Hansen brothers take early lead

The 49er World Championships are underway in Australia

Danish brothers Peter and Soren Hansen (above) have taken the early lead on day one of the 49er World Championship at Sail Melbourne today.

With three races away, the Hansen brothers notched up a bullet and two second places to lead Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin (AUS) who scored a second, a first and a third to be two points behind the leaders.

Defending world champions Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes are on track too, currently third placed, only one point away from the Aussies after finishing second, first and fourth on the first day of qualifying races.

Great Britain entries fill out the next two places too; John Pink and Simon Wheeler are fourth and Paul Campbell-James and Mark Asquith fifth on equal points and just three behind Morrison and Rhodes.

Brazil’s campaign to qualify for the Games got off to a good start with Andrea Fonseca and Rodrigo Duarte holding down 13th place on equal points with the 11th and 12th placed crews from Portugal and the US Virgin Islands.

Finland crews are also out to qualify their nation, the best placed today of the four crews being Lauri Lehtinen and Heikki Soininen in 19th place.

Sorrento sailors, Will Phillips and Jon Newman were the next best placed Aussies. Scoring a fifth, a sixth and a 13th, they are 24th overall in this hot international fleet.

Racing got underway on time this morning just after 10.00am in a gusting up to 15 knot nor-easterly with a nasty little chop off Sorrento Couta Sailing Club, host venue for the Worlds. It was not surprising to see a number of bumps and subsequent protests after the earlier races.

As the day wore on, the breeze slowly diminished to around eight knots and with the wind going against the tide, it was a tough day for all and took all eighty crews concentration skills to master the conditions.

Racing continues tomorrow with three further races planned. Forecasts say breezes will be light, giving those headed for the Beijing Games a taste of what is to come. Results are provisional pending protests.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Nationality	R1	R2	R3	Tot
1	HANSEN, Peter	HANSEN, Soren	DEN	1	2	1	4
2	OUTTERIDGE, Nathan	AUSTIN, Ben	AUS	2	1	3	6
3	MORRISON, Stevie	RHODES, Ben	GBR	2	1	4	7
4	PINK, John	WHEELER, Simon	GBR	5	3	2	10
4	CAMPBELL-JAMES, Paul	ASQUITH, Mark`	GBR	3	5	2	10
6	PECKOLT, Jan Peter	PECKOLT, Hannes	GER	1	4	6	11
7	SIBELLO, Piero	SIBELLO, Gianfranco	ITA	1	9	2	12
8	DELLE KARTH, Nico Luca Marc	RESCH, Nikolaus Leopold	AUT	6	3	5	14
9	FEDERICO, Alonso	ARTURO, Alonso	ESP	10	2	5	17
10	MARTINEZ, Iker	FERNANDEZ, Xabier	ESP	4	4	9	17

Above: Nathan Outterige and Ben Austin