2010 Rolex Miami OCR- Australian crews in strong position on day four

by Craig Heydon on 29 Jan 2010 The Australian Sailing Team's 470 men's crew of Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page continue to hold down seventh position after four days of race in Miami.

Belcher and Page started the day in the best possible fashion, winning the opening race comfortably before finishing 17th in the second race.

'Today was a bit like a yo-yo for us,' said Page. 'We had plenty of opportunities on the water and took them in the first race but then wasted them in the second.'

'We had a great start in the first race, got the first three shifts and lead the whole way which felt great,' he said. 'Then in the second we were in a similar position in the lead group but just didn't read the wind well, we found ourselves tacking when we should have gone straight and slipped back into the middle of the pack.'

With two races on Friday before Saturday's medal race the Australian pair are only 16 points off the lead with plenty of movement up and done the ladder still to happen in the regatta.

'I'd say our objective for tomorrow is not to go out and win both races but to get two solid races in,' said Page. 'The weather will be the same again tomorrow, quite light, it's becoming a bit like Groundhog Day over here but if we can get two solid results it would be wonderful.'

'We're up against an incredibly strong fleet with a lot of guys who can win races but with a number of the leading crews already carrying high scores if we can get in two solid finishes I'm sure it will take us up the leader board.'

'We're showing good potential, now we just need to work on smoothing out the bumps,' he said.

Australia's two Women's Match Racing crews powered into the quarter-finals with Lucinda Whitty winning the repechage round robin on her way to a final eight appearance and Nicky Souter finishing third in the gold round robin.

Whitty, Jessica Eastwell and Amanda Scrivenor took out the repechage with four wins and one loss and as a result took one of the final two positions for the quarter-finals.

'In the quarter-final Lucinda is up against American Olympic Laser Radial Gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe and is down two-nil,' said Australian coach Dayne Sharp. 'The girls are sailing extremely well but when up against the high level competition we have here one small error makes the difference as there is nothing between the top teams.'

After finishing third in the gold round robin Souter and crew Stacey Jackson and Rayshele Martin drew Samantha Osborne and her New Zealand crew for the knock out round. After the opening two races the trans-Tasman battle is locked at one-all.

'Both Australian teams are still alive and looking forward to tomorrow's racing,' said Sharpe.

Australian 49er crew Will and Sam Phillips had a mixed day on the water, winning the day's opening race before recording a 14th and 27th. The Victorian brothers currently sit in seventh overall but with results being up and down throughout the entire fleet there is still plenty to play for.

Megan de Lange is 32nd overall after eight races in the Laser Radial fleet, finishing with a 31st and 35th on day four of racing. American Paige Railey who won the Sail Melbourne regatta in December continues to lead the fleet.

Brendan Casey is holding down 13th position in the Finn class after having a regatta best second place finish in the opening race of the day. With two races still to be run on Friday Casey is currently 22 points off 10th place and a position in Saturday's medal race.

Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth continue their consistent run in the Star class and finished the day in 11th position. The pair had an 11th and eighth in the day's two races and are just seven points off a medal race appearance with two races scheduled for tomorrow.

www.australiansailingteam.com.au