The upper edge of a low-pressure front sitting off the south coast of Tasmania served up big winds and a bouncy sea state across Port Phillip on day two of Sail Melbourne 2023.

The annual event, hosted by Royal Brighton Yacht Club, continues to draw leading local and international sailors and today they were given a taste of Port Phillip at its finest. The conditions were no problem for some of the big international names, with two-time Olympian Maria Erdi from Hungary equal-first in the ILCA 6 class and British sailors occupying three of the top four places in the ILCA 7s.

Tied with Erdi atop the ILCA 6 standings is Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club athlete Zoe Thomson, who had a huge day with a win and a second place from their two races.

“Today we had glamour conditions with 15 to 20 knots and plenty of surfable waves,” said Thomson.

“It wasn’t just a send it left kind of day, it was pretty shifty. We had some really tight battles with the Aussie girls and the Europeans who have come to train with us, so it was a really good day out of Port Phillip.”

Zoe Thomson CREDIT A J McKinnon Photography

It was tough going for most classes, particularly the skiffs with the 49er and 49erFX fleets both suffering retirements and breakages in their one race before being sent ashore for the day.

Principal Race Officer Stephen Aulich made the call after consulting the coaches and some of the athletes.

“Today was going to be a tough day,” said Aulich. “The seas built slowly throughout the afternoon and the wind increased, with gusts of 24 knots by the late afternoon.

“The sea state was a good two to two and a half meters and some of the seas were getting quite sharp, so the decision was made then to bring the skiffs ashore without suffering any more breakages.”

Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas continued their dominance of the Mixed 470 class, adding two bullets to the pair they picked up in yesterday’s races.

Jerwood put today’s success down to their success behind the start line.

“The first start we did we had a few people try to line up for a port tack so we made sure we were coming at them pretty fast on starboard and were able to roll over those. The second start we had a really good battle with Sophie (Jackson) and Angus (Higgins) off the line, they almost got us but we just managed to get through a lull slightly better than them and get the roll on.”

Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas CREDIT A J McKinnon Photography

Sail Melbourne is now in its 28th year, and sailing royalty was on hand today with America’s Cup winning Skipper John Bertrand casting his eye over the talent competing at this year’s regatta.

“Sail Melbourne has a terrific history in terms of a prelude to the Olympic Games and of course we don’t have far to go before the Paris Olympics,” said Bertrand from the boat park today.

Bertrand, who won Bronze in the Finn class at the Montreal Games, is keeping a particularly close eye on Tokyo 2020 ILCA 7 gold medallist, Matt Wearn.

“My relationship with Matty Wearn goes back some way. He was going to compete with me at the recent Etchells Nationals, but between the ILCA 7 Nationals and Sail Melbourne it was going to be a bit much so he made the right decision to skip that and prioritise being here.”

There was a glint in his eye when asked about the bond between the two Olympians.

“I love the man, he’s just a beautiful human being. I am keeping a close eye on Matt.”

Racing resumes for the rest of the classes at 1pm AEDT tomorrow.

Sail Melbourne is supported by the Victorian Government.

View a full list of results here.