Musto International Youth Match Racing Championship Day 2

by Jennifer Crooks on 27 Nov 2013 Day two of the Musto International Youth Match Racing Championships, conducted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, got underway on Sydney Harbour today. New Zealander Chris Steele is continuing his winning streak notching up six more match wins to remain undefeated.

Steele and his crew of Connor Mashlan, Dylan Wichman and George Brasell representing Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron had another solid day to keep their track record intact despite racing being postponed for two hours due to a glass out in the breeze.

'It was another solid performance today – we won all our pre-starts and right up until the last race we weren’t behind anyone,' Steele said.

'In the last match against Sam Mackay (Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club) we received a penalty in the pre-start. We managed to round the top mark right on his stern, do our penalty turn and then rolled him in a gybe. We had some good speed and managed to stretch away from him.

'Our crew work was tidier than yesterday but there’s still room for improvement, so tomorrow I hope we can pick up where we’ve left off,' Steele added.

'The Race Management team were excellent today – thoroughly professional and organised. It was a good call to send us ashore whilst we waited for the breeze to fill in rather than have us sitting out on the race track bobbing up and down.

'When we got the call that racing was due to commence, the course was set and ready to us to start match racing and take advantage of the breeze. It was a great course – there was plenty of passing lanes and you could pick the shifts,' Steele concluded.

Harry Price and his crew of Angus Williams, Louis Collins and Matt Stenta, representing the CYCA, are currently placed second, finishing today with four wins and two losses.

'It was a tough but good day,' Price said this afternoon. We dropped our first match to Rawiri Geddes (RNZYS) due to some miscommunication at the start and then we couldn’t find any room to pass him.

'In the second match, we lost to Lucas Chatonnier (New Caledonia), as we experienced some kite and halyard issues; and in our other matches we had to come from behind to take the win.

'I’m excited for tomorrow with the predicted breeze – we’re getting down to the business end of the competition,' Price added.

Rawiri Geddes and his crew of Alex Dyet, Josh Salthouse and George Anyon, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, sit in third position with four wins and two losses today.

'I’m a lot happier with the team’s performance today – we’re working better with each other and reducing the number of mistakes we made,' Geddes said.

'Our best match of the day was where we had really good control of the boat for the whole race and we were able to force our opponent off to the lay line.

Christophe Killian and his crew of Harrison Vanderwort, Jack Martin, Andrew Lutrell and Megan Roach, representing Balboa Yacht Club, were one of the most improved team in the regatta, finishing the day with four wins and two losses putting them in equal fourth with three remaining matches of round robin two to be sailed tomorrow.

'It was a textbook day but we did have a bad match against Harry Price (CYCA). We were leading by 10-15 boat lengths and we rounded the top mark just as another match was rounding,' Killian said

We couldn’t see him (Price) coming up on our starboard side and managed to hit him with our spinnaker and were forced to do a penalty turn and he just sailed away from us.

'These Elliotts are awesome boats to sail – they are faster, more responsive and plane more than what we’re used to at home (Governor’s Cup 21), which are a lot slower. There’s some tough competition out there – the top guys are good but there’s still a wide berth of skill,' Killian concluded.

Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson got racing underway just after 12noon today after a two hour postponement due to the total glass out in the breeze. 'We knew that the glass out could have happened at any time today – it just happened earlier than anticipated,' Thompson said.

The breeze eventually filled in from the north east at 7-8 knots that gradually built and went a little right throughout the day, reaching 12 knots as the last flight got underway.

'We managed to push through six flights this afternoon – lovely conditions to race in: flat water, clear skies and a north easterly breeze. Given the forecast for tomorrow, we’ll push to finish round robin two and start the semi-finals and sail offs tomorrow afternoon,' Thompson added.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasting north to north easterly winds of about 10 knots increasing to 10-15 knots in the middle of the day, then 15-25 knots by late afternoon. Competition resumed tomorrow, Thursday 28 November at 1000hrs in the vicinity of Rushcutters Bay.

The Musto International Youth Match Racing Championship is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Youth Sailing Academy on the Elliott 7s.

Current standings after six flights of Round Robin Two
Position – Skipper Name – Yacht Club – Wins and Losses for RR2
1st – Chris Steele (RNZYS) – 15 points - 6 wins, 0 losses
2nd – Harry Price (CYCA) – 12 points - 4 wins, 2 losses
3rd – Rawiri Geddes (RNZYS) – 9 points - 4 wins, 2 losses
4th - Christophe Killian (BYC) – 8 points - 4 wins, 2 losses
5th - Murray Jones (CYCA) – 8 points - 4 wins, 2 losses
6th - Milly Bennett (RPAYC) – 7 points - 2 wins, 4 losses
7th – Lucas Chatonnier (CNC) – 6 points - 3 wins, 3 losses
- Sam Mackay (RPNYC) – 6 points - 1 win, 5 losses
9th - Dylan Gore (RYCT) – 4 points - 2 wins, 2 losses
10th – Carolyn Smith (NHYC) – 0 points - 0 wins, 6 losses