The Australian Women’s Match Racing Team crew of Nicky Souter, Jessica Eastwell and Katie Spithill have continued their strong run at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships while a number of their fellow Australians made solid starts as their events got underway.
 
Following two days solely of Women’s Match Racing Monday kicked off racing for the 470 men, RS:X women, Finn and Laser Radial classes.
 
Souter and crew continued with their winning ways on Fremantle Harbour, with three victories and a loss leaving them with a seven and one record following two days of racing.
 
The Australians began their day with back-to-back wins against their Brazilian and Slovenian opponents before returning to shore while other crews hit the water.
 
After the break Souter, Eastwell and Spithill suffered their first loss of the regatta, against Silke Hahlbock of Germany before bouncing back with a strong win against Denmark’s Lotte Meldgaard to round out the day.
 
“It was very shifty again today and we were lucky with the results we got,” said Souter. “We had three wins and a loss, in some of those wins the other team sailed very, very well and we were just lucky to get the win right at the last moment.
 
“We’re happy with the results but the conditions out there today certainly challenged us,” she said.
 
The Aussie trio has tomorrow off with teammates Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty set to return to the water.
 
In the 470 men’s class 2010 World Champions and current world number ones Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page got their title defence off to a solid start with a ninth and a first from their opening two races, leaving them fourth overall.
 
“Heading into the worlds there’s a lot of anticipation, a lot of training and then finally day one comes around,” said Belcher. “It’s always good to get the first day out of the way and today we came away with a nine and a first so they’re both keepers, it was a difficult day but we’re happy with where we ended up.
 
“It’s going to be a long week,” he said. “The expectation was that we were going to get a lot of breeze at this regatta, but that’s not going to happen for us, maybe next week, so it’s going to be very difficult and we’ll have to fight for every point because you’re certainly going to be put in a position where it’s difficult but you can only deal with the cards you get and try and make the most of it.”
 
Australian Sailing Squad members Sam Kivell and Will Ryan had a mixed day, with a seventh and a 25th to begin their World Championship.
 
Jessica Crisp had mixed results in the RS:X women’s class with the triple-Olympian finishing 20th in race one before hitting back with a win to finish the day.
 
“In race one I made a slight tactical error at the top mark and got caught in the ‘cone of silence’ which is one of those things you’re meant to miss in sailing and I dropped back a lot,” she said. “Then in race two I banged the right corner and it paid off, it was a tough day and I was pumping the whole way, my heart rate was right up at the maximum the whole time.”
 
In the Laser Radial fleet Australian Sailing Team member Krystal Weir started her regatta with a 17th before jumping up the leaderboard in race two with a sixth.
 
Fellow Australian Alex South had a 23rd and a fifth while Gabrielle King finished the day with a 32nd and an 11th and Queenslander Ashley Stoddart was 42nd and 35th.
 
In the Finn class Brendan Casey found himself mid-fleet in race one before a strong third place finish in race two.
 
“In the first race I was about 10th at the top mark and moved forward down the run but struggled on the second beat and lost a lot of boats to end up mid-fleet,” said Casey. “In race two I had a good start and finished third, I felt good in that second race, it confirmed a lot of what we’ve been working on.”
 
Racing continues at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships on Tuesday with the continuation of the Women’s Match Racing competition on Fremantle Harbour while the 470 men, RS:X women, Finn and Laser Radials will contest races three and four.

Yachting Australia