Grae Morris (Australian Sailing Squad and NSWIS) continued his push on day three of the iQFOiL European Championships in Patras Greece, with his second win of the event lifting him up to 8th place in the men’s fleet. 

After two days of extreme conditions, day three saw 18-23 knots out on the racecourse, where Morris secured his first ever Gold fleet win, leading the race from start to finish.

“I was looking for another solid, consistent day and it all worked out,” said Morris after racing. “We had a strong and steady breeze with a pretty flat sea on the course, which meant really tight racing and getting it done with no messing around, which is just how we like it.”

Grae Morris leading CREDIT Sailing Energy

For safety reasons, the race committee started all the fleets on starboard tack for the third day running, narrowing the options for the athletes and making the racing tighter off the line – something that Morris embraced to climb into the top ten. 

“This was my first ever Gold fleet win, plus I managed two 11th places and an 18th which helped my overall score. For that Gold fleet win today I was in first place for the entire race, pushing hard for any gains around the course, which meant that I could actually keep it pretty relaxed going into the finish line.”

Samantha Costin (Australian Sailing Squad and QAS) raced on the inshore course in the women’s Silver fleet, notching up four solid results in the wild conditions.

“It was a super interesting day, there were pretty gusty conditions plus it was a lot choppier than the first two days, bringing out some pretty intense competition at the top of Silver fleet,” said Costin.

“We had a very quick turnaround, getting four races done in under two hours. For the first two days there has been more of a swell on the racecourse, but today it was a messy chop. This made it difficult on the reaches, particularly on the reach to the finish line, and with such tight racing there were a lot of crashes on the final leg.”

Female fleet at iQFOiL Euros CREDIT Sailing Energy

Sixteen-year-old Harry Joyner (Australian Sailing Squad and WAIS) had another solid day. It was his first ever day racing in a senior Gold fleet, where the intensity of racing has raised to another level, meaning the opportunities are less frequent and any small mistakes are punished.

“A pretty good day to be honest,” said Joyner. “In the last race, I really wanted to give it everything I had and I crashed. I pushed really hard, knowing that I was going to get a result, either in a good score or in the experience.”

Racing continues on Friday 12th May, and with conditions forecast to ease and an afternoon sea breeze expected, racing is due to start at 1pm local time.

Visit the event website for full results.

Australian Sailing Squad (ASS), Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) and other Australian (AUS) entries:  

iQFOiL Men - 14 races (three drops) 
8th Grae Morris (ASS) (NSWIS) 11, (12), 4, 7, (16), 1, 4, 3, 11, 1, 11 (18) = 53
49th Harry Joyner (ASS) (WAIS) (34), 16, 11, 16, 14, 28, (32), 25, 41, 46, 45, (54) = 242
75th Steve Allen (ASS) 28, (40), 35, 26, (37), 30, 24, 34, 9, DNC (58), 12, DNC (58) = 256
99th Jack Marquardt (AUS) (VIS) 45, 42, 44, (50) 50, DNF (58), 47, 46, 29, 38, (41), 29 = 370

iQFOiL Women – 14 races (three drops)
69th Samantha Costin (ASS) (QAS) 31, (39), (32), 32, 31, 29, 28, 31, 20, (24), 20, 15 = 237

Words by Blue Robinson.