Aussie back in the lead

Locals pick up form at day five of Fireball Worlds in Adelaide reports Jonathan Bale

As we looked out of the apartment window this morning at the palm tree opposite, things did not look promising for a good days sailing! The tree was still leaning over at an alarming angle.

However the race officer, having only got three races in so far, insisted the fleet went afloat. Luckily when we got out of the harbour the wind had abated a lot, even if the sea was still big!

Race one and it was local boys Brett Young and Allen Blenkle who lead at the windward mark. Brett and Allen kept their lead until the gun. In second spot were Ireland's Shane MacCathy and Roger Gilbert. Andy Smith and James Meldrum believed that they had got a third place which would have put them in a strong place over all, only to discover they were OCSed!

Race two was held back to back with race one. The race officer had to have a number of attempts at starting the fleet, some eleven boats getting black flagged including series leader Bret Young and Allen Blenkle. When the race did get away it was the Swiss paring of Kurt Venhoda and Sonja Zaugg who established an early lead. During the cause of the race Kurt and Sonja gradually extended their lead only to find out that they had been black flagged in an earlier start - a very costly mistake, as this resulted in a non-discardable disqualification. This left the race win to the Australian pairing of Heather MacFarlane and Chris Payne. In second spot were the Czech duo of Tomas Musil and Jan Danek.

After a break for lunch the fleet launched for race three of the day. The race officer opted for a trapezoid coarse for the afternoon race. With Brett Young, Andy Smith and Dave Wade all appearing to keep a tight cover on each on the first beat, it was Australian's Scott Lidgett and Tony Wood, who lead at the wind ward mark. In second and third places were the British boats of Andy Pearce crewed by Dave Mason, and Malcolm Davies crewed by Russell Thorn.

Scott and Tony sailed low on the first tight reach allowing both Andy and Dave and Malcolm and Russell to pull through into first and second places respectively. Andy and Dave held the lead until the final tight reach of the trapezoid, when Malcolm and Russell managed to spot the leeward mark first and take a better coarse to it. Jeremy Davey and Andy Thomson also managed to pass Andy and Dave on the final reach and get up into second place only latter to discover they had been OCSed (for the second time today)! The final result for race three was Malcolm Davies and Russell Thorn in first with Andy Pearce and Dave Mason in second place.

The top six positions over all after day two are:

1st AUS 14849 Brett Young & Allen Blenkle
2nd GBR 14801 Andy Smith & James Meldrum
3rd GBR 14809 Dave Wade & Richard Wagstaff
4th CZE 14712 Tomas Musil & Jan Danek
5th GBR 13945 Malcolm Davies & Russell Thorn
6th GBR 14855 Richard Eastaugh & Simon Potts