Italy take the initiative

Luigi Ravioli head the board after the first day of racing a the J/24 World Championship

“Shifty, light and choppy,” was how Luigi Ravioli, skipper of the leading entry Black Jack, described racing on a long first day of the J/24 World Championship sailed off Sandringham Yacht Club today.

“It was too choppy for upwind racing in the second race, but we are happy to lead,” said Ravioli who finished the 2005 Worlds in third place. Three second places are what it took Ravioli and his Italian crew to streak to a seven point lead. Consistent sailing will win this Sail Melbourne Championship and the Italians know it.

“I think the Brazilians and the British (Ian Southworth and crew) are the ones we have to watch – but if the winds get stronger, then there are many Australians….”

Ravioli’s sentiments were validated by others. “Very fickle - it was strange,” said 12th placed Sandringham Commodore Phil Coombs, “choppy for the light wind strength (around 5 knots) – it didn’t add up. The breeze shifted, if was frustrating.” Coombs was the leading Aussie until race three.

International entries had a field day on Port Phillip, with the much fancied Bruschetta crew, helmed by Mauricio Santa Cruz (BRA), in second place and Ian Southworth’s Inmarsat (GBR) third; Santa Cruz the only one of the three top boats to score a win.

Other wins went to the lone female skipper in the fleet, American Suzie Taylor with Five to Six and The Pie, skippered by David Klatt of the USA.

The Australians languished today, the best placed being Sean Wallis’ Fly Emirates crew from Western Australia, fresh from their National title win last week. Placed seventh overall following mixed results, their best was a sixth in the second race.

For NSW champion and former National title holder Sean Kirkjian on Death Star it was a dreadful start to the regatta. The Sydneysider finished fourth at the 2005 Worlds, the best of the Aussies. Today was not his day; 17th overall following three races.

“We looked good in the first race up the first beat, but from there we went backwards. We’ll have to work on our settings for the slop here.

“In the second race, we started at the pin, but got squeezed out by the lady who won the race. By the time we took all the sterns, we were out to the right and the wind went left – which is where I had planned to be; from there it was out the back end,” Kirkjian said.

The third race brought more disaster. “We started at the pin and Nev Wittey ( Starpac) called us up. He went up, I put my helm hard down to oblige and crash – stern and bow collided. That incident caused us to be over the start early and he hit the mark – nobody won that one – we were 15th and he finished 31st. Not one of my better days,” he said.

Three races were sailed today and race officials shortened race two, finishing the boats on the second downwind leg of the windward leeward course.

Forty boats are taking part in the 12-race series which continues on Tuesday at 12.00pm on Port Phillip.

Sail Melbourne is made possible by the support of event sponsors: Sport & Recreation Victoria, Collex, Parks Victoria; associate sponsors Bayside City Council and Menere's BMW Brighton and support sponsors Ronstan International, Schenker Australia, City of Kingston and the City of Port Philip.

	Boat Name	Skipper		Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Pts
1	BLACK JACK	Luigi Ravioli	Italy	2	2	2	6
2	BRUSCHETTA	Mauricio SantaCruz	Brazil	1	7	5	13
3	INMARSAT	Ian Southworth	Great Britain	4	5	4	13
4	THE PIE	David Klatt	USA	9	4	1	14
5	SIESTA	Wataru Sakamoto	Japan	10	8	3	21
6	BRAIN CRAMP	Mike Ingham	USA	11	3	12	26
7	FLY EMIRATES	Sean Wallis	Australia	15	6	9	30
8	INNAMINCKA	John Crawford	Australia	17	14	6	37
9	SLED	Kazuyuki Hyodo	Japan	3	9	28	40
10	CRAZY GOALS.CO.UK	Jon Powell	Great Britain	23	11	7	41
11	CEREZO	Yasutaka Funazawa	Japan	14	12	20	46
12	HYPERACTIVE	Philip Coombs	Australia	5	16	26	47
13	CODE VIOLATION	Doug McGain	Australia	24	15	8	47
14	JPEG	Warren Sare	Australia	12	26	10	48
15	REX	Scott Weakley	Canada	31	10	11	52
16	J-SPOT	Michael Blackburn	Australia	8	13	32	53
17	DEATH STAR	Sean Kirkjian	Australia	16	23	15	54
18	GEKKO	Satashi Kume	Japan	6	27	23	56
19	FIVE TO SIX	Suzi Taylor	USA	21	1	35	57
20	PACEMAKER	David Suda	Australia	18	24	18	60
21	DABOHAZE	Kazuki Kumagai	Japan	19	28.0Y	14	61
22	SECURITY BLANKET	Hugo Ottaway	Australia	7	29	27	63
23	SINGLE MALT	Tadeusz Bartlewksi	Canada	13	25	30	68
24	ENTERPRISE	Makoto Yamada	Japan	26	32	13	71
25	CRACKERJACK	Grant Willmott	Australia	20	35	16	71
26	WILDFIRE	Kayne Binks	Australia	30	22	19	71
27	CONVICTS REVENGE	Stephen Girdis	Australia	22	28	22	72
28	STARPAC	Neville Wittey	Australia	27	17	31	75
29	NO EYE DEER	Trevor Conyers	Australia	34	21	21	76
30	STELLA	Sueaki Murayama	Japan	28	18	36	82
31	PACATACK	Peter Ramsdale	Bermuda	33	33	17	83
32	ACE	David West	Australia	29	30	25	84
33	KAOTIC	Ben Lamb	Australia	25	19	41.0F	85
34	FUN	Alyn Stevenson	Australia	35	31	29	95
35	MR BRIDGER	Alister Morison	Australia	37	36	24	97
36	FOOLISH BEHAVIOR	Mike Lewis	Bermuda	32	34	38	104
37	SURFMAID	Etsuro Kitauchi	Japan	38	39	33	110
38	GOOD COMPANY	Peter Woolf	Great Britain	36	37	39	112
39	KICKING BOTTOM	Stephen Girdis	New Zealand	39	38	37	114
40	WHISPER	Neil Begley	Australia	40	41.0O	34	115