Volvo Youth Sailing Worlds 2010 - Australians into medal contention

by Craig Heydon on 16 Jul 2010 2010 Volvo Youth Sailing World Championship, Australian youth sailors move into medal contention in Turkey - As the 2010 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship heads into the final day of racing, two OAMPS Insurance Brokers Australian Youth Sailing Team crews have had great a great day on the water and have moved into medal positions.

Once again racing was delayed in Istanbul, Turkey, due to a lack of wind with the fleets finally able to get underway and begin racing late in the afternoon.

Australia’s multihull representatives Chase Lurati and Paul Darmanin have been locked in a battle with Danish crew Daniel and Nicolaj Bjornholt for the entire regatta with the Australian’s taking the upper-hand on the penultimate day of racing.

Lurati and Darmanin had three impressive races, finishing second, third and then winning the final race of the day to take a nine point lead into the final day of racing.

Australia’s multihull and 420 coach Johnny Rodgers was impressed with how Lurati and Darmanin sailed in the tricky conditions.

'The boys were trying to sail conservatively today and did exactly what they need to do,' said Rodgers. 'They were fast both upwind and downwind and managed to get three good starts which helped. Chase and Paul have said a couple of times now how they love sailing the SL16 and how much fun it sail, they’ve done incredibly well to adapt to a boat which they had never sailed on before they arrived in Turkey,' he said.

'Going into the final day of racing they’ll keep doing exactly the same things they have all week, stick to the strategy and keep and eye on the other competitors around them,' said Rodgers. 'We’re going to keep the same process the whole way through, from getting up at 7am, to doing our morning exercise, to prepping the boat, keep it nice and simple.'

Angus Galloway and Alexander Gough continued their strong run in the 420 boys class jumping another two positions to go into the final day of racing second overall.

The Queensland pair finished with two sixth positions on Thursday and while the leading Spanish crew has a comfortable 16 point lead the Galloway and Gough have opened up a 10 point gap over the third placed Swiss crew.

'Angus and I had another good day of racing,' said Gough. 'We just kept on doing what we’ve been doing for the last few days and it’s paid off. We’ve got our heads together as a crew now, I think we were a bit freaked out on the opening day by the quality of the fleet but since then we’ve fought back well,' he said.

After six races the Australians have only had one result outside the top 10 and have moved up the leader board on each day of the regatta.

'It was pretty light again today, we headed out about 10.30am but there was no wind so we sat around until we finally got underway about 5pm,' said Gough. 'We didn’t get off the water until 9pm making it another long day but we’re really enjoying the experience. We’ll probably have one or two races tomorrow so we’ll have a close look at the scorecard in the morning and see what needs to be done out on the water,' he said.

Byron White and Thomas Koener continued to chip away at the leaders in the 29er fleet on Thursday, moving from their overnight 11th position to end the day in eighth overall. The Sydney based crew finished the three races with a second, 14th and ninth, to be just four points off seventh position and eight off the top six.

Alexandra South had a good day in the Laser Radial girls class finishing day five in 10th position. South had three races today crossing the line in 10th, 21st and then a strong final race fourth to move up six positions from overnight. South is in the middle of a tight group of sailors and is just eight points off fifth position going into the last day of racing.

Joanna Sterling has moved into 12th position overall in the RS:X girls class after recording a 10th and 11th place finish.

West Australian Eamon Robertshaw is holding down his 14th place in the RS:X boys class after a ninth and an 18th on Thursday.

420 girls class representatives Ashley Warlow and Elloise Brake ended the day in 24th position, slipping one from where they were overnight and with a strong final day could quite easily move up a few positions.

Ben Franklin jumped 10 positions in the Laser Radial boys class to be 39thoverall, putting a tough couple of days behind him to finish with a 26 th, 19th and 27th.

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