Belcher and Ryan climb ladder on a day of patience and persistence at World Championships Aarhus
by David Sygall 2 Aug 2018 18:56 PDT
30 July - 12 August 2018
Belcher and Ryan on day 3 of Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018 © Sailing Energy
Light winds and postponements forced excited sailors to maintain their discipline on the opening day of the 2018 World Championships. And, when racing finally began it became "a game of snakes and ladders" for defending Champions Mat Belcher and Will Ryan.
Australia's world No.1 470 crew managed to fight back from 14th to 3rd in the opening race of their class's split fleet qualifying series to end up 5th overall. Sweden's reigning European Champions, Anton Dahlberg and Frederik Bergstrom, hold the early lead, alongside Greece's Rio Olympic bronze medallists, Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis, who won the other fleet.
"We started well, but it just felt like we fell out of the wind a little," Ryan said before last night's Opening Ceremony.
"It was a game of snakes and ladders and Mat got us in some nice lanes and back into the game. Fortunately we managed to recover from the first upwind.
"Tomorrow looks quite light still... It was marginal racing at best today..."
Australia's other 470 representatives, Chris Charlwood and Josh Dawson, came 19th in the same fleet as Belcher and Ryan, and are 37th overall.
Two races were possible in the 470 women's class. Dana Tavener and Katherine Shannon scored 27 and 41 to be 36th in the 47-boat fleet, while Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries started with a 35 but snared 16 in the second race to be 28th at the close.
Light conditions didn't suit Australia's Finn sailors, who have plenty of work to do over the coming days. Oliver Tweddell and Tom Slingsby (non-AST) each came 11th in their fleet to be 21st overall.
The Laser Standard and Laser Radial classes start their campaigns tomorrow, which is expected to be another day of light weather conditions.
Fast Facts:
- Approximately 1500 sailors from 100 countries are competing at Aarhus in 1100 boats.
- This is the fifth edition of the Sailing World Championships. The event is held every four years.
- The previous World Championships were held at Cadiz, Spain (2003), Cascais, Portugal (2007), Perth, Australia (2011) and Santander, Spain (2014).
- Australia won four medals at Santander: Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (gold 470M), Tom Burton (silver, Laser), Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (bronze, 49er) and Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (bronze, Nacra 17).
- At the past three Olympic Games Australian sailors won five gold medals and four silver medals.
Quick Links: