Sail Brisbane - Light winds challenge sailors on first day

by Craig Heydon on 30 Nov 2010 Light winds challenged sailors on first day of Sail Brisbane.

A shifting breeze of 8-10 knots greeted the 103 crews from nine countries competing in the first leg of the 2010 Sail Down Under Series at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron today. Although race officials had to change the courses several times to allow for the changing wind direction, the sailors handled conditions brilliantly to set up some exciting finishes.

In the Laser Standard class, Australian Sailing Development Squad member Ryan Palk, fresh from a successful tour of Europe, shared the honours with his RQYS club mate Klade Hauschildt. Palk hit the front early in the first race and cleared away to win by 19 seconds, but Hauschildt reversed the placings in race two – by a margin so small he had to ask the officials if he had won.

Hauschildt led Palk by more than 20 metres for much of the second race, after going to the right early while Palk went left. However, as they approached the final turning mark Palk was able to draw to within a boat length.

'The whole way downwind I had the gap, but he closed me down towards the bottom mark,' Hauschildt said. 'I had the overlap at the bottom mark and tried to get on a wave. That didn't really work, but I managed to get my bow in front. I was just trying not to let him get above me.'

Ryan Palk was philosophical about the defeat. 'I thought I could get him at the last mark, but he had the overlap. Then a got a funny angle to the finish and got held out,' he said.

With eight more races over the next three days, this will be an absorbing battle that can be watched live, thanks to on-board trackers, by going to www.sailbrisbane.com.au or www.saildownunder.org.au.

There was also a very close finish in the second race of the Laser 4.7. After winning the first race by over 400 metres, Melissa Hinchen-Haw suffered the same fate as Klade Hauschildt, she had another boat right on her transom coming around the final mark. However, like Palk, Madison Kennedy couldn't get past on the final leg, finishing only three seconds behind Hinchen-Haw, who leads the series by three points. Nicholas Connor from Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club is in third on a countback.

The largest fleet of the competition is the Laser Radial, with 28 boats. In the Open division, Mitchell Kennedy leads with a first and a second place from Brendan Torpelund and Jake Lilley. Claire Blom leads the women's division from Christine Bridge and Erika Fredrikson, while Mitchell Kennedy is also eligible for the Youth trophy, where he leads with two victories.

International sailors are dominating the RS:X sailboard, with Italy's Marco Baglione one point ahead of Chang Hao of Taipei and five points ahead of Australian young gun, Luke Baillie, who like Ryan Palk has been training and racing in Europe over the Australian winter.

With most Moth sailors preparing for January's World Championships on Lake Macquarie, only five men faced the starter in this division. The light conditions were tricky for the foiling craft, but Bejamin Rankine from TSC made it look easy, winning both races. Jack Sherring holds second place from Robert Green.

The BIC Techno is being sailed as a mixed class, with Middle Harbour's Samuel Treharne leading Shari O'Brien and Reece Bailey, both from RQYS.

Sophie Lahey and Joel Turner had a perfect day in the 29er with two wins, from Josh Franklin/Lewis Brake and Tom Duhig/Will Martineau, while in the 420, Australian Youth representatives Angus Galloway and Alex Gough also had two wins, to lead from Elloise Brake/Jaime Ryan and Shelley White/Georgie Toner in an all RQYS leaderboard.

Eleven Optimist Dinghies and 14 Sabots contained the hopes of the youngest sailors in the fleet. In the Optis, Xavier Winston Smith and Kyle O'Connell both have a win and a third place, while in the Sabots Stuart Skinner (first and third) leads Tom Siganto (two seconds) on a countback.

Racing resumes at 11am Queensland time (10am NSW, VIC, TAS) tomorrow, with live tracking of all three Laser divisions throughout the day.

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For more information visit www.saildownunder.org.au.