Australian sailors at 2020 ILCA Laser Radial Women's Championship - Day 2
by Clare Ridgway 24 Feb 2020 01:54 PST
21-28 February 2020
Fifteen-year-old Australian Mina Ferguson has surprised her more credentialed rivals with two good races at the 2020 ILCA Laser Radial Women's Championship © Jon West Photography
Provisional Australian Youth Sailing Team member Mina Ferguson is the highest placed Aussie in 14th overall after only one race was completed per fleet due to light winds on day two of the Laser Radial Worlds at Sandringham Yacht Club.
Fifteen-year-old Ferguson placed 16th in Blue Fleet today saying, "I've had some good starts and consistent results. I'm playing the shifts pretty well and light air is my jam. Hopefully I can stick in there, I'm not as good in heavy air so hopefully I can get some good starts."
Ferguson has been provisionally selected to represent Australia at the Hempel Youth Sailing World Championships in Salvador, Brazil later this year.
Ferguson is immediately followed by Western Australian Zoe Thomson in 15th spot. "I had a tough start and tried to chip back from the right-hand side in the pressure lines," said Thomson. "I made a few gains here and there but there were big holes on the race course which made it tough. Tomorrow's weather looks better. Hopefully there will be more hiking."
Australian Sailing Team member Mara Stransky placed 22nd in Blue Fleet positioning her in 27th overall. "The pressure wasn't around long when it did come," said Stransky. "It was really hard to know where pressure was going to come from. You could see where it was but if you weren't right there it was tough luck."
Australian Sailing Squad member Elyse Ainsworth had a better day on the water placing 11th after a slow start to her regatta. "Today was much better than yesterday," said Ainsworth. "I got a good start and was able to extend to the pressure lines and work my way up from there."
17-year-old Michael Compton is the leading Aussie in the Men's field, currently sitting in second overall behind Russian Daniil Krutskikh. "Today I messed up my start and the Russian came in from the left and won the race. He has two bullets and I have a second and third. I'm still making simple mistakes so hopefully I can clean those up" said Compton.
More wind is predicted for day three of the regatta with race management hoping to get in three races before the women's' fleet is split into Gold and Silver.
For more information on the 2020 ILCA Laser Radial Women's World Championship and full results visit: event website
Day Two Results:
Laser Radial Women's (105 entries - two fleets of 50+, three days qualifying six races, then finals)
Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) entries:
19th: Mara Stransky (AST) 5, 22 - 27 pts
42rd: Elyse Ainsworth (AST) 32, 11 - 43 pts
Other Australians in the Top Forty:
14th: Mina Ferguson 7, 16 - 23 pts
15th: Zoe Thomson 10, 14 - 24 pts
Laser Radial Men's (66 entries - three days qualifying six races, then finals) Australians in the Top Ten:
2nd: Michael Compton 2, 3 - 5 pts
4th: Jordan Makin 3, 15 - 18 pts
5th: Daniel Costandi 14, 6 - 20 pts
6th: Rhett Gowans 9, 12 - 21 pts
8th: Brody Riley 18, 8 - 26 pts
9th: Zac West 4, 23 - 27 pts
10th: Zac Littlewood 25, 5 - 30 pts