Great Britain continues to dominate at the 49er Worlds in Garda, with three crews in the top five headed up by new overall leaders Stevie MORRISON and Ben RHODES.
Stevie MORRISON and
Ben RHODES (GBR), the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Champions, were able to sail a 3, 1, 3 today to move into the overall lead. They are closely followed by fellow British teammates and
ISAF Sailing World Cup leaders
Paul CAMPBELL-JAMES and
Mark ASQUITH, who sailed a 2, 3, 1 to keep the two teams just one point apart.
The Ora came in as planned at 13:00 and built slowly to about 18 knots, but soon dropped down to 12 with the last fleets coming off the water at 18:30. In these conditions, overnight leaders,
Dave EVANS and
Simon HISCOCKS (GBR) did not have such a great day and after finishes of 19, 16 and 18 drop from first to 15th overall.
Nico DELLE - KARTH and
Nikolaus RESCH from Austria continue to look good. They lie in third on 11 points after 1, 6, 2 scores today (the sixth is their discard). Current World Champion
Nathan OUTTERIDGE and new crew
Iain JENSEN of Australia had a good day with three top-five finishes, including one race win, moving them up to fourth, tied with the Austrians on 11 points. It was also a good day for two-time Olympic medallists
Iker MARTINEZ and
Xabier FERNANDEZ (ESP), who after a shaky start yesterday came back strongly with 1, 3, 4 results today. They climb from 25th up to 12th overall.
Silja LEHTINEN (FIN), 2006 29er World Champion with crew
Will HOWARD (AUS) leads the 29erXX Gold Cup posting a 2, 1, 1 today in trying conditions. The Swedish crew of
Sara ENGSTRöM and
Hanna DAHLBORG also posted good finishes, but a collision caused them a DNF in the last race.
Tiina KOTAMIES and Camilla CEDERCREUTZ of Finland round out the top three of the 15-boat fleet.
Sailing continues tomorrow with three more races for the qualifying of the 49er class while the 29erXX fleet will have three remaining races to close out the Gold Cup.
49er Results - click here