Australian Sailing Team at the ILCA Laser Radial World Championship
by Australian Sailing Team 23 Jul 2019 08:09 BST
Australian Sailing Team at the ILCA Laser Radial World Championship © Junichi Hirai / Bulkhead Magazine Japan
The ILCA Laser Radial World Championship on Miho Bay, Sakaiminato City, Japan, is proving a tricky battleground for the Australian Sailing Team's Zoe Thomson, Mara Stransky and Elyse Ainsworth.
On Monday July 22 the wind started out at 10kts out of the west and built to 15 knots, with some oscillations though the course remained reasonably stable. All three fleets completed the two races scheduled for day four however the race committee opted to shorten race two for the women's Silver fleet at the second weather mark.
In the women's Gold fleet the competition ramped up as sailors moved into the Finals series. The starts were aggressive, with several general recalls and BFD penalties.
Zoe Thomson climbed the ladder to be top-placed Australian thanks to her 7th in race one of the Finals. "Today's hot and shifty offshore conditions kept the fleet super close with opportunities both ways. I'm happy to post two solid results but am looking to keep learning and improving with two days of racing to go," Thomson said.
Mara Stransky, recently named Queensland's Female Sailor of the Year, is the next best Aussie followed by Ainsworth who shared her thoughts on the championship so far: "It's been a very tough regatta mentally with some harsh learnings, but learnings nonetheless. I'm excited to see how this will benefit me in future regattas but for now I will continue to chip away at the results, and hopefully stay out of trouble and away from the jury room."
Top of the leaderboard changed overnight with Ecem Güzel (TUR) and Tuula Tenkanen (FIN) moving into the top two places while Marit Bouwmeester (NED) held onto third with two days of racing to go.
Ten nation places for the women's single-handed dinghy in Tokyo will be decided at this world championship, in addition to the 20 already allocated from 2018 events.
Results (111 boats):
32nd Zoe Thomson (35), 12, 25, 21, 22, 7, 27 = 114 points
41st Mara Stransky 27, 10, 15, (28), 27, 27, (44) = 134 points
65th Elyse Ainsworth 50, 27, 30, 11, (57 - RET), 10 SCP, 14 = 142 points
Full results available here.
For more information visit event website: 2019worlds.laserjapan.org/radial