by Craig Heydon
Light winds have kept a number of classes on shore on day three of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup on Lake Garda in Italy.
While the conditions kept the Laser, 470 and RS:X classes on shore Australians were in action in the Nacra 17 and Finn classes on another part of the lake.
Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin continue to be the leading Australians in the new Nacra 17 class, picking up their first race win as they finished the day fifth overall.
Waterhouse and Darmanin were fifth in the opening race of the day, before winning race two, finishing eighth in race three and fourth in race four, to be four points off a podium position with two days remaining.
“Day three was a really consistent day for us as we made the most of the breeze and the race committee smashed out four races to catch up for yesterday,” said Waterhouse. “We were very happy with our results, especially the bullet which gave us a big smile as we crossed the finish line.
“The boat felt fantastic and we tinkered with our rake set up and the boat now has way more power,” he said. “We were all very saddened to hear the news of Andrew Simpson and our thoughts go out to his family and friends today as well as the whole Artemis team.”
Euan McNicol and Lucinda Whitty are currently 11th in their first Nacra 17 regatta, finishing Friday’s four races with a 15th, 13th, 10th and a ninth.
“We had another great day of sailing on Garda, it was rainy with a chilly northerly wind between eight and 13 knots, by the post race pasta was very nice,” said McNicol. “Today was again another good opportunity to learn the boats and sail in a different breeze strength for the first time. We’re looking forward to more wind tomorrow and hopefully it won’t be too cold.”
Fellow multihull sailors Josh McKnight and Nina Curtis have moved into 13th overall following their best day of racing so far.
McKnight and Curtis were 11th in the day’s first race, before finishing race two in ninth and rounding Friday out with a pair of sevenths.
Oliver Tweddell worked his way back up the Finn leader board on Friday, ending the day in 11th overall.
Tweddell began the day with a third, before finishing 16th and 18th in the other two, to be two points a position in the medal race with four fleet races remaining.
“Today was a better day on the water for me, we had a light northerly breeze which enabled us to get racing after a few hours delay,” said Tweddell. “I had a great first race and then a few mistakes in the other two, but overall had a pretty consistent day. I’m looking forward to four races tomorrow.”
Fellow Australian Jake Lilley is currently 24th overall, with Dirk Seret 54th.
With no racing possible for the Laser fleet Tom Burton continues to lead overall, with Ryan Palk in fifth. Matthew Wearn is one point outside the top 10 in 11th, with Luke Elliott 25th and Jared West currently 11th in the silver fleet.
Matthew and Robert Crawford are third in the 470 men, with Elise Rechichi and Sarah Cook sixth and Sasha and Jaime Ryan 10th in the 470 women.
Paris Stowell is the leading Australian in the RS:X women’s class in seventh, with Annalise Gilbert ninth, while in the RS:X men Patrick Vos is 16th.
Racing continues on Lake Garda on Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s medal races.
Full results can be found here.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au
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