ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne- Internationals to the fore in 470s

by Richard Gladwell on 2 Dec 2013
Two races were sailed in the first session on Day 1 of the ISAF Sailing World Cup, Melbourne, in the Mens and Womens 470 events.

International crews won both the second races of the day in both Mens and Womens. With Croatia and China taking the honours in the two fleets.

Overall leader of the Mens 470 after the first two races is the Croatian crew of Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic who had a first and second place in the two races sailed. They have the same points as second placed crew Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS).

On the overall points table, the Croatians, who are the current European Champions in the 470, lead by virtue of a countback, having beaten the Australians in the last race of the day.

'It’s been a great opening day for us', said Sime Fantela. 'We placed second in the first and the other one we won.

'In the first race it was gusty to around 15kts and then it dropped to around 8-10kts.'

'In the second race we had a really good start, and played the shifts well upwind, the upwind leg was long and it paid to go for the shore. We extended our lead on the second reach after the Australians (Belcher and Ryan) became stuck in the pack.'

'This is our second time at Sail Melbourne, we were here five years ago. It is still the same – we love to be here, the weather is always nice, and it is much better than in Croatia, now,' he grinned.

Fantela and Marenic placed sixth in the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth, and from here will have a break before heading to Miami for the next round of the ISAF Sailing World Cup.

The Australian crew of Angus Galloway and Tim Hannah are third overall but are in a group of three who are locked on 9 points. Australia’s Crawford brothers are in fifth overall, with the Chinese crew of Hao Lan and Chao Wang positioned in fourth overall.

Brazil’s Gelson Mendes and Gustavo Mendes did not have quite such a good day lying sixth overall, after placing fourth and seventh .

'It was good for us in the first race, in the second we did not sail so well. The wind went to the right, we went to the left, so it was not so good for us. In the first race we finished fourth – we got a good start and sailed clear.

'This is our first time here, in Melbourne. The wind is very shifty here.

'There is more wind here than in the Olympics – especially in Rio where the Olympics will be,' he added.

Winner of the ISAF Youth Girls World Championship, Carrie Smith has teamed up one of the top ten 470 crews, Sarah Cook to compete in the Womens 470 event at the ISAF Sailing World Cup, Melbourne.

They currently lead the six-strong fleet, in which two countries are competing.

Smith and Cook placed first and second in the two races sailed today, and are three points ahead of a second Australian crew Jacqui Gurr and Amelai Catt.

In third and fourth place overall is the Chinese crews, Shasha Chen and Haiyan Gao, who placd sixth in the frist race of the day and then came through to win in the second, sailed in lighter, probably more challenging conditions.

They are only one point out of second overall, and one point behind is a second Chinese crew, Nan Zhang and Yixiao Lv.