Laser Worlds - Slingsby hoping for great birthday present

by Craig Heydon on 5 Sep 2010 Australian sailor Tom Slingsby will be hoping for the perfect birthday present, a third World Championship in four years, when the 2010 Laser World Championship reaches its conclusion on Sunday at Hayling Island, Great Britain.

Slingsby, who turns 26 on Sunday, heads into the final day of competition with a 32 point lead over second placed Nick Thompson of Great Britain with French sailor jean-Baptiste Bernaz 14 points further back.

With two races left to go the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games representative knows that there is still plenty of work left to do to bring home the 2010 title.

'To win tomorrow would be the perfect present, I don’t want anything else,' said Slingsby. 'I’ve worked really hard this year and this event was the one I really wanted, so it would be great to win on my birthday but I’m not thinking about that yet, there’s still plenty to go in my eyes.'

Slingsby dominated proceedings on Saturday, winning both of the day’s races to turn his overnight 13 point lead over Thompson to 32 points by the end of the day.

'Today's conditions were great,' said Slingsby. 'We had about 15 knots of breeze, nice waves, sun, just perfect for sailing. I just seemed to have an edge on the fleet upwind today and rounded the top mark first in both races.
From there the sailing is a lot easier being able to go where you want to go so I was really happy that I was able to take advantage of the day.'

Even though Slingsby’s lead looks quite comfortable on paper the Gosford Sailing Club member knows that he still has a lot of work on his hands to come out on top of the highly competitive fleet.

'I feel great with the way I’m sailing but I definitely can’t take my foot of the pedal yet,' said Slingsby. 'Unfortunately with a black flag lurking in the background from Friday I still have to put in two good races tomorrow.'

'I’ll be fighting for every place again tomorrow,' he said. 'I know how hard it is when you get caught in the pack here so I’ve just got to try and stay clean and get good first beats in tomorrow.'

Fellow Australian Ashley Brunning ended the day in 23rd position after crossing the line in 23rd and 36th in Saturday’s two races.

The New South Welshman will be keen for a good final day of racing to push himself back up the leader board.
In the Silver fleet James Burman climbed up to fifth overall with third and a sixth place finish to be 15 points outside of the top three.

Queenslander Ryan Palk picked up two 16th place finishes to end the day 18th, ahead of Tom Burton in 27th. Burton had a great day on the water, winning the opening Silver fleet race before crossing the line fourth in race two.

In the Bronze fleet Klade Hauschildt is the best placed Australian in 14th with Sean Bly 17th and Thor Schoenhoff 20th.

Ki-raphael Sulkowski is currently in 28th, with Jared West 31st, Ryan Stoddart 38th and Ashley Lloyd 49th.

For more information visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au