ISAF Sailing World Cup Final - Australian take the lead

by Cora Zillich on 30 Oct 2015 The 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final kicked-off in Abu Dhabi last night (Thursday, 29 October 2015) with Australian Sailing’s defending champions Tom Burton (NSW) as well as Mat Belcher (QLD) and Will Ryan (QLD) setting out again on a gold medal course.

The fleets had an early start racing from 10 a.m. local time in an off shore breeze of 10-17 knots.

The defending champion in the Laser class Tom Burton scored one race win and a second place to lead the 20-boat Laser fleet from five-times Olympic medalist Robert Scheidt of Brazil who picked up a pair of third places. Teammate Matt Wearn (WA) posted a tenth and a second place and sits in fifth.

“After such a long time without racing it took me half a race to click in to gear and had to fight back from 16th to finish with a tenth. The second race was much better and ended the day with a second. I’m looking forward to more racing and consolidating tomorrow,” Matt Wearn said, who is racing his first regatta since the Laser World Champs in July.

Australian Sailing Squad’s Ryan Palk (QLD) finished the first day ranked 12th.

Multiple world champions and World number one Mat Belcher and Will Ryan came from behind to land the opening race in the men's 470 class. Down in third at the first mark, they eventually came through to victory by 29 seconds from Austrians Matthias Schmid and Florian Reichstädter, with Americans Stuart McNay and David Hughes in third.

In race two the Aussies were beaten into second place by McNay and Hughes but lead the Americans by a single point at the end of the day.

Australian Sailing Squad’s Alexander and Patrick Conway (NSW) are the second Australian boat in the small Men’s 470 fleet of only 11 crews and are ranked tenth.

In the Laser Radial Australian Sailing Squad’s Ashley Stoddart had a strong first day posting a fourth and fifth place and is ranked fourth overall after the first two races.

Eight Australian Sailing Team (AST) and Squad (ASS) sailors are competing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in the Men’s 470, Laser and Laser Radial.

After three days of fleet racing, the top ten athletes from each of the classes will move forward into Sunday's (First November 2015) medal races to decide who leaves Abu Dhabi with World Cup gold, silver and bronze.

The four-day ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta takes place from 29th October to 1st November and allows the teams an opportunity to race within a fleet limited to just 20 boats. A total of 144 competitors from 37 countries are in action at Abu Dhabi Sailing and Yacht Club and are competing for World Cup titles in eight of the ten Olympic classes, as well as kitesurfing, and the top three finishers in each will earn a share of a USD$220k prize fund.

The ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta marks the climax of a World Cup journey which began in Melbourne, Australia last December before continuing with other qualifying events in Miami, USA, Hyères, France, Weymouth and Portland, Great Britain and finally Qingdao, China last month.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Abu Dhabi – AST and ASS entries:

470M (Men’s Two Person Dinghy)

• Mat Belcher (QLD/QAS) / Will Ryan (QLD/QAS) – AST: 1, 2 – first
• Alexander Conway (NSW) / Patrick Conway (NSW) – ASS: 7, 11 – 10th

Laser (Men's One Person Dinghy)

• Tom Burton (NSW) – AST: 2, 1 – first
• Matthew Wearn (WA/WAIS) – AST: 10, 2 – fifth
• Ryan Palk (QLD/QAS) – ASS: 13, 12 – 12th

Laser Radial (Women's One Person Dinghy)
• Ashley Stoddart (QLD/QAS) – ASS: 4, 5 – fifth