ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne day four - Extreme sailing

by Cora Zillich on 11 Dec 2014 At the ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne 2014 the penultimate day of the qualification series saw extreme sailing come to Port Phillip with high wind speeds of around 22 knots and gusts up to 30 making for some exciting racing, but also posing a few challenges for crews and gear.

While Laser and Nacra 17 as well as the Paralympic classes of Skud 18 and 2.4mR were able to complete two races, competition had to be cancelled for the 49er-FX, Finn and other classes. Only the Laser Radial managed to complete a couple of races in the afternoon.

Tom Burton (NSW) and Matt Wearn (WA) are leading the Laser fleet in first and second respectively, while Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) defended their lead in the Nacra 17.

In the Paralympic classes gold medallists Liesl Tesch (NSW) and Dan Fitzgibbon (NSW) built on their lead by posting two race wins, while Paralympian Matt Bugg sits in first in the 2.4mR.

A white-capped Port Phillip made for some exciting racing in the classes, sent out by the Principal Race Officer. Others had their racing abandoned and either returned to Sandringham Yacht Club or never left the shore.

Laser
After six races, World number one Tom Burton and 2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup Champion is still in the lead of the Laser Fleet. He is chased by Australian Sailing Squad’s Matt Wearn (WA) in second, making it a tight battle between the two teammates.

'I had the same points as Matt today. I beat him in the first race and he beat me in the second, so it’s a good battle and it’s pretty close. Fifth is my drop, so it’s still looking good', a confident Tom Burton commented after racing.

On the conditions he added: 'It was pretty tough and I don’t think we’ve had a day like that in a while. It was a solid breeze and big waves. But it was good. We got out, did two quick races and after the long day yesterday it was nice to get back onshore early in the day.'

After a year of pretty light racing, the whole Laser fleet enjoyed the heavy conditions out on Port Phillip.

'We haven’t sailed this sort of stuff all year. It’s been a pretty light year across our competitions and we all agreed that it was great to sail in some waves and breeze out there', Matt Wearn said.

'We started out with around 20 knots and the breeze was building and went maybe just over thirty knots. The waves kept building and you had to be smart, but it was good day of sailing. I had a pretty solid day with a five and a one, so I’m happy with how the day went.'

Nacra 17
Cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin defended their lead on day four of Nacra racing by posting a first and second in the two races completed.

The conditions sent the multihulls flying and made for some extreme sailing for the athletes and exciting vision for the public.

Australian Sailing Team mates Darren Bundock (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) are gaining momentum, posting a second and first with five points separating the pair from the leaders.

'We had a crazy huge swell and big winds out there and we were right on the edge all day, which was really fun', is how an excited Nina Curtis described today’s conditions.

'We almost completed three races, but ended up having to abandon the last one. It was fair enough in those conditions as it was pretty wild out there.'

'We were winning the first race today but I fell out of my trapezes harness and it kept on breaking open so we dropped back a spot. But we won the second race and were really happy with our speed today. We are getting a little bit closer to Jason and Lisa every day.'

Even though Bundock and Curtis are moving up the points ladder, skipper Waterhouse is still confident they can keep their lead with one more race day to go ahead of Saturday’s medal race. Like Curtis, he loved the challenge of today’s conditions:

'It was awesome out there. It was just really challenging and I reckon everybody had a swim today', Waterhouse laughed once back on shore.

'The racing was really tight. It was more fighting the elements than fighting your mates racing against you. The waves definitely made it tricky. We can manage the wind but when you bring the waves into it, it just adds another element. It’s something you can’t really train for, but it was fun.

'We are trying to keep that five point buffer as it makes life easier. We managed to hold that today and we will see how we go tomorrow.'

The third race was abandoned when Australian Sailing Squad’s Euan McNicol (NSW) and Lucinda Whitty (NSW) gave assistance to former team mate and London Olympian Krystal Weir (VIC), who had capsized and become separated from her Viper on the Nacra race course.

Thirteen Olympic and Paralympic Australian Sailing Team (AST) athletes and 30 Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) members are currently battling it out on home waters on Port Phillip in nine Olympic and in two Paralympic boat classes at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne (8-14 December 2014) amongst 185 Olympic boats and 306 Invited class boats from a total of 34 countries.

Melbourne kick starts the ISAF World Cup series before the sailors head to the USA, France, Great Britain and an Asian venue. The series will culminate in the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final Abu Dhabi.

Held at Sandringham Yacht Club, racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Melbourne started on Monday, 8 December 2014 with Medal Races scheduled for Saturday, 13 (49er/FX, RSX, Nacra 17, Paralympic classes) and Sunday, 14 December 2014 (470M/W, Laser-Radial, Finn).

2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne Australian Sailing Team and Squad Entries (as of 11 December 2014)

Mixed Multihull – Nacra17
- Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) – AST: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, (3), 3, 1, 2 – first
- Darren Bundock (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) – AST: (3), 2, 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1 – second
- Euan McNicol (NSW) and Lucinda Whitty (NSW) – ASS: 2, 3, 2, (4), 3, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3, 6 (DNF) – third
- Paul Darmanin (NSW) and Lucy Copeland (NSW) – ASS Bridging: (4), 4, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3 – fourth

Men's One Person Dinghy – Laser
- Tom Burton (NSW) – AST: 2, 2, 1, (5), 4, 2 – first
- Matthew Wearn (WA) – ASS: 3, (10), 2, 1, 5, 1 – second
- Luke Elliott (NSW) – ASS: 17, 20, 5, 3, 6, 3 – sixth
- Ryan Palk (QLD) – ASS: (14), 7, 6, 10, 8, 7 – eighth
- Mitchell Kennedy (QLD) – ASS: 11, 12, 13, 9, 7, (15) – 11th
- Mark Spearman (WA) – ASS Bridging: 29, 22, 22, 12, 10, 11 – 16th

Women's One Person Dinghy – Laser Radial (final results not available yet at issue of release)
- Ashley Stoddart (QLD) – ASS: 2, 2, (9), 8, 3 – third
- Anna Philip (VIC) – ASS Bridging: 18, 15, 14, 10, 16 – 15th

Paralympic Boat Classes
Skud 18
- Daniel Fitzgibbon (NSW) and Liesl Tesch (NSW) – AST: 1, 1, (3), 1, 1, 1 – first
- Amy Barnbrook (NSW) and Brett Pearce (NSW) – ASS: 2, 4, 2, 4, 4, (5) – second

2.4mR
- Matt Bugg (TAS) – AST: 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1 – first
- Neil Patterson (TAS) – ASS: 8, 6, (10), 6, 3 – seventh

No Racing Thursday, 11 December – Results as of Wednesday, 10 December 2014

Men’s Skiff – 49er – results update post redress
- Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) – AST: 1, 2, 2, (16 BFD), 2, 1, 1, 2, 3 – first
- Joel Turner (QLD) and Lewis Brake (QLD) – ASS: 2, (16 OCS), 5, 3, 6, 7, 7, 3, 1 – third
- David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (VIC) – AST: 5, 1, 1, (16 BFD), 1, 6, 2, 7, (16 DSQ) – fourth
- Harry Price (NSW) and Harry Morton (NSW) – ASS Bridging: 3, (16 OCS), 5, 3, 6, 7, 16, 10, 7 – 10th

Women's Skiff – 49erFX
- Tess Lloyd (VIC-ASS) and Caitlin Elks (WA-ASS): 1, (6), 1, 1, 4, 1, 6, 2, 3 – first
- Olivia Price (NSW-AST) and Eliza Solly (VIC-ASS): 2, 2, 4, 3, 6, 7, 3, (9 RET), 9 RET – fifth
- Haylee Outteridge (NSW-ASS) and Sarah Cook (VIC): 5, 5, 3, 6, 2, 5, 7, 6, 6 – sixth

Men's One Person Dinghy (Heavyweight) – Finn
- Oliver Tweddell (VIC) – ASS: 2, 4, 3, 1 – second
- Jake Lilley (QLD) – ASS: 3, 2, 2, 4 – third

Men’s Two Person Dingy – 470M
- Alexander Conway and Patrick Conway (NSW) – ASS: 1, 1, 2, (3) – first

Women's Two Person Dinghy – 470W
- Sasha Ryan (QLD) and Amelia Catt (TAS) – ASS: 1, 1, 1, 1 – first
- Jeni Lidget-Dansk and Jaime Ryan (QLD) – ASS: 2, 2, (3 UFD), 2 – second

Women's Windsurfer – RS:X
- Joanna Sterling (QLD) – ASS: (7 OCS), 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 4 – third