Australian back on Podium at IFDS Worlds

by John Roberson on 24 Jan 2006 Australian crew Jamie Dunross, Colin Harrison and Graeme Martin, are back
in contention after a strong performance today at the 2006 Alcoa IFDS World
Disabled Sailing Championships

They added third and second places to their score line in the Sonar class,
to move up to third place on the leader board, just four points behind the
leader, which is still the British team, though with a much reduced margin.

Commenting on his day at the office, Jamie Dunross said, ‘it was an OK day
for us today, we got a third in the second, in yacht racing you'd be pretty
happy with a result like that.

‘The conditions were very fluky, we didn't have good starts, but we worked
hard to get through the fleet, so we're pretty happy with the end result.’

It was Norway's day, with Jostein Stordahl, and his crew of Aleksander
Wang-Hansen and Per Eugen Kristiansen put two Sonar class wins on the
scoreboard, to keep their medal prospects strong.

Their compatriot Bjornar Erikstad also had a good day in the 2.4 Metre
class, scoring fourth and second places, to keep himself in contention for
the championship.

Stodahl summed up his day, ‘my racing was splendid since we won both race,
in the first race it was very tricky, first the left side was best, then
the right side was best, and then the middle way was best. In the second
race we were leading from the beginning to the end.’

With the British crew of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas
in the Sonars, having a poor day, with tenth and sixth places, this class
is still very open, they cling to a half point lead over Germany's Jens
Kroker.

England's Helena Lucas extended her tenancy on the top of the leader board
in the 2.4 Metre class with a consistent day, in difficult conditions, to
put fourth and second places in her score line.

With Perth's legendary sea breeze constantly fighting to overcome the
incumbent easterly, it was a day for brains rather than brawn.

Bjornar Erikstad has climbed into second place on the leader board after his
good results today, ‘I'm very satisfied,’ he said. ‘It was a little tricky
today, it was quite shifty, and the wind was up and down, so you needed to
trim a lot, and change the boat trim to get the speed.’

RESULTS: After 7 races, 6 to count.

Sonars

1. John Robertson/Stodel/Thomas GBR 17pts
2. Jens Kroker/Schoenberg/Schuetz GER 17.5pts
3. Jamie Dunross/Harrison/Martin AUS 21pts

9. Peter Thomson/Conder/Astwood AUS 46pts
13. Stephen Churm/Power/Cull AUS 68pts

2.4 Metres

1. Helena Lucas GBR 11pts
2. Bjornar Erikstad NOR 15pts
3. Heiko Kroeger GER 20pts

12. Aaron Hill AUS 59pts
16. Rachael Cox AUS 87pts
19. Maryanne Ireland AUS 115pts