49er Worlds day 4 - Consistency in desperate times

by Jerelyn Biehl on 11 May 2012 On day four of the 2012 49er Worlds, Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen stayed cool and remained consistent despite some desperate times. Having a few World Championships under your belt might help and it seems the boys from down under called upon their patience during some tricky conditions and were able to recover enough from some deep roundings to sail through the fleet and remain atop the leaderboard.

The first race for the gold fleet was held in light conditions with local Croatian sailors Pavle Kostov and Petar Cupac leading wire to wire to the cheers of their local sailing club volunteers and staff as their win was announced over the loudspeaker. Outteridge/Jensen were on their transom finishing in second.

Race two had a shift just after the start with the right side favored. Additional positions were shifted on the downwind leg and a scramble of scores ensued between the top boats. A bit more wind pressure at the start of race three found the fleet evenly split on the weather leg with Denmark’s Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang taking the win.

Pawel Kolodzinski, Polish crew who entered the gold fleet in fourth, commented on the switch from qualifying to gold fleet; 'Now we have to compete with the top 25 in the world. Every small mistake you make, there is a big difference in the fleet.' For Poland, 'Zadar is the third selection for the Polish Olympic selection. We are currently leading and we hope this will be a good result for us.'

In the silver fleet, three races were held with Stylianos Soliriou and Alfonso Panagiotidis (GRE) leading. The bronze fleet is led by Jan Hauke Erichsen and Max Lutz (GER).

The forecast is the same for tomorrow at 8-12 knots and once again, clear skies. Saturday’s forecast is for a change with more wind and clouds.

The final continue Friday with the prizegiving held on May 12.

49er Worlds website