Up and down day for Massey

Win and a BFD for defender on the opening day of the CST Composites International 14 Worlds

Defending World Champion Archie Massey blitzed the fleet in his first qualifying race and was then black flagged in the second to finish 53rd overall after day one of the CST Composites International 14 World Championship sailed on Sydney Harbour.

Massey was disappointed with the black flag ruling that also caught several top-flight British sailors including Robert Greenhalgh and Katie Nurton after a series of general recalls.

Massey was waiting on the results of a post race hearing to determine the ruling. He did however say he was satisfied with his boatspeed but that he needed to work on having a “clean” regatta.

Day one of the regatta certainly proved eventful with the 108 boat fleet split into two in order to physically fit the fleet into the confines of Sydney Harbour.

Racing was held in a gusty sou’ easterly breeze ranging from 8-15 knots and generally flat water, although a nasty chop developed in the shadows of North Head.

While it was only day one of the regatta, a number of the boats showed good early speed.

The Victorian boat Too Late to Stop Now sailed by Mark Krstic and Andrew Wilson showed excellent speed and tactics to finish with a 1-2 as did the British boat WSI – Internet sailed by Andy and Tom Partington.

To reinforce the strength of the British team the third place in the provisional results went to Seldon sailed by Roger Gilbert and Ben McGrane who finished with a 3rd and a first.

The top 10 provision places were dominated by Australians, Britains and a lone American. The next best country was Canada which had the boat The Orange Whip secure 14th overall in the provisional results.

The Orange Whip was sailed by Andrew McCorquodale and Rob Patterson of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club who showed a good turn of speed in the light conditions and finished the day with a 4th and a 13th.

Day two of the regatta is scheduled for Monday 4 January.

Top 10 results:

Pos	Nat	Boat	Helm	Crew	Q1	Q2	Tot
1	AUS	Too Late to Stop Now	Mark Krstic	Andrew Wilson	2	1	3
2	GBR	WSI - Internet	Andy Partington	Tom Partington	1	2	3
3	GBR	Seldon	Roger Gilbert	Ben McGrane	3	1	4
4	GBR	Greenheart	Douglas Pattison	Mark Tait	4	2	6
5	USA	Old Bull, Young Bull	Paul Galvez	Simon Marks	7	3	10
6	AUS	Dimension Polyant	Benjamin Austin	Peter Nicholson	3	7	10
7	GBR	GBR 1484	Tom Heywood	Ed Clay	5	5	10
8	AUS	Touring Wombat	Dave Alexander	Cameron McDonald	6	5	11
9	AUS	Ronstan Irwin Sails	Lindsay Irwin	Andrew Perry	8	4	12
10	AUS	Del Boca Vista	Brad Devine	Denis Jones	6	8	14