SAILING: Racing for the 2015 Finn Gold Cup, the Finn Class World Championship, continued off Takapuna in New Zeland as the fleet took to the water for day two of the six day regatta.
It was a mixed day with several weather changes during the day including some light rain, but the wind also remained light under both black clouds and blue skies. The wind was never particularly strong, topping out at around 8-9 knots, but after the arrival of some dark clouds and rain towards the end of the race, the wind dropped out to 3-5 knots and in the end only one race was possible.
Both Australian Sailing crews had a tough day in the office with Australian Sailing Squad’s Oliver Tweddell dropping from tenth into 19th place overall after posting a 39th in 76-boat fleet. Team mate Jake Lilley (QLD) struggled as well, posting a 45th in today’s racing, which sees him in 38th overall after a total of three races.
After the finish of the first race the fleet waited afloat for conditions to improve enough to be able to start race four, but an hour later the Race Committee sent the fleet ashore for the day.
Three races are now scheduled for Thursday to try and catch up with the programme.
Racing at the Finn Gold Cup runs from Tuesday 24 to Sunday 29 November with ten races scheduled until Saturday 28 November, with the medal race and final race on Sunday 29 November.
Australia secured country qualification for the Finn class for Rio 2016 at last year’s ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain. But who will be representing Australia in the class is yet to be decided. With selection still ongoing the Finn World Cup will be an important event for the current World #2 Jake Lilley and World #6 Oliver Tweddell.
Lilley and Tweddell are coached by Australian Sailing’s Finn Coach and American Olympic silver medallist John Bertrand.
First day of Gold fleet racing at 2015 Laser Radial World Championships moves Ashley Stoddart into country qualification spot.
In other world title events, Australian Sailing Squad’s Ashley Stoddart had a strong first day of Gold fleet racing on Tuesday (24 November) at the 2015 Laser Radial Worlds in Oman (20-26 November).
Winds that reached in excess of 16kts made for exciting racing on the first day of the final series with Ashley Stoddart posting a tenth and sixth place in the two races of the day. This moved her up to 20th overall and into contention to secure country qualification for Australia after a total of eight races and with another four races to go.
“I’m just taking every race one at the time and focussing on the details that I can control. If I find myself getting ahead of time, I'm just pulling myself into the now and going as hard as I can! We have four more races to go and I think being consistent in results and process until the end will be a driving force,” Ashley Stoddart said before the start of racing today.
20 countries already qualified for the Laser Radial at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games with another four spots available at these World Championships. Currently Finland, Japan, Turkey and Australia are within reach of these four spots with two days of racing to go.
Today (25 November) is the penultimate day of the event with Finals Races 3 and 4 to take place and with a start time scheduled for 1200 local time (AEDT19:00).
The 2015 Laser Radial World Championship provides the opportunity for Australia to secure country qualification in the Laser Radial for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The final chance to qualify the boat class for Australia will be at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Melbourne mid-December.
AUSTRALIA SAILING TEAM
