Eurosaf Champions Sailing Cup - Perfect day for AUS multihull sailors

by Craig Heydon on 12 May 2013 On day four of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup the Australian multihull sailors Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin have had the perfect day’s racing on Lake Garda in Italy with three wins from three starts in the Nacra 17 class.

After recording their first ever race win in the class on Friday the cousins picked up the pace on Saturday, with their three wins moving them into third overall ahead of the final medal race.

'We had a fantastic day today with great conditions between 12 and 18 knots,' said Darmanin. 'Our goal was to keep our scores consistent, work on our starts and qualify for the medal race which is the top six boats here.

'We finished with three wins which we were thrilled with, we worked hard for each race and were pushed the whole way around the course with constant position changes,' she said. 'We’re really excited not only to have qualified for the medal race but to have finished the fleet racing third overall. With the new EUROSAF scoring system we now have a chance to win the regatta.

'Tomorrow we only have one race and hopefully we can learn a lot from the experience,' said Darmanin.

The scoring system used for this event sees the top six boats qualify for the medal race with their current position represented as a point for the medal race, so Waterhouse and Darmanin head into the final with three points. This will then be added to their finishing position on Sunday to give them a final score.

Australian sailors are also in the mix for medals in the Laser class with Tom Burton and Ryan Palk both qualifying for the medal race.

Burton continues to lead the way in the Laser fleet, following another three good results on Saturday.

Burton, the current world number one, was seventh in the opening race of the day, finishing second in race two and fourth in race three. He heads into the medal race ahead of Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic with Ryan Palk third.

Palk was the big mover on Saturday, improving through the day’s three races. Palk began the day with a 14th, crossing the line eighth in race two and then ending the fleet series in style, winning the final race of the day.

Fellow Australian Matthew Wearn ended the regatta 12th overall, with Luke Elliott 25th, while Jared West was 51st in the silver fleet.

Josh McKnight and Nina Curtis had their best day of the regatta in the Nacra 17 class, with three top 10 results seeing them finish the regatta in 10th overall

McKnight and Curtis had a pair of fifth place finishes and an eighth, moving them up from their overnight 13th in their first Nacra 17 regatta.

Euan McNicol and Lucinda Whitty their first regatta together in 13th position. The pair were seventh in race one, before not finishing race two and ending race three in 19th.

Oliver Tweddell finished 11th in the Finn class, following another four races on Lake Garda. Tweddell improved with each race on Saturday, with a 12th in race one, and then a fourth, a third and a second.

Jake Lilley finished the week in 20th, with Dirk Seret in 51st.

Elise Rechichi and Sarah Cook were eighth in the 470 women’s class, finishing the opening race fifth, but not finishing races two or three. Fellow Australians Sasha and Jaime Ryan were 10th.

In the 470 men’s class Matthew and Robert Crawford were eighth overall. Paris Stowell finished eighth in the RS:X women’s class, with Annalise Gilbert 10th, while Patrick Vos was 19th in the RS:X men.

Full results can be found here.