Qualification ends

The 49er Worlds are into the second stage in Australia

Qualification races finished at the 49er worlds today and tomorrow the fleets will be divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets; the top 25 sailors going into the gold fleet to race of for the Championship title over the next three days.

Many prayed for heavier winds at this regatta, getting their wish today, although a lot more than they bargained for in gusty and shifty 20-25 knot southerlies. It made the going tough and resulted in lots of upside-down skiffs, protests and minor injuries that kept the medical officers busy most the afternoon.

Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin thrived in the heavy winds and wavy and choppy seas off Sorrento and they retain their lead of the Championship. Fending of challenges from other teams, the Aussies finished the day with a fifth, a third and a first.

With a total score of 17, Outteridge and Austin are just four points clear of Rodion Luka and George Leonchuck (UKR) who moved into second place today following two seconds and a third, and six points clear of third placed defending world champs Steevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes (GBR).

In race eight, the Aussies, selected for Beijing, were sitting in fourth place at the first windward mark in a tight bunch with Alexandre Monteau and Damien Guillou (FRA), John Pink and Simon Wheeler (GBR) and Giuseppe Angilella and Pietro Zucchetti (ITA). Former world champions, Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez (ESP) led the fleet by a good margin.

By the second time around, the Aussies had moved up to second place with the French crew snapping at their heels. At the rounding, the Spanish crew headed out, the four behind them took a course closer to the shore. On reaching the next mark, it was crew Outteridge in front with team Monteau hot on their tails, but the Aussies managed to hold them off to the finish. Earlier leaders Martinez and Fernandez finished seventh.

Morrison and Rhodes had a similar day to the Aussies, with a sixth, a third and a first keeping them in third place and close on the tails of the leaders. In race eight, it was all some could do to keep their boats afloat and on track and Morrison talked Rhodes through some manoeuvres, more to reassure himself as the pair watched others capsize around them.

German brothers Jan Peter and Hannes Peckolt are now fourth, with Martinez and Fernandez moving up to fifth place. This Championship is by no means over and continues tomorrow with a further three races.

Of those nations trying to qualify for the Games, Brazil’s Andrea Fonseca and Rodrigo Duarte are the only crew to make it into the gold fleet, currently in a pleasing 19th place. Others seeking selection are in the silver fleet.

Anthony Kotoun, skipper of the US Virgin Island crew, here to try and qualify their nation for the Olympics, described today’s conditions: “It was so windy and choppy; it made it hard sailing downwind.”

He and crew Cy Thompson have been in Sorrento since December in their attempts to qualify for the Olympics. However, big capsizes in races seven and nine resulted in not finishing those races. They are currently in 35th place on equal points with 36th placed brothers Goran and Ivan Invankovic (CRO) who are also trying to qualify their country.