The second day of racing here at the Queensland Youth Week for 2011 has been abandoned, after light and variable conditions made racing impossible across the three courses.
The challenging conditions had an affect on the Optimist course where Australian Champion Chris Charwood was over hauled by Victorian James Mclennan for the overall lead. However the one and only race of the day was won by Queenslander Thomas Cunich, who couldn’t be matched by the competitive fleet in the light conditions.
In the high performance 29er class Tom Siganto and Joel Turner continue to hold their lead over fellow Queenslanders Lochie Robba and Alex Ker. The stand out in the racing was sister team Phillipa and Eliza Solly from Victoria who won the race of the day with a clean lead from the rest of the fleet. “ It was really challenging as far as staying in the pressure and wind shifts, but what got us the win was our concentration, we had to keep the boat moving…” said Solly.
With light air predicted for the rest of the regatta the girls are eagerly awaiting racing tomorrow. “Well apparently it is suppose to be light tomorrow, so we are going to do the same sort of thing we did today, we like the light winds” the girls concluded.
On the laser course only one race was completed and the top three in both 4.7 and radial classes changed. In the radial rig Mitchell Kennedy from Queensland continues to lead narrowly over sister Maddison Kennedy. In the 4.7’s Milly Bennet was pushed back into second behind Western Australian Ben Walkemeyer who has been racing consistently over the past two days. Walkemeyer won the only race of the day today and has a narrow lead in the top three.
In the 420 class New South Wales sailors James Brewer and Dylan Passmore hold their lead over Queensland brothers Dylan and Reece Baguley. Passmore and Brewer have lead and won every race of the series so far and are hoping to continue their winning ways.
The Bic Techno class is being dominated by experience NSW sailboarder Samuel Treharne who has an impressive lead over Laird and Lara O’Brien in second and
third.
The 25 strong sabot fleet has been enjoying the Queensland winter conditions, and is being led by Mathew Lang from New South Wales. In second is Queenslander Trevor Koremon on seven points, followed closely by Finn Gilbert on a total of nine points.
With light westerly winds predicted for tomorrow, another day of challenging and tactical conditions await for the 235 entrants.
Andrew Gough
Yachting Queensland