2021 Harcourts Hobart SB20 Australian Championship at Derwent Sailing Squadron - Day 2
by Jane Austin 7 Mar 2021 06:14 EST
6-8 March 2021
2Unlimited skippered by Oli Nicholas leads the fleet downwind - 2021 SB20 Australian Championship © Jane Austin
Michael Cooper has sailed Export Roo to the top of the leader board on the second day of sailing in the Harcourts Hobart SB20 Australian Championship.
The day started in optimistic fashion with a gentle north easterly breeze giving Race Office Ian Ross confidence to get race four away, but after one beat to the top mark, the breeze fell away and the race was abandoned.
After a long break, the south-easterly sea breeze started to fill in but it still wasn't smooth sailing with the fleet copping course changes, two general recalls and several black flag penalties.
Cooper was in fourth place at the start of the day, but as the wind intensified, he found the solid 15 knot breeze much more to his liking.
"We worked really hard downwind which is probably the hardest part of the regatta, getting the lay lines right and the gybe angles right. It's really close though - it doesn't take much in this fleet to gain or lose a few places," said Cooper.
Ross was tough once again on the start line with Brainwave (Clare Brown) notching up two black flags and losing the lead in the Women's Division while The Imp (Andrew Smith) scored his second OCS disqualification, costing the team several places.
After six races, Export Roo (13 points) carries a 3-point lead into the final day of the regatta ahead of (Ambition Sailing) on 16 points and Mind Games (Phil Reid) on 18 points.
Honey Badger (Oli Burnell) leads the Youth Division while Karabos (Nick Rogers) leads the Masters' Division and Cook Your Own Dinner (Felicity Allison) leads the Women's Division.
Light conditions are forecast for the final day of racing with no starts allowed after 2pm.
Full results here.