Finals racing begins at Musto Int'l Youth Match Racing Championship

by Olivia Price - CYCA on 24 Nov 2016 Day 3 of the Musto International Youth Match Racing Championship started with the Repechage Round Flight three with eight teams still vying for an all-important quarter finals berth. In what turned into a long day on the water for some, the Race Committee led by Dennis Thompson, completed the schedule through to flight two of the semi-finals allowing for a relatively straight forward finals day on Friday.

The breeze shifted left from south-west to south-east early in the day building to 17-20 knots, seeing gusts of 25 knots by 1pm. The shifty building southerly breeze made for some exciting racing in the repechage round, with some competitors letting the boat take control of them at times. The match between Eastman (RPNYC) and Grimes (CYCA) was extremely hard fought, with Eastman just taking the win on the finish line after trailing Grimes early on in the match.

Rozenauers (RSYS) and Wagner (CYC, USA) also had a close match, with some unfortunate contact whilst luffing downwind. Rozenauers luffed Wagner quite aggressivley, however when Wagner’s boom got caught in his forestay, the umpires were forced to add to Rozenauers’ already existing penalty. Wagner was then able to sail his race to the finish line whilst his competitor was doing his immediate penalty to score his first win for the regatta.

The quarter final match ups were Harry Price (CYCA) against Jelmer Van Beek (TDW, NED), George Anyon (RNZYS) against James Hodgson (SCSC), Will Boulden (RFBYC) against Oaklet Marsh (RPNYC) and Will Dargaville (RPAYC) against Will Eastman. By this stage of the day, the breeze had died down to 15 knots with gusts of 22 knots. An amendment to the Sailing Instructions from first to three points, to first to two points was made, and the knockout stage of racing got under way. Price and Dargaville neatly finished their matches 2-0 against their competitors, with Boulden and Anyon letting slip one race each to win 2-1.

The semi-final match ups sees Boulden against Price, and Anyon against Dargaville, two flights were sailed and both first matches were close. Dargaville showed immense skill when he was ahead on the final downwind with an outstanding penalty. He luffed Anyon, and in the process completed a tack and his penalty with it. He then re-hoisted his spinnaker and proceeded to roll Anyon to take the win by one boat length. In their match, Price and Boulden rounded the bottom gate in close succession, however Price managed to sail away from his opponent to lead by five lengths before rounding the top mark to the finish.

In flight two of the semi-finals, Dargaville led Anyon off the start line, but a left shift after the start allowed Anyon to push Dargaville out to the lay line and force him to trail around the top mark by three lengths, and stay in the lead. Price led Boulden off the start line, and increased his lead until he took the race win.

The semi-finals will continue racing on Friday in a first to three points round, with Dargaville and Anyon currently tied 1-1, and Price 2-0 on Boulden. The forecast is for lighter southerly winds, and racing to start at 10:30am in the vicinity of Rushcutters Bay with the Finals scheduled for a 12:30pm start.