Musto International Youth Match Racing Championship - Tied at the top

by Jennifer Crooks on 28 Nov 2012 At the Musto International Youth Match Racing Championship, Ashlen Rooklyn and Chris Steele, representing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, are tied at the top of the leaderboard.

'It was a glamour day,' Rooklyn said this afternoon after stepping onto the CYCA dock at the completion of Flight Seven of Round Robin One. 'I’m really happy with the seven wins but we’ve got a tough day tomorrow.

'It was hot and sticky with a shifty breeze,' Rooklyn added 'Our toughest match so far has been against Sam Gilmour – we had a tight pre-start, we both came away pretty evenly but I was able to pick a couple of shifts to put some distance between us.

'Today was about staying close, picking the shifts and making small gains when they presented themselves,' he added.

Over the last 12 months, Rooklyn has seen his sailing improved 'I’ve been doing sailing on lots of different boats and in different positions on the boat. This has really helped develop my skills as a skipper including being able to pick the shifts and work out strategies.'

Race Officer Denis Thompson got racing underway, in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Youth Sailing Academy fleet of Elliott 6s, in the vicinity of Rushcutters Bay at 1100hours after a short AP whilst the breeze filled in from the south east up to 15 knots. Throughout the day, the breeze dropped off and went back around to east south east by the end of the afternoon.

'It was a tough day with the breeze – it just wasn’t stable in its direction,' Steele said. 'It was pretty straight forward racing – we did have to come from behind in our match against Sam Mackay (from Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club) and we had a tight match with Harry Price (CYCA).

'It will be a real grudge match tomorrow as we’ve got our two toughest matches to start the day – Gilmour and Rooklyn,' Steele added.

Sam Gilmour, from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, finished the day with six wins and one loss. 'It was a pretty good day – we lost the last race to Rooklyn as we were at a disadvantage after the start.

'I felt really good out there today – our boat speed was tip top and I was able to dominate in most races. The breeze was really shifty especially around Clarke Island. Trying to pick the splits was challenging but I got most of them right,' Gilmour said.

Harry Price (CYCA) finished the day with four wins, with Hampus Appelgren (Royal Swedish Yacht Club) and Scott Barnes (RNZYS) finished the day with three wins each; Lucas Chationnier (Cercle Nautique Caldeonien) sits in seventh place with two wins; and Dylan Gore (RYCT), Sam Mackay (RPNYC) and Claudia Pierce all with one win each.

Hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, racing is being conducted on the Youth Sailing Academy Elliott 6s and continues through until Friday 30 November. The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting south easterly winds of 10-15 knots with isolated thunderstorms.

Race results will be updated throughout the course of the regatta here.