Zhik Moth Worlds at Belmont, Australia - Overall
by Lizzi Rountree 14 Jan 2011 07:13 GMT
8-14 January 2011
Champagne shower for Outteridge
Hugs and Champagne welcome the newest Moth World Champion Nathan Outteridge (AUS) to his home shores in Lake Macquarie, Australia. Entering the day with an 11-point lead over 2nd place fellow Aussie Joe Turner, Outteridge sailed a conservative 4-races to closeout a winning series.
Almost too conservative – Outteridge was never hot off the line nor leading at the top mark. In more than a few races he was surfacing around 7th in the first lap, yet in all but one he was able to turn it into a top 5 finish over the line.
Turner won the day without ever winning a race. He was consistently hot on the trail of the top pack, which was all he needed for a 2nd place finish in the Championship.
Third place was anybody’s guess, but by closing out the day with a bullet, Scott Babbage (AUS) took a decided 3rd. Kiwi Peter Burling, who carried a DNF from the first day of the Finals, was able to jump just 2 points ahead of past champions John Harris (AUS) and Bora Gulari (USA).
Tom Slingsby (AUS) had a hot and cold day, but his win in Race 8 put him just ahead of fellow Aussie Rob Gough. Arnaud Psarofaghis of Switzerland finished 10th overall, and first European.
Samantha England (AUS) beat out American Lindsay Bergan by one point for the title of leading lady at 47th and 48th place.
Final Day Highlights:
Despite the tough forecast, the Race Committee executed the entire scheduled series – including a total of 5 races for the Silver Fleet on the final day. Unfortunately there were not enough hours in the day to see the return of the Wing-sail, and Charlie McKee (USA) was just not able to keep on pace sailing with the softer rig. “The first thing I noticed going back was how much more physically tiring [the soft sail] is!” He reports.
James Spithill was back on the water for more of the action, and the high-speed stacks at the leeward mark kept the camera crew busy. Online fans were active posting their support for their friends and family on the live Facebook feed and online results-by-race tracking.
Overall the 2011 Zhik Moth World Championship, supported by SP High Modulus was a huge success thanks to the multitude of volunteers and supporters.
Overall Results: (gold fleet top ten)
| Pos | Helm | Nat | QS Pos | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Nathan Outteridge | AUS | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 22 |
| 2 | Joe Turner | AUS | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | DNF | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 33 |
| 3 | Scott Babbage | AUS | 4 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 41 |
| 4 | Peter Burling | NZL | 2 | 14 | DNF | 1 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 46 |
| 5 | John Harris | AUS | 8 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 48 |
| 6 | Bora Gulari | USA | 11 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 49 |
| 7 | Tom Slingsby | AUS | 7 | 10 | 9 | 2 | 15 | 47 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 68 |
| 8 | Rob Gough | AUS | 6 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 69 |
| 9 | Iain Jensen | AUS | 5 | 7 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 13 | 73 |
| 10 | Arnaud Psarofaghis | SUI | 12 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 81 |
For full results click here.
All the action can be followed at www.mothworlds.org including race updates, news, results, daily video highlights and excellent imagery from Thierry Martinez.
The 2011 Zhik Moth Worlds is brought to you by; Zhik - Gear for the fast wet athlete, SP High Modulus and the NSW Department of Sport & Recreation.