Nathan and Haylee Outteridge were laid low last week by a viral stomach bug but they’re now the highest ranking Aussie team in the foiling cat after securing two thirds and a fifth in today’s opening races at the 2019 Hyundai 49er, 49erFX & Nacra 17 World Championships in Auckland.

“We spent a lot of time on the couch trying to recover and get our appetites back,” explained Haylee. “We dropped a few kilos unintentionally and lost time on the water but we’re feeling really good now. Just the right amount of time to bounce back.”

He described today’s performance, which sees them sitting in fifth place, as “consistent and low risk”.

“Our mentality really is to get through qualifying and into the gold fleet in good shape,” said Nathan. “To be honest we just want to get as few points as possible and only shift focus to them later in the week.”

They are joined in the top group by fellow Aussies Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin, who finished the first day of racing in the class in 13th place.

The Rio silver medallists will be looking to overcome a slow start in the first couple of races and use their third-place finish in the last race of the day as a springboard for the rest of the regatta.

The Outteridges’ performance however reflects well on the interesting symmetry of a brother and sister racing together. Says Haylee: “We’re always working on it. Always trying make it better and better.

“It was a pretty easy transition in the beginning because you didn’t have to learn about the other person. It was very familiar initially and easy and now we’re just really fine tuning it.”

Nathan reckons the hardest part for Haylee was going from skipper to crew: “For me it’s very similar to sailing the 49er in terms of my thought processes and my role on the boat, but for Haylee it’s been a big change. And that was probably the biggest thing last year was Haylee getting a real good understanding of what is a crew’s role.”

Now, says “big brother” – and there’s plenty of joshing between them on that score - it’s more about how they work together to make really smart decisions on the racecourse. 

For 49er FX crew Amelia Stabback and Caitlin Elks the smart decision today was to try and minimise their losses on a tricky day with the whole fleet moving up and down on a snakes and ladders racecourse.    

“There was a very steep chop for the amount of wind,” explained Caitlin.” There was a lot of technique involved in keeping the boat going and getting a set-up that would have the boat working for you.”

As the top performing Aussies in their class today they registered a third and a sixth to sit in 15th place.

"There were pretty big shifts across the board,” said Amelia. “It was hard to read what was going to happen. We were just trying to keep the boat going and keep our eyes open to see the next opportunity.”  

Of course the overarching opportunity that these world champs provide is the chance for the sailors to make a case to claim the Olympic spot for Australia.

But Stabback and Elks say they’re not too focussed on the other Aussies in the fleet and just want to sail as well as they can against the international teams and hope it stands them in good stead for qualification.

Success for Australia is the key point on their agenda: “I think we just want to see the best team go,” said Caitlin. “And if we can keep pushing our training partners and they keep pushing us and at the end of the day it will be who deserves the spot. And I just hope it’s us.”

To that end they’re not worrying about the others, concentrating instead on maximising their own performances “We’re very focussed on the process of everything,” explained Caitlin. “Sticking to training practices, making sure we’re racing the way we train and keeping everything really sharp.”

In the 49ers, the Philips brothers, Sam and Will, continue to lead the Aussie charge ending the day in 12th spot. They’re joined in the top 20 by the Gilmour brothers, David and Lachy, (16th) with James Grogan and Max Paul in 18th.

The young team of Grogan and Paul added a fine race win early in the day, where they finished ahead of a world-class fleet including reigning Olympic gold medallists Peter Burling and Blair Tuke from New Zealand.

But it was Tom Needham and Joel Turner who finished with a flourish. ”We managed to come away with a win in the last one which we were really happy with,” said Tom. ”We just tried to keep it clean and got a little bit of separation from some of the other boats and came across in some good breeze. 

“It’s good to know that we can definitely be up the front and we’re hoping to be a bit more consistent.”

Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) and other Australian (AUS) entries:

49er (88 boats)
12th Will Phillips and Sam Phillips (AST) – 2, 7, 2, 9, 10, 22 (30)
16th David Gilmour and Lachy Gilmour (ASS) – 20, 10, 8, 8, 3, 6 (35)
18th James Grogan and Max Paul (AUS) – 8, 4, 1, 11, 13 (37)
23rd Jim Colley and Shaun Connor (AUS) – 10, 6, 7, 4, 14 (41)
36th Tom Needham and Joel Turner (ASS)- 14, 14, 6, 18, 1 (53)
56th David O’Connor and Fang Warren (AUS)- 17, 20, 2, 19, 20 (78)
57th Kurt Hansen and Simon Hoffman (ASS) – 12, 13, 15, 19, 19 (78)
65th John Cooley and Thomas Cunich (AUS) – 19, 20, 21, 17, 14 (91)
68th Oliver Manton and Jack Lloyd – 17, 23, 22, 22, 16 (100)

49erFX (61 boats)
15th Amelia Stabback and Caitlin Elks (ASS) – 15, 6, 22, 3 (24)
24th Tessa Parkinson and Ella Clark (AUS) – 21, 16, 11, 3 (30)
42nd Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot (ASS) – 20, 5, 21, 23 (46)
48th Tess Lloyd and Jaime Ryan (ASS) – 24, 17, 27, 14 (55)
55th Chloe Fisher and Eleanor Grimshaw (AUS) – 28, 17, 25, 27 (69) 
60th Laura Harding and Laura Thomson (AUS) – 29, 29, 26, 30 (84)

Nacra17 (52 boats) 
7th Nathan Outterridge and Haylee Outteridge (AST) – 3 ,5, 3 (11)
13th Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AST) – 6, 9, 3 (18)
30th Paul Darmanin and Lucy Copeland (ASS) – 14, 11, 15 (40)
44th Steve Brewin and Karma Randall (AUS) – 19, 22, 20 (62)
49th Emma Jones and Hugo Hamilton (AUS) – 20, 23, 25 (68)
50th Jake Liddell and Rita Booth (AUS) – 24, 21, 24 (69) 

2019 Hyundai 2019 Hyundai 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 World Championships 
Royal Akarana Yacht Club, Auckland, New Zealand

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Photos: Matias Capizzano/World Sailing