On a warm and windy day at Kiel Week in Germany, Australia’s brother duo of Will and Sam Phillips tore up the track to be leading the world-class 49er fleet after day one, Wednesday June 26, of the Olympic classes competition.

Australians love their warm weather and the Victorians commanded early attention by winning the first two heats of qualifying and following these bullets up with a fifth to be leading the 82-boat skiff fleet.

Twice the Aussie brothers pounced on the race leaders, first on young, up-and-coming Kiwis Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie and then the top Spanish team of Diego Botin and Iago Marra.

Will’s pre-race strategy for the day sounded simple enough: “The wind is offshore and shifty, so we’re trying not to worry about anyone else. We’ll just try to find our own path around the course.”

Sam added: “Today was all about keeping things simple and sailing on the lifted tack. It’s a new day tomorrow and we’ll be aiming to continue our momentum.” With temperatures of 25+ Sam said, “It was definitely the hottest day I’ve experienced at Kiel.”

With the 49ers split into three flights for qualifying, yellow, red and blue, the top teams aren’t yet racing each other directly.

The Men’s heavyweight Finn dinghy sees Czech sailor Ondrej Teply holding the early advantage in front of Germany’s Max Kohlhoff who is tied for second with Australia’s Jake Lilley.

Lilley had the best day of the two Aussies though Jock Calvert fired a warning, winning the Finn’s second race to finish top five on combined points.

“It was 25+ degrees and 12 - 17 knots! Not your typical Kiel week at all, but it was a perfect day for racing,” Calvert posted on his athlete page.

“First race I tacked off the boat end but with long lefties I was 10th at the top mark. Made my way up to 6th on the downwind then missed a shift at the second top mark and had to settle for 8th.

“Second race I did the opposite, went left off the pin which worked out much better. I led to the top mark and for the first downwind then was passed on the second upwind by Max Ko who was going turbo. I managed to sneak back around him for the win!

“It was a great opening day. I’m looking forward to more tomorrow with three races scheduled in even more wind.”

Another day of sunshine and good breeze is forecast for day two, Thursday June 27. The Olympic competition wraps up on June 30.

Website: https://www.kieler-woche.de/en/

SAP live centre: https://kw2019.sapsailing.com/gwt/Home.html?#/event/:eventId=ecf57f2a-9d4b-4918-aef3-07543ed0c4ec

Kieler Woche TV: https://www.kielerwoche.tv/

Results:

49er (82 boats)
1st: Will & Sam Phillips 1, 1, (5) = 2 points

Finn (25 boats)
3rd: Jake Lilley 3, 4 = 7 points
5th: Jock Calvert 8, 1 = 9 points