Matt Wearn is among the Australians near the head of the Laser fleet. PHOTO: Beau Outteridge

A string of victories in offshore winds building past 20 knots have landed several Australian sailors and crews in good positions after the fourth day of the World Championships in Denmark.

49erFX pair Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot, Laser sailors Matt Wearn and Luke Elliott, and 49er team Will Phillips and Iain Jensen each scored bullets to creep up their respective leaderboards.

“We had quite a lot of shifts and variations in the wind, which made it a real challenge,” said Phillips, who has joined with Olympic gold and silver medallist Jensen, while Phillips’ regular crew recovers from injury.

“We ended up with a pretty good day, I think we’re pretty happy. It’s something solid we can build on tomorrow.”

Jensen said he was thrilled to be back competing in the skiff.

“Two years out since Rio, obviously sailing with Will now instead of Nathan [Outteridge], and I’m having a great time, to be honest,” he said.

“It’s great sailing with Will. It’s good mixing things up. You spend so much time sailing with the same person, it’s good to have a bit of variety because you learn much more about yourself as a crew when you change things up.”

Phillips and Jensen jumped from 15th after day one to 5th, while their female colleagues, Bryant and Wilmot, won the first of the two FX races to enter the top 10, four places ahead of teammates Amelia Stabback and Ella Clark.

Luke Elliott has strung together outstanding results so far. PHOTO: Beau Outteridge

The Laser competition is shaping up to be a beauty, with a trio of Aussies in pursuit of New Zealand’s Sam Meech. Elliott continues to impress, grabbing a 3 and 1 in his fleet to be 2nd overall, while Wearn’s 3 and 1 put him on equal net points with Elliott. Tom Burton is 4th after scoring 2 and a drop.

Coach Michael Blackburn said he was trusting his sailors to stick to what they know best.

“Typically, as a coach, a lot of your work is done before you get to the regatta. So it’s a matter of just keeping the same processes going - they’ve been working on it for months or years beforehand – and letting the guys do what they’ve learnt to do over that time,” he said.

Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin weathered the conditions well. PHOTO: Beau Outteridge

The Nacra 17 regatta got underway with three races. Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin are the best-placed Australians, in 6th, five places ahead of Nathan Outteridge and Haylee Outteridge, who raced in the other fleet.

“We spent about two weeks leading into this event in really warm weather and not much wind, and today was full on,” Darmanin said.

“It was cold, it was wavey, it was windy – and it was a whole lot of fun.

“Today we had a really good day. It was about not panicking about scores and just surviving. Everyone stayed out of trouble and that’s what you’ve got to do in qualifying.”

The Outteridge siblings had a "full on way to start a World Championships". PHOTO: Beau Outteridge

Haylee Outteridge said: “We had a pretty big day to start our qualifying, a lot of wind, anywhere between 12 and 22 knots and quite a lot of bump on the course, which made things interesting. We’re really happy with our day. Our goal was to try and get three keepers … we’re pretty happy.”

Her brother, Nathan, said: “Today was pretty tough. The waves were quite big and we had a lot of puffs out there. I think, had we been racing a little closer to shore, it would have been a much easier day for everyone.

“It’s a pretty full on way to start a World Championships. We’ve been here for 10 days and haven’t really seen more than 12 knots. And, today we didn’t see below 12 knots. So it was a complete contrast to all our training. It looks like the rest of the week’s going to be a bit lighter, more like what we’ve been training in.”

The 470s and Finns re-join racing tomorrow while the Laser Standard and Radial competitions take a break.

FAST FACTS

This is the fifth edition of the Sailing World Championships. The event is held every four years.

The previous World Championships were held at Cadiz, Spain (2003), Cascais, Portugal (2007), Perth, Australia (2011) and Santander, Spain (2014).

Australia won four medals at Santander: Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (gold 470M), Tom Burton (silver, Laser), Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (bronze, 49er) and Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (bronze, Nacra 17).

At the past three Olympic Games Australian sailors won five gold medals and four silver medals.

HOST SITE - www.aarhus2018.com

RESULTS

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The Australian Sailing Team will have daily coverage, including video highlights, interviews, photographs and stories on our website and social media channels. See addresses below.

AUSTRALIAN TEAM AND SQUAD RESULTS

Laser

Luke Elliott – (13), 1, 2, 6, 3, 1 – 2nd

Matt Wearn – (7), 4, 1, 4, 3, 1 – 3rd

Tom Burton – 1, 5, 6, 1, 2, (27) – 4th

Mitch Kennedy – 8, 10, (22), 3, 4, 5 – 11th

Finn Alexander – 6, 7, 5, (40), 16, 14 – 22nd

Laser Radial

Zoe Thomson – 28, 15, 4, 24, 5, (30) – 32nd

Elyse Ainsworth – 21, 27, 28, 23, 22, (38) – 56th

Mara Stransky – 27, 34, (43), 41, 41, 12 – 67th

49er

Will Phillips/Iain Jensen – 3, (19), 6, 1, 5 – 5th

David Gilmour/Joel Turner – 5, 1, (15), 14, 2 – 11th

Lachy Gilmour/Ryan Donaldson – 20, 13, 7, (26), 14 – 49th

Kurt Hansen/Harry Morton – 15, (27), 18, 18, 17 – 62nd

49erFX

Natasha Bryant/Annie Wilmot - 7, 13, (14), 1, 9 – 10th

Amelia Stabback/Ella Clark - 5, 5, 13, 12, (17) – 14th

Tess Lloyd/Jaime Ryan – (21), 20, 18, 17, 8 – 41st

Nacra 17

Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin – (5), 4, 3 – 6th

Nathan Outteridge/Haylee Outteridge – 5, 5, (13) – 11th

Paul Darmanin/Lucy Copeland – (20), 14, 5 – 23rd

Conor Nicholas/Hayley Clark – 11, (31), 21 – 36th

Finn

Jake Lilley – 20, (23), 6, 2, 15, 9 – 23rd

(Tom Slingsby) – 11, 18, 16, 17, 18, (21) – 37th

Oliver Tweddell – 11, 17, (24), 21, 24, 15 – 41st

Lewis Brake – (34), 14, 23, 17, 30, 30 – 50th

Jock Calvert – (44), 24, 17, 26, 30, 25 – 53rd

470M

Mat Belcher/Will Ryan – 3, (13), 8, 4, 2, 4 – 4th

Chris Charlwood/Josh Dawson – 19, 12, 10, (20), 9, 16 – 28th

470W

Nia Jerwood/Monique de Vries – (35), 16, 14, 22, 29, 24 – 25th

Dana Tavener/Katherine Shannon – 27, 41, 26, 40, 41, (46) – 42nd

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