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The British pair started their day with fourth and third places, winning the next two, while the Aussies, who are now on equal points with third placed Henrik Sogaard/Soren Kristensen (DEN), posted a pair of second’s, a third and a seventh.  The Danes excelled in the light conditions.

Sean O’Rourke/Evan Walker are the next best of the 67 Australian crews competing, currently in eighth place and just seven points off the lead. 

O’Rourke commented on the Sail Melbourne ISAF Grade 1 event this afternoon: “It was hot out there, the breeze died quickly and then it flicked hard right.  In the middle of our second race there was a tide change and it caught us off-guard. Other than that, the breeze was fairly constant and even.

“The Europeans are really good in light airs, they’re lighter than us, and very good sailors as well.  They seem to have the edge downwind.  The same people who were at the front at our Nationals last week are the same people who are at the front end of this Championship – they’re obviously the better sailors.  “The starts are important and then you need good straight-line speed,” he said.

Hannah Nattrass (AUS), bronze medallist skipper at the 2007 ISAF Youth Worlds and currently placed 15th in the Championship told:  “We all came here thinking it would be windy; we’ve being hanging out for more wind.  Hopefully tomorrow.”

Whilst 78th placed Luke Smith and Jarrod Keys all the way from Western Australia had this to say: “We’d like more wind too; but it’s lots of fun out there anyway.  We haven’t done the best we think we could have, but the competition has been strong. 

“We’ve only been sailing six months together, but we thought we’d compete because the Worlds are in our country and all the best sailors sail 29ers and 49ers.  It’s awesome being here with the 49ers – we can’t wait to sail one.  We’ve been watching all the Olympians to see how they do it – it’s been great so far.”   

For all information, results and more:  www.sailmelbourne.com.au