Musto Intl. Youth Match Racing - Trans-Tasman tie at the top on day 2

by Jennifer Crooks on 29 Nov 2012 It’s all tied at the top of the leader board in the Musto International Youth Match Racing Championship between Chris Steele, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, and Ashlen Rooklyn, representing the host club, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia; both of whom sit on ten points at the end of day two.

The weather did not play the game today with grey gloomy skies and a very fickle breeze. Racing was delayed by two hours due to the lack of breeze. As a result only four flights were completed with Steele finishing on top at the completion of Round Robin One. He then won his first match of Round Robin Two and lost his final match of the day.

Rooklyn’s only loss was to Steele, having won his first two matches of Round Robin Two but this leaves Steele ahead on a countback.

'It was a frustrating day with the AP, light airs and shifty conditions,' Steele said this afternoon. 'We lost our last match due to a loss of concentration. He (Appelgren) got the first shift and gained the advantage which we were unable to claw back.

'We can take plenty of positives out of today though – our boat handling skills and sound crew work. It was a very close match with Ash (Rooklyn) – I was able to put the boat where I wanted to and came away with the win,' Steele added.

Heading into day three of competition Steele said' We’ll just keep repeating our routines and stay focused. I learnt a lot from our last race of the day and hope that tomorrow breeze is better and there are fewer minefields.'

Rooklyn is also looking forward to day three of competition 'The breeze for the next two days is looking good and should suit us.'

When asked about his close match against Steele, Rooklyn recalled 'He was able to beat us off the line and pushed us to the lay line quite early. We had lots of gains downwind, but Steele again pushed us out to the lay line. There was less than a quarter of a boat length between us when we finished. We’ll get him next time.'

Sam Gilmour (Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club) holds onto his third position after three wins and one loss today. Gilmour’s loss was also to Steele with the lead changing seven times throughout the match. 'That was disappointing – I really wanted to win against him (Steele). The breeze dropped off during our match'

Harry Price (CYCA) sits in fourth place after three wins and one loss today. 'The breeze was fluky – going back and forth, but our crew work has improved.'

Race Officer Denis Thompson was forced for hoist the AP flag and delay racing for over two hours this morning whilst awaiting breeze. Racing got underway at 12.30pm in a light east south easterly in the vicinity of Rushcutters Bay. Throughout the afternoon the breeze built slightly, up to seven knots, and then flicked around to the north east and then lightened as it went back to the south east.

'There were lots of course changes today and not all matches in the flights were going to the same marks, as the breeze had changed in between the start of each match, 'Thompson said.

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 north easterly winds of 10-15 knots with the chance of showers.

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