A promised afternoon sea breeze failed to materialise for Group B crews in the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships in their first taste of competition on Fremantle’s inner harbour Sunday, 4 December.
While hot easterlies saw 20 matches completed, the remainder have been postponed to Tuesday, 6 December, after a forecast afternoon sea breeze failed to materialise.
Sailing action in the first four flights of the day saw strong performances from Lucy Macgregor (GBR) and her crew, with clear wins in three out of four matches, beaten only by Australian teenager Olivia Price and her crew.
The two teams from Netherlands found themselves going head to head in Group B.
Renee Groeneveld (NED-2) and Mandy Mulder (NED-1) had each recorded three wins, but up against each other, it was Groeneveld and her crew who crossed the line two boat lengths ahead.
Group B sailors first encountered gusty easterly winds up to 15 knots, but a short-lived wind change at midday forced a course change-over. As a result, the final match – between the two Spanish teams – was postponed to the second day of Group B racing on Tuesday.
The forecast sea breeze failed to arrive in time for Olivia Price (AUS-2) to open up a gap on Silvia Roca (ESP).
Neither team flew a spinnaker as they crawled down the last leg of the course with very little pace until the last few metres, when Price saw her chance and cut in ahead of Roca, winning the match.
Poor wind conditions continued into the afternoon which saw racing to grind to a halt as the course was arranged and rearranged in an attempt to accommodate the changes.
Taking to the water for flight 32, was the second group of Elliot 6m crews. However, the sailors competed more against the dying wind and tidal flow than against each other.
In flight 33, France and Croatia struggled to gain momentum in match 1 as the famous Fremantle Doctor still failed to appear.
With an almost non-existent breeze, ISAF officials decided that would be the last race of the day, postponing the days remaining flights until Tuesday, 6 December, when Group B is next scheduled to compete.
Group A will continue Woman’s Match Racing at 10:00 on Monday, 5 December.
Olivia Price (AUS) – skipper
On her performance:
“We’re pretty happy with today, we raced five races, won three and lost two. In the races that we lost it was just unfortunate errors that we made ourselves.
“We came back each race to fight hard and we’re really happy with our performance today.”
On the conditions:
“It was a long day for five races, the wind was shifting all over the place and really up and down pressure so it was really tricky today.”
On competitors to watch:
“I guess there’s a whole lot of people you should be watching out for. There could be like 10 teams that could win these worlds (World Championships) so just kept your eyes open and see who does well in these variable conditions.”
Nina Curtis (AUS) – crew
On their performance:
“We ended up winning three and losing two. One of them was just in a drifter of a race so that’s a little disappointing but nevertheless on a day like today with all the shifts and carry on we’re really happy with our result.”
On the mix of results across the field in Group B:
“It means it’s anyone ‘s first round. There’s wins and losses and the conditions are really mixing up the fleet so it’s all good for us. Bring it on.”