Near-perfect score is icing on cake for birthday boy Fletcher at Princess Sofia Trophy
by Will Carson, RYA 3 Apr 2018 17:28 BST
30 March - 7 April 2018
Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell (49er)Ben Saxton and Nicola Boniface at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Iberostar © Tomas Moya / Sailing Energy / Trofeo Princesa Sofia Iberostar
Dylan Fletcher celebrated turning 30 in style on Tuesday as he and fellow 49er world champion Stuart Bithell picked up a near-perfect score on the second day of the Princess Sofia Trophy.
Fletcher and Bithell dominated racing in Palma, Mallorca, to finish the day with two wins and a second – and a new place at the top of the overall rankings.
The duo, who teamed up in early 2017 for a tilt at Tokyo 2020, made the most of the better 10-15 knot wind in Palma Bay as they guaranteed Fletcher a birthday to remember.
"We had a really good day," said Fletcher. "I've certainly had worse birthdays. This has got to be one of the best. Thirty years old and a 1, 1, 2 – I'll take that.
"We thought it was going to be a bit windier than it was but it turned out to be a lot lighter and trickier, so we're really pleased to come away with a good day.
"We knew we'd done well today but didn't realise we'd gone top until we got in. It puts us in a good position going into the rest of the week.
"Hopefully we can continue this good form and see where we get to in a few days' time."
After two days of action the ten fleets will now be split into gold, silver and, in some cases, bronze fleets.
Only the top ten sailors in the gold fleet will qualify for the medal races, scheduled for Saturday (April 7).
New mum Bryony Shaw continued her winning streak in the RS:X class, taking her race victory tally to two in three races and moving her into pole position after two days.
Emma Wilson and Saskia Sills will join Shaw in the RS:X gold fleet when racing resumes on Wednesday.
Ben Saxton and Nicola Boniface also occupy the top spot in the Nacra 17 after they echoed Fletcher and Bithell's 1, 1, 2.
"We're learning on the job but we're quick and we got off the line well in two races," Saxton said. "We kept it simple and now we're on top, which that's pretty cool."
After a tricky opening day that saw him finish 20th in the only race, Nick Thompson hit his stride in the Laser Standard class with a win followed by a fourth.
The results move him up to fourth overall behind 2016 youth world champion Finn Alexander, Rio 2016 bronze medallist Sam Meech and gold medal winner Tom Burton.
"It's been classic Palma so far – shifty and hard to read," Thompson said. "It's great to be racing with so many boats though. It was good to get a win under my belt, and I'm looking forward to gold fleet starting tomorrow."
Jess Lavery and Flora Stewart rose up the rankings one place to fourth on the back of a race win in the women's 470, while two seconds from Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre see them jump to fifth.
Racing resumes tomorrow at 1100 local time (0900 GMT).
www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/en