Warren Jones International Youth Regatta - Day 2

by Jonny Fullerton on 1 Feb 2017 Another testing day on Perth Waters at the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta. More persistent rain showers, overcast skies and light and patchy five - ten knot breeze from an E/SE direction. A second day of very compact courses with close boundaries and multiple place changes, testing some of the world’s highest ranked match race teams.

A pattern is starting to form with two standout teams forming a minor breakaway at the top of the standings at the completion of round robin 1. Chris Steele (36 Below Racing) from the RNZYS, continued to chalk up the wins today including the match of the day against arch rival Sam Gilmour (Neptune Racing) from RFBYC. He now stands on 10 wins and only 1 loss, against Sam Gilmour on eight wins and three losses.

Round Robin 2 is looking very interesting as six teams are only separated by two points as a whole raft of teams start to get more used to racing the Foundation 36 monohull yachts.

Harry Price (Down Under Racing) from Sydney, finished the day claiming the scalp of defending champion Sam Gilmour but did have a costly day being deemed responsible for some damage to another boat and getting tangled up with a rib on the fringes of the racecourse.

“We have been doing a lot of match racing in the USA last year. Its awesome to race here in front of the city. The race course is nice and tight, good boundary lengths, short courses, lots of intense racing and if you are on the back foot from the get go you are really struggling. Its really different, its fun so far.”

“So far today we have had two high priced crashes! One against Lachy earlier in the day and also managed to crash into somebody’s brand new rib in the Jerwood race, so the credit card bill is going to be quite large this month!!”

“Its the first time that this crew has been all together on the boat which might account for the crashes but the crew work has been absolutely phenomenal so far so lets hope we keep it up.” Harry

Matt Jerwood (Redline Racing) from SoPYC in Perth, had a better day today despite picking up a black flag in his race against Harry Price and losing to Chris Steele. Matt won five matches to stay in the mix.

Will Boulden (Alpha Racing Team) from RFBYC won all three of his matches to stay very much in contention as does the younger Gilmour, Lachy (Gilmour Racing Team) who had some tough battles today, his best being the win against Chris Steele, the kiwis only loss of the regatta so far.

Also fighting hard to stay in the pack is the joint youngest skipper, James Hodgson (17 yrs) and his mixed crew representing Mooloolaba YC in Queensland. James comes to Perth without the funding and coaching benefits many of the other teams enjoy but is learning from every day on the water.

Overseas competitor Mans Holmberg is another sailor using his time here at the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta as a big learning experience. Despite only scoring two wins on the racecourse he is gaining huge value from racing against some of the top ranked match race teams in the world and is enjoying his time here in Perth.

“I have never done any match racing on these tight courses but its really fun and I think you have got to learn it. I have been racing multihulls but the transition from multihulls to monohulls is quite different, its a lot of fun, most of my guys now sail on the 49er but this team is new for this season and we have never raced here in Perth Waters before.” Mans

Some tired sailors came ashore after long hours working really hard in an incredibly tight race arena but nonetheless leaning from every match to take that knowledge into the second round of the competition which may well be held in stronger breeze from a more regular direction. And just maybe we have seen the last of the rain and Perth will return to the usual summer weather pattern.

Racing is scheduled to take place between 1230hrs and 1900hrs (local time) Listen in on 106.5FM Radio streamed live via the website.

Standings after Day 2 - Round Robin 1:

• Chris Steele (36 Below Racing) RNZYS NZL - 10 - 1
• Sam Gilmour (Neptune Racing) RFBYC AUS - 8 - 3
• Harry Price (Down Under Racing) CYCA AUS - 7 - 4 (-1pt for damage)
• Lachy Gilmour (Gilmour Racing Team) RFBYC AUS - 7 - 4
• Will Boulden (Alpha Racing Team) RFBYC AUS - 7 - 4
• George Anyon (RNZYS Performance Programme) NZL - 6 - 5
• Matt Jerwood (Redline Racing) SoPYC AUS - 6 - 5
• James Hodgson (Mooloolaba YC) MYC AUS - 5 - 6
• Will Dargaville (Dargavllle Racing) RPAYC AUS - 5 - 6
• Leonard Takahashi (RNZYS Performance Programme) NZL - 2 - 9
• Mans Holmberg (CFA Sports) CCYC SWE - 2 - 9
• Ethan Prieto-Low (Calypso Racing) RFBYC AUS - 1 - 10

For more details visit website.