It’s been a long wait for all the sailors as light winds dominate the day. For a replay of day, where the Gold fleet was racing, here’s the youtube livestream.
Finally, racing begins at 3:45pm, 2 hours after fleets took to the water. We’d been waiting for the wind to shift to the right as per the forecast, and just as it did the pace picked up so the teams when from drifting to double trapping.
Grabbing the early lead from the right hand side of the race course are Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie (NZL). They started at the boat end side of the start line and managed to hold their lane nicely, along with quite a few teams.
As predicted, Lambriex and van de Werken (NED), won the boat and immediately tacked right, so they got the start they wanted. Their gambit was good, but the best route up the course was more up the middle than to the extreme as the wind grew steadily.
The overall leaders, Bildstein and Hussl (AUT), had a fantastic race as well managing a second place finish to maintain their overall lead. It’s been a very impressive regatta for the Austrians so far as their worst race to date is a 10th. In not sailing a poor race to date they preserve a get out of jail free card to play should they pick up a letter score or have a poor race.
As the breeze kept building, so did the lead of McHardie and McKenzie, who stretched out to a 100m advantage to claim the first win of gold fleet.
Golden Seas
All three top fleets are all racing at the same time. While the 49er fleet was on the live course, the 49erFX gold fleet is on course B and the Nacra 17 fleet is on course C. All fleets are tracked.
Race two of Gold Fleet
The race committee wasted no time in turning around in starting race two of the day. With the sun scheduled to set about an hour from the end of race one, the RC blasted into another race. The wind was remarkably stead for a late-forming breeze which allowed teams to chase each side of the course and all points in between with little advantage easily apparent.
Overall leaders, Bildstein and Hussl, held steady off the start line toward the left side of the course, but didn’t go all the way not wanting to put too much leverage on to the fleet.
Far on the right side are Rual and Amoros (FRA) to started port tack underneath the fleet to ensure they got the right, and the right came in late to show as the best route to windward.
Many teams noticed the right side advantage, with at least half the fleet gybesetting on the first downwind.
Dickson and Waddilove (IRL) make an appearance in the top five sitting in fourth. Already after their first race of the day they have moved into the lead for the top European team, as they have overtaken Belgium.
For all the results, photos, links and more, check the regatta website.
