Four full races were sailed in Singapore yesterday as the Fleet tried to catch up from the very light stuff, which limited racing on day one. Paul Larsen brings us his report from the second day.
Take a good look around Helena and enjoy the view as it mightn't last for long'. This was the comment as 'Fly Royal Brunei' lead the fleet around the windward mark in race five of the Carlsberg Hobie Tiger world championships in Singapore.
For the wind gods giveth' as quickly as they taketh' away. Next time around we were deep in the twenties.
Day 2 started on time and with breeze allowing the fleet to get in four races. The conditions were generally light to medium with patchy and changeable breeze making for some very interesting racing. The wind swung and died completely at the end of race four and filled from the other side initiating an end for end of the course. Everybody had 'hero to zero' and visa-versa stories by the end of the day not to mention a few damaged dagger boards from rocks as people pushed the left layline.
Nonetheless the cream began to rise to the top as they made sense of the difficult conditions by showing consistency.
Greg Thomas took the overall lead narrowly from Enrique Figueroa with Mitch Booth digging himself out of some nice holes and moving up to third.
It really is amazing to find yourself at the tail of the fleet in the company of gurus and then well up the rank by the next mark with a completely different group of boats than those that you rounded with previously.
We from the colder climes are penalised by having to put sunscreen over our legs between races only to rub it off skating all over the tramp in the next pre-start.
The day finished with a huge dousing of lovely tropical rain on the way back into Raffles Marina.
Whilst the conditions are difficult I must say that they are fun with big gains and losses there for the taking all the time. Those who stick to the good old rules of a good start with clear air and then picking of places in ones or twos instead of taking risks are benefiting as they always do. Some times those who go on last leg flyers are jumping way up the fleet more so than normal but ultimately the gambling odds will get you.
Full results can once again be obtained from the hobie-worlds.com website as well as photos which can be downloaded from the days racing. Outside now the wind is blowing so let's hope it hangs in there.
Overall Top Ten (After 5 Races/1 Discard)
Position |
Names |
Nation |
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
R4 |
R5 |
Total |
1 |
Greg Thomas/Jacques Bernier |
USA |
3 |
1 |
4 |
34 |
1 |
9 |
2 |
Enrique Figueroa/Jorge Hernandez |
PUR |
1 |
7 |
1 |
16 |
2 |
11 |
3 |
Mitch Booth/Taylor Booth |
NED |
18 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
17 |
4 |
Aaron Worrall/Andrew Keag |
AUS |
9 |
3 |
12 |
8 |
6 |
26 |
5 |
Eric Proust/Yann Andrillon |
FRA |
14 |
8 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
27 |
6 |
Andreas Bredendiek/Nils Froehmer |
GER |
20 |
15 |
8 |
6 |
3 |
32 |
7 |
Darren Stower/Lloyd Bradshaw |
AUS |
5 |
12 |
19 |
9 |
7 |
33 |
8 |
Mal Gray/Jerome Binder |
AUS |
11 |
19 |
15 |
5 |
5 |
36 |
9 |
Brad Sumner/Kevin Winchester |
AUS |
18 |
2 |
5 |
18 |
12 |
37 |
10 |
Allan Lawrance/Gordon McGillivray |
RSA |
10 |
9 |
6 |
34 |
13 |
38 |