maxem Nikolaev from Russia. However in the women’s, Manami Doi from Japan leads sitting in 14th spot overall, however Australian Ella Evans is a mere 3 points behind in 15th.
In the Hobie 16 Paul Darmanin and Alek Vucic lead after some consistent racing, second is NSW pair Bryce Caleb Heffner and Caleb White. The Hobie’s had some fun racing today with the consistent seabreeze that came in during the afternoon. Darmanin and Vucic have all wins on their score card and are hoping for the same tomorrow.
Queensland is dominating in the International 420 class, as Angus Galloway and Alex Gough in the men’s, and Eloise Brake and Jamie Ryan in the women’s control the large fleet. Brake and Ryan had a win in the first race followed by a 7th and a 5th. It was pretty light and shifty said Brake, “We had a good first race however we struggled towards the end of the day and that allowed the Western Australian girls to get ahead points wise”. With a score card of a 2nd, 1st and 2nd for the days racing, Gough and Galloway take the lead into day three.
Queensland’s 29er team had another successful day as Lewis Brake and Josh Franklin hold onto their lead of 1 point over James Sly and Thomas Dwyer from Victoria. With a 7th, 1st and a 4th in the three races Brake and Franklin are hoping for a bit more breeze in the next two days. Brake commented,” We know we are fast in the breeze we proved this at the Australian Champs, but we know what we have to do to keep our lead in the light air”.
An upset in the Bic Techno start saw Antoine Aubert lose his lead in the regatta after a black flag disqualification in race one today. Sam Treharne from New South Wales moves into top position with a 1st a BFD and a 2nd . Hoping for more wind Treharne commented “We like about 18 knots we can get the boards going and it’s a lot more fun”.
With a windier prediction tomorrow, competition will get even tougher as top contenders fight for a chance to be selected in the Australian Youth Sailing Team headed for Croatia later this year. As Queensland holds winning youth positions in the Laser radials and 420 men, the team is hoping for a more successful day across the board tomorrow.
For today’s photos head to: http://picasaweb.google.com/102314198531545587394
Andrew Gough