A Long Day For OptiWorldsNZ Sailors

It was busy at the breakfast table yesterday morning with sailors keen to get back onto the water after a day of sight seeing.

Sailors went onto the water at the scheduled time to start the first race at 1025, but with winds between 1 and 4 knots, there was not much sailing.

"We made the call to send the sailors back to shore at 1245" according to Gerald Martin, Principle Race Officer. "No racing had been done, and it didn't look like anything was going to happen any time soon as there was hardly any wind" Mr Martin continues.

Sailors were called back onto the water by 1310, but it wasn't until 1535 before the first race of the day started. The leader board changed after the seventh race: Ryan Lo who held the first position was disqualified from race 7 and dropped to place 7. Bart Lambriex from the Netherlands who finished second in race 7 took over the leadership position.

Wind increased to 8 knots by the time the eight race started, and the race committee managed to do all three fleets. It was a long day for the sailors with many headed back to shore just before 1900.

Bart Lambriex finished 15th in the eight and last race but managed to keep his prime position om the overall scores, followed by Ahmad Syukri Abdul Aziz from Malaysia with Javier Arribas solid in place three. The first female sailor is Kimberly Lim from Singapore on place four.

Whether there will be any sailing tomorrow depends entirely on the weather. The weather prediction at 2200 are very strong winds: up to 31 knots, heavy rain: 13.9 mm/hr and very high swells. We expect the Race Committee to make a call first thing tomorrow morning.

The provisional leader board (for the individual racing) after 8 races shows: 1 Bart Lambriex (NED) 40 points, 2 Ahmad Syukri Abdul Aziz (MAS) 48 points, 3 Javier Arribas (PER) 48 points, 4 Kimberly Lim (SIN) 59 points, 5 Miel Verstraete (BEL) 61 points, 6 Ryan Lo (SIN) 68 points, 7 Leonard Takahashi-Fry (NZL) 68 points, 8 Maria Vittoria Marchesini (ITA) 70 points, 9 Sophie Browne (IRL) 73 points, 10 Rodrigo Luz (BRA) 78 points.

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