49er and 49erFX Worlds - Light winds slow down racing on day 3

by Craig Heydon on 27 Sep 2013 On day three of the 2013 49er and 49erFX World Championships, light winds have limited racing in Marseille, France.

The lack of breeze meant that just the 49erFX fleet managed to get some racing in, with the fleet completing two races in the light conditions.

Australia’s Olivia Price and Caitlin Elks have moved up one position from their overnight 12th following a second and a ninth on Thursday.

'We had another light wind day today, with a lot of waiting around for the light sea breeze which came in around 3.30pm,' said Price. 'We got two races done to finish off the qualifying round with only six races.

'The course was pretty fickle and quite hard to pick the shifts off the water,' she said. 'The racing was tight but we were happy to come away with a second and a ninth.

'We also got awarded the ‘Queen of the Downwind’ bib to wear tomorrow which meant that we spent the least amount of time sailing downwind today,' said Price. 'Hopefully tomorrow brings a little more wind and it comes in earlier to get some good racing in.'

Haylee Outteridge and Nina Curtis were the big movers on day three, working their way up from 36th to end the day in 17th.

Outteridge and Curtis were third in race one and eighth in race two, ending the day just 10 points off the top 10 heading into the finals series.

Fellow Australians Tessa Parkinson and Chelsea Hall are just one place further behind in 18th following a fourth and a 24th.

The 49er fleet was unable to complete any racing on Thursday meaning that Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen remain the top placed Australians in eighth overall.

Will Phillips and Rhys Mara are 32nd, with David Gilmour and Sam Phillips are 43rd, George Davies and Jack Lloyd are 55th, Luke Parkinson and Fang Warren are 69th and Peter Kendall and Harry Bethwaite are 81st.

Racing continues in Marseille on Friday, with the 2013 49er and 49erFX World Championships finishing on Sunday.

49er - Overall results after Race 5 - Provisional - Results as of 20:18 on September 25, 2013

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