WORLD CHAMPS NINTH IN 49ER CLASS

by Ian Grant on 20 Sep 2000 Australia's World championship winning 49er class crew of Chris Nicholson and Daniel Phillips rated as the Gold Medal favourites continue to struggle with inconsistent form in their class championship.

The combination rated as the smartest open skiff sailing team on Sydney Harbour have apart from their two race wins been generally outsailed to record a 11-11-1-15-1 score after five races to hold 9th place on overall points.

They are the only crew to have won two races but the other three race results have placed their medal chances in damage control.

Nicholson and Phillips have been in the same position before but they will need to race more consistent in the next race day on Friday to remain in contention to become the inaugural 49er class Olympic. champion.

The outstanding German crew of Marcus Baur and Philip Barth who finished 9th in the fifth race today continue to lead the series by 2 points in advance of the American brothers Jon and Charlie McKee and the Finnish sailors Thomas Johanson Jyriki Jarvi.

There was a tricky element in the wind which contributed to the mixed results which were reflected in the today's race score of both the Australian's 1-15-1 and the Finns 2-12-2.