SAILING: It was a day of waiting around for the wind at Marina da Gloria, as the hot conditions and lack of breeze held sailors ashore.  Racing was postponed in all classes, bar the 49ers who were sent out for three races on an offshore course. 

Laser sailor Tom Burton will have to wait until tomorrow to sail off for the medals.  Burton is assured a medal, but the colour will be determined in the double-point medal race, which is now scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. 

Laser Radial sailor, Ashley Stoddart, had her fleet sent out late in the afternoon for their medal race; however, a south-westerly front wreaked havoc, taking the breezes from nothing to too much, so their race was also postponed today. 

However, Australia’s 49er team of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen revelled in today’s conditions.  The Aussies put together a consistent day scoring 4, 5, 8 in today’s three races, which moves them up into third overall. 

“The conditions today were awesome,” said Outteridge.  “After a bit of a wait the seabreeze filled in nicely offshore and we had about 10-15 knots for the three races. Today was the first time the 49er fleet has done any offshore racing and it’s pretty nice to have stable conditions for three races.

“We had a much better day which moved us up the leaderboard.”

The Laser Radial medal race will take place from 1pm tomorrow, (2am EAST) followed by the Laser medal race at 1.45pm (2.45am AEST), the Finn medal race at 2.30pm (3.30am AEST) and the Nacra 17 medal race at 3.15pm (4.15am AEST).  There are also three races scheduled for the 470 Men and Women and the 49er classes from 1pm (2am AEST).

Megan McKay
olympics.com.au