SAILING: It was a waiting game on day two of the 2015 49er/FX World Championships in Buenos Aires with another day of light conditions and a reduced race schedule as a consequence.
Racing in the afternoon after a delay and in a light sea breeze, only two races were completed in the 49er fleet with Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) moving up the results ladder into overall 18th after posting a seventh and 17th
Queenslanders Joel Turner and Lewis Brake were the best performing Australian crew of the day with the pair winning the first race, followed by a fourth. This saw them jump up from 57th into 23rd with one more day of qualifying to go.
After two days and a total of five races in the qualifying series all Australian crews are within the top-30 Gold fleet cut with Australian Sailing Team’s David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (VIC) follow in 27th and Victorians Will and Sam Phillips are ranked 28th.
In addition to the unusual light wind conditions and a downgraded forecast for the next few days, sailors and organisers are facing the challenge of multiple sick cases across the fleet as Nathan Outteridge explains:
“We woke up to a massive thunderstorm today and a pressure system set anywhere between and three and 33 knots and as our weather guy said, ‘this was not a going to be a good day for racing’. So we were actually quite fortunate to have a couple of hours of consistent breeze this afternoon and to get two races in. It’s this pressure system that’s driving the weather and we’re expecting less than five knots again tomorrow. And the forecast for the next few days looks like we won’t get any sea breezes.”
“Our results weren’t too bad but it wasn’t a good day for us after Gooby (Iain) last night came down with the local sickness that everyone seems to be getting here. We left him at home all-day and brought him down just in time for the sailing. We’re hoping he will recover and be ok tomorrow, but it was a tough day for him and a good effort to make it on to the water and for us to get some racing in.”
Asked about the source he added: “We don’t really know why everyone is getting sick, but at least a third of the fleet has come down with stomach pains, diarrhoea and vomiting. Few of the Aussies had it before the event started and Gooby has it now in the middle of the event, which is not ideal for us, but sometimes you have to push through these things.”
“Obviously the water here isn’t very clean and with the thunderstorms and lots of rain there’s a lot of crap that’s being pushed on to the racecourse and we’re subject to this. It’s like sailing in Rio and you have to take the right precautions. In Rio everyone knows it’s dirty and takes precautions accordingly and looks after themselves, whereas here everyone gets told it’s just muddy water, but there’s a lot of filth in there as well. And it’s mostly people who are not from South America who are sick and who are usually not exposed to this so we just need to be really careful for the rest of the week.”
There’s one more day of qualifying on Wednesday with the fleet splitting into Gold and Silver fleet from Thursday (local time).
We’ve one more day of qualifying and we’re looking for some keepers to secure Gold Fleet because right now we’re at the edge of Gold Fleet and it would be pretty disappointing to not make the top-30 cut. But we won’t think about that and hope that Gooby gets a good night sleep and is good to sail tomorrow. That will increase our chances massively of surging forward,” Nathan Outteridge said.
Scheduled in the morning session, the 49erFX only got one race in bringing the overall races to four after two regatta days. Australian Sailing Squad’s Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA) posted a 16th and are ranked 21st.
“We started the day with pouring rain and the wind a bit all over the place and we got held on shore for about an hour. When we got out there we had nice moderate breeze, started racing but unfortunately half way through the race it glassed out and the race was abandoned. That was unfortunate as we had split from the fleet and where in the top three,” Caitlin Elks said about the conditions.
“We sat around waiting for wind for a few hours before we got to race again in a light breeze. We lost a few places and ended with a mid-fleet finish. The fleet is still pretty tights on points and we’re looking forward to seeing how it evolves over the last day of qualifying. Currently today’s result is our drop, but obviously we don’t want to do worse and definitely need to improve on that tomorrow and ensure we get into the top-22 Gold Fleet and move up the ranks.”
The 2015 49er/FX World Championships are the men’s and women’s skiff season highlight and a total of four Australian Sailing men’s skiff crews are competing in Argentina including Australian Sailing Team’s (AST) Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW), David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (VIC) as well as Joel Turner (QLD) and Lewis Brake (QLD). Australian Sailing Squad’s Will Phillips (VIC) is joined by his brother Sam Phillips (VIC). The 49erFX crew of Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA) complete the Australian contingent in Argentina.
The 49er/FX World Championships have three days of Qualifying Races followed by Gold and Silver Fleet Races scheduled for Thursday, 19 – Saturday, 21 November. The Medal Race is scheduled for 14:55 local time on Saturday, 21 November (AEDT Sunday, 22 November 3:55 a.m.).
Australian Sailing at 49er/FX World Championships:
Men’s Skiff – 49er
- Nathan Outteridge (NSW) & Iain Jensen (NSW) – AST: 10, 5, UFD, 7, 17 – 18th
- Joel Turner (AST – QLD/QAS) & Lewis Brake (ASS – QLD/QAS) – ASS: 27, (UFD), 11, 1, 4 – 23rd
- David Gilmour (WA/WAIS) & Rhys Mara (VIC/VIS) – AST: 5, 16, 16, 10, 15 – 27th
- Will Phillips (ASS – VIC/VIS) & Sam Phillips (VIC): 12, (22), 10, 3, BFD – 28th
Women's Skiff – 49erFX
- Tess Lloyd (VIC/VIS) & Caitlin Elks (WA/WAIS) – ASS: 11, 10, 12, 3, (16) – 21st
Sailing Australia
