Nearly every sailor from the Australian Sailing Team has advanced their progress today; many now look to be in the medal races on the weekend. None more so than Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries, who stand in first place overall in the Women’s 470.

Nia Jerwood the coolly composed Skipper said, “We put it down to all our practice in strong winds. Today we were fast and did not make many mistakes. Last year we got concerned about our results. Now our emotions are not attached to that. We go into tomorrow like it is the first the day, just with a coloured bib.”

A pair of bullets (race wins) and a second from the Men’s 470 superheroes Mat Belcher and Will Ryan also set the tone of a great day on the water. In rugged conditions they emulated the success of the Women’s crew and went back ashore atop the leader board.

Three races were completed in the Nacra 17 foiling catamaran. Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin are in second place overall, with Nathan and Haylee Outteridge in third, on the same points. The fourth race of the day was cancelled, with big, lumpy seas and strong Sou’westers that had increased from 15 knots to low 20s.

Frustratingly, Waterhouse and Darmanin broke their jib halyard on the first beat to the windward mark and did not finish. Rising then to a third and a second place reaffirms their dominance form over the last year.

The Outteridges had two capsizes in the last race. AST Nacra coach, Darren Bundock said, “It was pretty exciting all day, especially in the last with those big waves. This made it all about boat handling. Even with damage and capsizes the results still show the irrefutable class of these two crews.”

Bundock was heading back out with spares for the 49ers and indicated that it was a case of boats everywhere in the carnage. Doing the best on that course were Lachy and David Gilmour who put three top ten finishes together to be in 11thplace overall.

In the Women’s 49erFX all three AST crews did not finish the last of their three races today when they capsized. They still all managed to climb up the overall tally. Tess Lloyd and Jaime Ryan are in 10thplace this evening.

Only five crews from the fleet of 36 recorded a result in that race. The whole fleet capsized just as the finish time limit arrived. Lloyd and Ryan were 20 seconds outside of that, so unfortunately their sixth place is not recorded.

Whilst working on repairs their mast, Tess Lloyd reflected upon the challenges of the day, “We did not do so well in the stronger conditions last year. Now we think it is our strength. Just that one gybe today caused our capsize, and then we had to two-sail (no spinnaker) into the finish, which is never going to be fast.”

Jake Lilley in his Finn posted his best result so far this week with a second place. This puts him into the top ten overall, something he has worked very hard to achieve. Meanwhile the Laser Radial squad are trying to advance further up the fleet, such as Mara Stransky and Elyse Ainsworth have done in the main European regattas earlier this year.

The Laser Standard squad of five currently has three in the top ten; the culmination of 40 years of mastery in this Class by Australians. Tom Burton finished in fifth overall, one point ahead of Matt Wearn in sixth place whose scores included a pair of second places today. Mitch Kennedy, whose nickname is Magic for his ability to turn it on when it seems impossible, was fourth overnight, but goes to eighth place tonight.

Tomorrow should offer similar conditions, lightening off as the day goes on. Like Jerwood and de Vries many crews have their goal as finishing in the top ten, so will relish the chance to perform in stronger conditions once again.

Australian Sailing Team results at the Sailing World Cup, Enoshima:

Men’s 470 (34 boats)
1st: Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (5), 1, 1, 2 - 4 points

24^th: Chris Charlwood and Connor Nicholas (27), 17, 20, 20 - 57 points

Women’s 470 (22 boats)
1st: Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries (10), 4, 2, 2 - 8 points

49er (37 boats)
11^th: Lachy Gilmour and David Gilmour 14, (30), 16, 9, 10, 10 – 59 points

13^th: Thomas Needham and Joel Turner 4, 16, (28), 19, 13, 16 – 68 points

35^th: Sam and Will Phillips (35), 13, 34, 38 (DNF), 38 DNF, 38 DNF, – 158 points

49erFX (36 boats)
10^th: Tess Lloyd and Jaime Ryan 19, 16, 5, 8, (37) DNF – 48 points

13^th: Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot 17, 19, 15, 5, (37) DNF – 56 points

19^th: Amelia Stabback and Caitlin Elks 35, 18, 2, 19, (37) DNF – 74 points

Finn (25 boats)
9^th: Jake Lilley (16), 8, 9, 14, 2 – 33 points

Laser (51 boats)
5^th: Tom Burton (20), 14, 5, 6, 12 – 37 points

6^th: Matt Wearn 18, (19), 2, 2, 16 – 38 points

8^th: Mitch Kennedy 4, 10, 12, 16, (29) – 42 points

29^th: Luke Elliott (34), 25, 26, 13, 27 – 91 points

33^rd: Finn Alexander 19, 38, 23, 20, (42) – 100 points

Laser Radial (49 boats)
26^th: Mara Stransky 21, (42), 17, 18, 21 – 77 points

35^th: Elyse Ainsworth 29, 26, 33, 31, (38) – 119 points

Nacra 17 (32 boats)
2nd: Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin 7, 2, (33) DNF, 3, 2 – 14 points

3rd: Nathan Outteridge and Haylee Outteridge 5, 3, 2, 4, (19) – 14 points

17^th: Paul Darmanin and Lucy Copeland 23, (25), 15, 14, 8 – 60 points

Photos: Beau Outteridge

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