Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne and Anders Pedersen sailing Artemis XIV (NOR 57) have extended their lead to nine points with just two races to sail at the 2020 5.5 Metre World Championship.
Artemis now lead from New Moon II (BAH 24) of Mark Holowesko who takes second place with 19 points, while Peter Morton’s Girls on Film (GBR 40) moves into third with 20 points.
Despite winning the second race of the day, Craig Symonette’s Ali Baba (BAH 23) slips to fourth place with 21 points.
For the first race of the day at the Royal Prince Alfred YC, in Newport, Australia, the southerly brought more rain than most Australians have seen in the last three months, but also lots of smoke to Pittwater again, one of the worst days of the past few weeks.
Shaolin (SUI 226) of Cyrus Golchan got the best pressure out of the start and were never headed, leading round from Girls on Film, which closed right up on the second upwind.
Races are often won and lost on a single decision and Shaolin gybing to meet the new breeze was one of those. The wind shifted and strengthened to 9-10 knots soon after the gybe allowing Shaolin to sail away for a comfortable win.
Artemis XIV, who had rounded the first mark in sixth and the gate in third, also took advantage to move into second, after Girls on Film had gone further right and lost distance.
A rain front brought 14-16 knots of breeze for the second race.
Ali Baba rounded just ahead of New Moon II and Artemis XIV. The wind maintained its strength downwind and most of the second upwind before dropping off to 6-7 knots again.
While the leaders stayed right, there was a big left shift, which enabled Girls on Film to recover from 15th at the top to fourth at the finish, while Rhapsody (AUS 35) of Thomas Spithill dropped from fifth to 13th by staying right.
The positions stayed the same downwind with Ali Baba taking the win from New Moon II and Artemis XIV.
Racing concludes on Monday with two more races scheduled to decide the 2020 5.5 Metre World Champion.
5.5 Metre World Championship – Leaders after race 5
1st NOR57 ARTEMIS XIV Kristian Nergaard 3 2 3 1 1 – – 10 pts
2nd BAH24 NEW MOON Mark Holowesko 2 4 1 9 3 – – 19 pts
3rd GBR40 GIRLS ON FILM Peter Morton 4 3 4 7 2 – – 20 pts
4th BAH23 ALI-BABA Craig Symonette 1 9 5 2 4 – – 21 pts
5th BAH22 JOHN B Gavin Mckinney 5 5 2 4 8 – – 24 pts
6th AUS60 KU-RING-GAI II Matt Crawford 10 6 6 3 6 – – 31 pts
7th SUI226 SHAOLIN Cyrus Golchan 7 1 8 5 11 – – 32 pts
8th SUI201 ZICCA Tobias Isler 6 7 9 10 10 – – 42 pts
9th GER79 PRETTYNAMA Max Muller 16 8 10 6 12 – – 52 pts
10th SUI209 OTTO Bent Christian Wilhe 9 16 13 8 9 – – 55 pts
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