Frustrating light conditions have plagued Day 3 of the World Sailing Youth Match Racing World Championship with only two flights completed throughout the day. Australia only participated in one race, defeating the United States of America in tough conditions.
The Race Committee did all they could to get racing started on time at 1000hrs, firing off Flight 3 of Round Robin 2 in extremely challenging conditions. Unfortunately, with shifts of 120 degrees, they had no choice but to abandon their attempt and send competitors ashore.
Racing finally got back underway at 1600hrs, with Australia up against the United States of America who are currently fighting to keep themselves in a semi-final berth. After controlling much of the pre-start, the Australian’s let the American’s off the hook with about 30 seconds to go, allowing them to speed build to the pin and win the first shift.
The USA team held on to that lead for the majority of the race, but better positioning by the Australia at the second windward mark, saw them able to round inside USA. A better set saw the Australian’s pull away and keep a tight cover on their opponent to the finish to notch up another victory.
“Our race today was one of the toughest so far, not only because of the conditions, but USA did a great job around the race track. I completely stuffed the start, twice (in the abandoned race as well) but we managed to stay close to them for the first lap, then felt fast up the second beat. We positioned ourselves nicely against the other matches to stay out of traffic and in more breeze, allowing us to level then pass,” commented helmsman Tom Grimes after the race.
In other matches, the kiwis beat the Czech Republic, to join Australia as the only two teams on double digits during the qualifying round robin stage. An upset in the afternoon came as Italy beat Denmark in their match, reshuffling the leader board with Denmark dropping from overnight second to fifth, showcasing how incredibly tight this World Championship is so far.
Tomorrow will be an incredibly busy day for all competitors, with 18 flights still to complete. Racing has been brought forward 30 minutes for a warning signal of 0930hrs (1430hrs AEST). Australia continues to hold a slight edge over the fleet, now on 13-1, with New Zealand on 11-3, Poland 9-3 and USA 9-5 holding the semi-final berths at this stage.
