ISAF World Championships - New challenges at 49er Worlds

by Jerelyn Biehl on 13 Dec 2011 Perth 2011 ISAF World Championships continued with the second day of the 49er Worlds in Fremantle, Australia. After a rainy evening with thunderstorms and winds that wrecked havoc on the boat park, new fleet splits and a new course area brought new challenges.

'Owen course is quite shallow and flatter,' explained Trevor Moore from the US. 'It was a bit different than on Centre course with the breeze direction today. The rain squalls that rolled through added some technicality and we were able to tap into that on the left side of the course in two of the races that allowed us to get to the first mark in the top three.'

Racing on Owen course, the blue fleet started off in 12-15 knots with three races. Americans Erik Storck and Trevor Moore won the first race and followed immediately with a 3-3 to win the day and propel them from 17th to second overall in the standings. 'We knew we wanted to come away with three consistent races and it worked out better than we expected. Conditions were flat water and quite shifty and puffy and teed into our strengths and we were able to come with three strong finishes at the end of the day.' Moore continued, 'We mixed it up and started at the boat the first race then at the pin on the last two with the ability to sail height or speed depending on what was appropriate and use the right set up for easy sailing.'

Peter Kruger Anderson and Nicolai Thorsell of Denmark, also in the blue fleet, sailed their throwout, a 20th, followed by a 5-1 but sit atop the leaderboard of the 67 boat fleet.

Next up was the yellow fleet and Aussies Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen made their presence known by winning the first two races but posting a 13th in the last race of the day. They sit fifth overall. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) sailed a 16-6-6 and are now in fourth overall. Yesterdays leaders Warrer and Hansen from Denmark have slipped to third.

Racing continues tomorrow to finish the qualifying series.

Fourteen countries will qualify for twenty of the entries for the 2012 Olympics to be held in Weymouth next August. There are twenty-nine nations entered in the 49er fleet in Full Perth 2011 49er Worlds microsite