After the first race of the Subaru Flying Fifteen 2019 World Championship, Graham Vials and Chris Turner top the leaderboard.
In second are Richard Lovering and Matt Alvarado and in third place the current European Champions Hamish Mackay and Andrew Lawson.
The only race completed saw Charles Apthorp and Alan Green take the early lead, but then Vials and Turner stormed downwind to lead and from there were able to cover the opposition to the finish.
Lovering and Alvarado snatched second place on the final upwind leg to the finish, with Mackay and Lawson claiming third, Apthorp and Green fourth and Andy McKee and Richard Jones fifth.
A relaxed sounding Graham Vials summed up the first day of the regatta:
“It was a relief to finally get sailing really, it was breezy as it has been for the practice event. We rounded in good shape, about eighth around the first mark and spotted some pressure on the run so we were the first to gybe and we had a nice lane by ourselves and could concentrate on going fast.”
“The tricky thing out there was the chop, it was hard to get over the waves so we were able to power through to go from 8th to 1st by the bottom gate of the first leg. The second lap was just a job of consolidating and making sure we just bring it home and be first in the shower back at the club.”
The start time for the championship, taking place at the National Yacht Club in Ireland, has been brought forward to try to make use of a good forecast for breeze which is due to drop later in the afternoon.
Subaru Flying Fifteen World Championship – Leaders after Race 1 (76 entries)
1st GBR 4071 Graham Vials and Chris Turner – – 1 pts
2nd GBR 4002 Richard Lovering and Matt Alvarado – – 2 pts
3rd GBR 4059 Hamish Mackay and Andrew Lawson – – 3 pts
4th GBR 3957 Charles Apthorp and Alan Green – – 4 pts
5th GBR 4005 Andy McKee and Richard Jones – – 5 pts
6th AUS 4063 Mike Hart and Dean McAullay – – 6 pts
7th GBR 4055 Ian Cadwallader and Dave Sweet – – 7 pts
8th IRL 3864 Ian Mathews and Keith Poole – – 8 pts
9th HKG 3954 Barry Hayes and Helen Selden – – 9 pts
10th GBR 4070 Nathan Batchelor and Richard Rigg – – 10 pts
11th GBR 4021 Steve Goacher and Tim Harper – – 11 pts
12th GBR 3760 Jeremy Davy and Martin Huett – – 12 pts
13th IRL 3912 Gavin Doyle and Dave Sweeney – – 13 pts
14th IRL 3896 Lee Statham and Andrew Paul – – 14 pts
15th GBR 4065 David McKee and Mal Hartland – – 15 pts
16th GBR 4044 Simon Patterson and Simon Thompson – – 16 pts
17th GBR 4030 Greg Wells and Andrew Jameson – – 17 pts
18th GBR 4060 Ian Pinnell and Jez White – – 18 pts
19th GBR 4052 David Tabb and Chewey Sherrell – – 19 pts
20th AUS 3972 Ashley Smith and Charlie Apthorpe – – 20 pts
21st GBR 3875 Brett Dingwall and Tim Scarifbrick – – 21 pts
22nd IRL 3688 Ben Mulligan and Cormac Bradley – – 22 pts
23rd AUS 3855 Peter Rooke and Paul Dunbar – – 23 pts
24th GBR 3902 Richard Hope and Mike Stenson – – 24 pts
25th RSA 4009 Campbell Alexander and Dave Herridge – – 25 pts
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