Big move by Australian Tornado World Champion

by Richard Gladwell on 15 Jun 2005 Australia’s four time World Champion, Darren Bundock, with new crew Aaron Worrall, have scored back to back wins at the 2005 Tornado World Championship being sailed at La Rochelle, France.

As a result, Bundock and Worrall have marched through the leader board to lie in 10th place overall – a big jump from their position in the 30’s at the end of the first day’s racing.

Another a big mover has been New Zealand’s Aaron MacIntosh, sailing under Argentinean colours and with an Argentinean crew, who has finished fifth in both races, and now lies in 13th place overall.

A bronze medallist in the Mens boardsailing event in the 2000 Olympics, MacIntosh just missed qualifying New Zealand for the 2004 Olympics.

Both crews are carrying big discards from the opening day, however when these are factored in, MacIntosh will move ahead of the Australians.

Conditions were perfect for the second day of racing for the Tornados.

There was no waiting today and the wind came in early with a nice consistent sea-breeze, 9-15 knots.

The fleet was in a hurry to start Race 3, following three general recalls. Seven boats were Black-Flagged, including Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen (NED) and last year’s Youth World Champions Francois Gabart/Romain David (FRA).

'The starting line was good, the problem was that the boats were going over the top end to try to get to the right, but the left was actually the way to go,' explained Darren Bundock.

'We were lucky with the general recalls. We hit a big jelly-fish just before the start and broke the rudder, it gave us time to fix the problem,' added Aaron Worrall.

As the sea-breeze picked up, from 9 to 12 knots, the favorites were back to the front of the fleet. Bundock took the lead from Roland Gaebler/Gunnar Struckmann (GER)after the first rounding and kept the lead the whole way to the finishing line.

Fernando Echavarri/Anton Paz (ESP) crossed the line in second and Iordanis Paschalides/Konstantinos Trigonis (GRE) were third.

The wind picked up as the 62 Tornados started Race 4 with 15 knots and a very even course. The boats were offering an exciting show of flying hulls.

Once again Bundock had an excellent race to finish first in front of Echavarri. Athens silver medalists, John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree (USA) were third.

Other Australian crews were less impressive on the second day. Glenn Ashby and Andrew Williams were the best performed with 19th and 23rd placings and lie in 27th place overall.

Robbie Lovig and Glen Douglas are in 35th place overall with placings of 31st and 38th. The sole Kiwi flagged crew of David and Susan Shaw are in 56th place overall with places of 43rd and 52nd.

Overnight leaders, Leigh McMillan and William Howden (GBR) slipped back into second place overall after finishing in 10th and 15th places in the two races sailed overnight.

The regatta is now led by the German crew of Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz.

Racing continues tomorrow, when two more races are scheduled starting at 1330hours.