Brothers David and Lachy Gilmour put on another impressive display of 49er sailing on day two of the 2018 Sail Sydney regatta on Sydney Harbour today, finishing the day well clear of their competition despite some challenging conditions. With shifting winds and occasional harbour traffic, the Australian Sailing Team athletes added a first and two second places to go with their two wins and a second yesterday to move well clear with two days of competition to come.

On a cloudy Sydney day with lighter winds than day one, the brothers showed they will be a team to watch as they handled the large shifts across the afternoon finish the day seven net points clear of the field.

David’s former crewmate Joel Turner and his new partner Tom Needham finished the day in second place, after posting a drop then a second and finally a win.

“It’s been shifty conditions the last two days. We didn’t have the greatest first race today, we got a little bit stuck to the right-hand side but we managed to come back and finish in second place.” said Needham.

The results are pleasing for Turner and Needham, considering the fact that they are a newly minted crew.

“Tom and I only started sailing together about four weeks ago now. Tom sailed the 49er for about three months before we started sailing together, but Tom’s doing a really great job of making decisions and getting the boat around the racecourse” added Turner.

Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries have been almost flawless in the Women’s 470, with three bullets and a second on the board so far. De Vries lauded the pre-regatta training they completed alongside a number of the international teams as a contributing factor to their form so far.

“We had some really great training before Sail Sydney with a bunch of international teams here. There are some from Germany, Japan and Spain and it’s been really great to have them here to train with.” Jerwood said.

The Sail Sydney regatta makes up the first half of the two Olympic class regattas in Australia this month, with Sail Melbourne to follow on Port Phillip next week. The two regattas are crucial for the teams as they start their preparation for their 2019 campaigns, as well as getting time on the water in similar conditions to what they might expect on Enoshima harbour where the 2020 Olympic Games will be held.

“We’re looking forward to Sail Melbourne as well, so after this event we’ll head down there and then just keep smashing out some really great training over summer.” de Vries went on to say.

The Nacra 17 team of Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin were similarly dominant in their races today, with a 1, 2, 2 to go with their 1, 1, 2 from yesterday leaving them well atop the standings in their class.

Elsewhere overnight leader Matt Wearn posted two second places to remain atop the Laser standings, Tess Lloyd and Jaime Ryan also extended their lead in the 49erFX and Mara Stransky moved up to third in the Laser Radial class.

Men’s 470 Rio Silver medallists Mat Belcher and Will Ryan had a tough day at the office and slipped to fourth on the standings, and Jake Lilley and Ollie Tweddell finished the day fourth and sixth respectively in the Finn class.

Conditions are predicted to improve over the final two days of the Olympic classes, with increasing winds predicted for tomorrow and even greater gusts for what should be an exciting final day of competition at Woollahra Sailing Club on Friday.

A full list of results can be found on the Sail Sydney website.

Australian Sailing Team and Squad Results:

470 Men

Chris Charlwood/Josh Dawson - 4, 2, 4, 1 – 3rd

Mat Belcher/Will Ryan - 3, 3, 6, 5 – 4th

470 Women

Nia Jerwood/Monique de Vries - 1, 1, 2, 1 – 1st

Dana Tavener/Katherine Shannon - 2, 3, 3, 3 – 3^rd
 

49er

David Gilmour/Lach Gilmour - 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2 – 1st

Tom Needham/Joel Turner - 3, 6, 2, 8, 2, 1 – 2nd

Kurt Hansen/Simon Hoffman - 8, 8, 5, 4, 7, 7 – 7th

49erFX

Tess Lloyd/Jaime Ryan - 3, 2, 2, 1, 6, 2 – 1st

Amelia Stabback/Caitlin Elks - 8, 4, 1, 2, 4, 8 – 3rd

Natasha Bryant/Annie Wilmot - 6, 3, 3, 8, 11, 1 – 5^th
 

Finn

Jake Lilley - 4, 4, 3, 11 – 4th

Oliver Tweddell - 6, 15, 6, 2 – 6th

Lewis Brake - 9, 12, 19, 14 – 15th

Jock Calvert - 13, 8, 16, 18 – 16th

Laser

Matt Wearn - 1, 3, 2, 2 – 1st

Luke Elliott - 7, 4, 7, 5 – 4th

Mitchell Kennedy - 11, 6, 1, 15 – 6th

Finn Alexander - 12, 9, 11, 6 – 9^th
 

Laser Radial

Mara Stransky - 2, 8, 3, 2 – 3rd

Nacra 17

Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin - 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2 – 1st

Paul Darmanin/Lucy Copeland - 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 1 – 3rd

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