Indigo ISAF Team Racing World Championship - Day 3
by David Branigan 29 Jul 1999 14:51 BST
ELIMINATION ROUND ENDS WITH PERFECT RECORD FOR USA1 BUT KIWIS ON THE RISE
The 153 race epic round one of the Indigo ISAF World Team Racing Championship ended this morning (Thursday) on Dun Laoghaire Harbour (Dublin, Ireland) with the ten best teams now selected for the Gold fleet and making progress towards the finals series. Josh Adams' USA1 team continued their perfect record by winning all 17 of their races in the
round robin series.
However, shortly after mid-day, in one of the opening races of the new Gold fleet round robin, the New Zealand squad produced the first shock result by defeating USA1 and ending their reign. The result effectively leaves all
predictions for the finals wide open and the ten teams have all to sail for ahead of the next elimination of two further teams from the Gold fleet.
Comparing to the last ISAF Worlds in Miami, team racing experts have agreed theat the standard of the mid-fleet boats has risen considerably and the favourites will have a tougher job qualifying for the championship finals.
The line-up in the Gold fleet is as follows, based on round one:
TEAM RACES WON OUT OF 17 SAILED
USA1 17
GBR1 15
USA2 14
GBR2 14
NZL 13
IRL1 10
CAN 10
AUS1 9
NED 9
AUS2 8
The Silver fleet order is:
IRL2 8
FRA 8
RSA1 6
CZE 5
ESP 3
RSA2 3
SRI 1
SUI 0
The Gold fleet round robin will continue until Friday lunchtime and a Silver fleet round robin will also commence tomorrow morning. The quarter finals are expected to start Friday afternoon.
Event Website: www.rsgyc.ie/teamracing