Australian Sailing Team at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres - Day 3

Gold fleet racing kicks off successfully for Australian Sailing Team

Gold fleet racing got underway at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères in France on Wednesday with tense competition in all classes. Australian Sailing Team athletes finishing the day leading in three of the Olympic classes - 470M, Nacra17 and the Laser fleet.

After a short morning postponement the 1,111 sailors were greeted with an increasing 13-17 knot westerly breeze as well as a smooth sea state. Racing kicked off shortly after 12:00 local time.

Men's 470

Leaders after the Qualification Series Mat Belcher (QLD) and Will Ryan (QLD) started the day slowly with an 11th but hit back with a 22 second victory in the last race of the day. They once more retain the Men's 470 gold fleet lead after the third day of racing.

Ryan explained the day's two races, "Today was pretty tricky, it was quite light winds and no one really knew what was going to happen. We were pretty fortunate that the breeze came in just as we were starting. "The first upwind was really tight and we stuck with the French which didn't turn out to be on the right side of the course so it was a pretty tough race. We gained a little bit at the end. It's not a keeper but we bounced back. "We were little bit more confident in our strategy with the experience gained from the previous race. We played it a bit better and stuck to our guns. In the end we came away with a win. The standard's pretty high and with two more days we'll see what happens."

The points amongst the top six are tight with nine points splitting the bunch. Occupying second overall is Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis (GRE) whilst home favourites Sofian Bouvet and Jeremie Mion (FRA) are third.

Nacra 17

Olympic silver medallists Darren Bundock (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) are the new leaders in the Nacra 17. The current top three teams in the Nacra 17 in Hyères all took medals at ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca. However the positions have changed with Mallorca bronze medallists Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis now leading the way. Bundock and Curtis opened their day with a fourth and a third. An 18th which they discard, in the last race of the day is the only disappointment of an otherwise impressive string of top four results.

Daily video blogs of Bundock and Curtis can be found here.

Laser

In the Laser it is Australian Sailing's Tom Burton (NSW) who has taken the lead after finishing second and fifth in the two Gold Fleet races on Wednesday.

Burton leads a strong Australian Laser squad which includes Matthew Wearn (WA) in fifth and Ashley Brunning (NSW) in 18th.

Laser Radial

One of the day's race victories went to Australian Sailing Squad's Ashley Stoddart (QLD) in sixth overall who is having a break through regatta in Hyères. The win is Stoddarts first race win at an ISAF World Cup Regatta.

49er

After an unlucky day two, it was the come back of the day when Olympic Gold medallists Nathan Outteridge and Ian Jensen managed to climb up the ladder from 15th into seventh position overall after posting an eleventh, second and fifth place in Wednesday's three races.

For all results and information visit www.sailing.org/worldcup

Racing commences at 11:00 local time today, Thursday 24 April as the sailors enter a critical point of the regatta.

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Tracking

Live race tracking in 2D and 3D is available during ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères from Wednesday, 23 April. Click here to access the tracking.