A blistering start for the British Sailing Team as they take the lead of the 49er and Nacra 17 Worlds at Geelong, Australia.
John Gimson and Anna Burnet recovered from a tenth in their first Nacra race to take the next two, and a one point lead ahead of Nathan and Haylee Outteridge (1,2,10) of Australia, with Tara Pacheco and Florian Tritel (2,7,6) of Spain in third.
Anna Burnet, “It was a day that was dictated mainly by the seaweed in the water, a bit like in the warm-up regatta a week or so ago so we kind of knew what to expect a little bit. But it was the same for everyone, it was all about staying calm and clearing the weed when you could.”
In the men’s 49er Dlan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell won their two opening flight races, and with a second place in the final race lead by one point from Ben Bildstein and David Hussl(2,1,5) of Austria.
Pete Burling and Blair Tuke of New Zealand (1,5,1) sit in third place.
Dylan Fletcher, “We had a brilliant day. We were a little unsure of how it was going to go, we snapped our top section a couple of days ago. We put a new one on and rigged up today and had a little issue trying to get it all sorted but in the end you can’t really start a Worlds any better than we did. It’s certainly the best start we’ve had that I can remember.”
In the women’s 49erFX Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey (1,1,11) also opened their championship with back to back wins, before slipping to an 11th place in their third flight race and fifth overall.
Leading the 49erFX are Germany’s Tina Lutz and Lotta Wiemer (1,2,2) with a five point lead from Tess Lloyd and Jaime Ryan (6,3,1) of Australia. In third place are Támara Echegoyen and Paula Barcelo (5,1,4) of Spain.
The British competitors – all members of the Team GB Olympic squad – won six of the nine flight races completed, to set-up a flying start to their world championship series prospects.
Hopefully setting the scene for a strong showing at one of the last major regattas before they move to Enoshima for the Tokyo 2020 Games in July.
There will be at least one more day of qualification before the two skiff fleets are divided into Gold Fleets for the final three days.
Nacra 17 mixed – World Championship after 3 races
1st GBR 21 John GIMSON and Anna BURNET 10 1 1 – – 12 pts
2nd AUS 46 Nathan OUTTERIDGE and Haylee OUTTERIDGE 1 2 10 – – 13 pts
3rd ESP 028 Tara PACHECO and Florian TRITTEL 2 7 6 – – 15 pts
4th NZL 96 Micah WILKINSON and Erica DAWSON 8 4 5 – – 17 pts
5th FRA 56 Quentin DELAPIERRE and Manon AUDINET 4 6 7 – – 17 pts
6th AUS 2 Jason WATERHOUSE and Lisa DARMANIN 17 3 3 – – 23 pts
7th ARG 1 Santiago LANGE and Cecilia CARRANZA 13 12 2 – – 27 pts
8th GER 77 Paul KOHLHOFF and Alica STUHLEMMER 19 10 4 – – 33 pts
9th NZL 42 Olivia MACKAY and Jason SAUNDERS 9 16 9 – – 34 pts
10th ITA 5 Vittorio BISSARO and Maelle FRASCARI 3 21 13 – – 37 pts
49er men – World Championship after 3 races
1st GBR 3 Dylan FLETCHER and Stuart BITHELL 1 1 2 – – 4 pts
2nd AUT 6 Benjamin BILDSTEIN and David HUSSL 2 1 2 – – 5 pts
3rd NZL 1 Peter BURLING and Blair TUKE 1 5 1 – – 7 pts
4th NED 8 Bart LAMBRIEX and Pim van VUGT 3 1 5 – – 9 pts
5th USA 311 Andrew MOLLERUS and Dane WILSON 5 5 1 – – 11 pts
6th ESP 4 Diego BOTIN and Iago LÓPEZ MARRA 4 9 1 – – 14 pts
7th USA 141 Harry MELGES and Finn ROWE 10 2 5 – – 17 pts
8th GER 2 Erik HEIL and Thomas PLOESSEL 8 3 6 – – 17 pts
9th EST 321 Juuso ROIHU and Henri ROIHU 11 5 2 – – 18 pts
10th POL 42 Łukasz PRZYBYTEK and Paweł KOŁODZIŃSKI 11 6 3 – – 20 pts
49eFX women – World Championship after 3 races
1st GER 5 Tina LUTZ and Lotta WIEMERS 1 2 2 – – 5 pts
2nd AUS 41 Tess LLOYD and Jaime RYAN 6 3 1 – – 10 pts
3rd ESP 23 Támara ECHEGOYEN and Paula BARCELÓ 5 1 4 – – 10 pts
4th GER 55 Victoria JURCZOK and Anika LORENZ 8 3 1 – – 12 pts
5th GBR 7 Charlotte DOBSON and Saskia TIDEY 1 1 11 – – 13 pts
6th DEN 49 Anne-Julie SCHÜTT and Iben NIELSBY 3 5 6 – – 14 pts
7th USA 50 Stephanie ROBLE and Maggie SHEA 3 8 8 – – 19 pts
8th FRA 97 Lili SEBESI and Albane DUBOIS 2 12 6 – – 20 pts
9th FIN 14 Noora RUSKOLA and Mikaela WULFF 4 15 3 – – 22 pts
10th AUS 35 Tessa PARKINSON and Ella CLARK 6 13 5 – – 24 pts
