Denmark leads on Day 1 of 49er Worlds 2008

by Di Pearson on 4 Jan 2008 Danish brothers Peter and Soren Hansen have taken the early lead on Day 1 of the 49er World Championship at Sail Melbourne today.

With three races away, the Hansen brothers notched up a bullet and two second places to lead Nathan Outteridge/Ben Austin (AUS) who scored 2,1,3 results to be two points behind the leaders.

Following them is a slew of British sailors. The defending world champions Stevie Morrison/Ben Rhodes (GBR)are on track too, currently third placed, only one point away from the Aussies after finishing 2,1,3 on the first day of qualifying races.

Great Britain entries fill out the next two places too; John Pink/Simon Wheeler are fourth and Paul Campbell-James/Mark Asquith fifth on equal points and just three behind Morrison and Rhodes.

Brazil’s campaign to qualify for the Games got off to a good start with Andrea Fonseca/Rodrigo Duarte holding down 13th place on equal points with the 11th and 12th placed crews from Portugal and the US Virgin Islands.

Finland crews are also out to qualify their nation, the best placed today of the four crews being Lauri Lehtinen/Heikki Soininen in 19th place.

Sorrento sailors, Will Phillips/Jon Newman were the next best placed Aussies. Scoring 5,6, 13 results, they are 24th overall in this hot international fleet.

Racing got underway on time this morning just after 10.00am in a gusting up to 15 knot nor-easterly with a nasty little chop off Sorrento Couta Sailing Club, host venue for the World’s. It was not surprising to see a number of bingles and subsequent protests after the earlier races.

As the day wore on, breezes slowly diminished to 5-8 knots and with the wind going against the tide, it was a tough day for all and took all eighty crews concentration skills to master the conditions.

Racing continues tomorrow with three further races planned. Forecasts say breezes will be light, giving those headed for the Beijing Games a taste of what is to come.