The 2011 Mirror World Championship, in Albany, Australia have just passed the midway mark and the three days of racing have so far produced and mixed bag of conditions testing crews abilities in all weathers.
After three days 10 races have been sailed and it is the all girl British team of Millie Newman and Jessica Rust who head the fleet. An excellent first two days including one first, three second places and one third place from seven races put them in a comfortable lead. Thorughout the regatta so far, the Britsih girls have demonstrated that their boat handling is second to none with excellent kite hoists and ability to get planing sooner than other boats. Day three began in a similar style with another second place but then things got a little trickier and they head in to the final two days of racing with just one point over Ross Kearney and Max Odell (IRL). The Team from Ireland have sailed a very consistent regatta so far and scored two firsts on day three to close the gap on Newman and Rust to set up a highly competitive final two days of racing
Both teams will however be keeping a close eye on the rest of the fleet who are are not far behind in overall points. Third placed Ridgely Balladares and Rommel Chavez from the Phillipines have have also scored two first places and two second so far. Just behind them and showing great speed on day three was 14 year old South African pocket rocket, Ricky Robinson with older brother Ryan as crew who have been getting consistently better as the event progresses.
With fifteen races scheduled in the Championships its going to be a very exciting last two days.
Overall after 10 races with one discard the top five are:
Millie Newman and Jessica Rust (GBR) 37
Ross Kearney and Max Odell (IRL) 38
Ridgely Balladares and Rommel Chavez (PHI) 46
Ryan and Ricky Robinson (RSA) 47
Paul and Austin Taylor (AUS) 49
Follow the event blog and results at http://www.mirrorworlds2011.com/ and some great shots of Mirror crews tackling some big breezes at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirrorworlds2011/