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Peter Campbell, Monday, 11 February 2008
ROYAL SYDNEY YACHT SQUADRON SAILING NEWSAustralians third after first race day at Yngling Worlds
The Australian Olympic team of Krystal Weir, Karyn Gojnich and Angela Farrell is in third place overall after the first day of racing in the 2008 Yngling Women’s World Championship on Biscayne Bay, Miami.
Weir, who has replaced the injured member Nicky Bethwaite as the helmsperson in the Yngling crew for the Beijing Games this year, steered to the Australian boat consistently well to a fourth and a sixth place in the fleet of 28 from 17 nations.
Although Weir is from Melbourne and a newcomer to Ynglings, she and Bethwaite’s crew have been training and racing with the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron Yngling fleet in their lead-up to their overseas campaign leading up to Beijing.
Miami’s Biscayne Bay lived up to the reputation as one of the worlds finest sailing waters with a wind of 14-16 knots, sunny skies and warm temperatures.
The American team of Sally Barkow, Carrie How and Debbie Capozzi paid excellent attention and was in the lead for a large part of the first race but was finally overtaken by defending World Champions Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson. (GBR).
In the second race Barkow’s team were over the line early and had to turn back below the starting line.
After successfully reading the rhythm of the wind shifts New Zealand’s Sharon Ferries, Raynor Smeal and Olivia Powrie won the race a boat length in front of the 2007 European Champion Ekaterina Skudina, Diana Krutskikh and Natalia Ivanova (RUS).
With a 1-3 score, Britain’s Sarah Ayton and her crew are at the top of the leader board with 4 points, followed by the New Zealanders (9-1) and the Australians (4-6) on 10 points each.
Three races are scheduled for day two. After 10 scheduled races the Medal Race will take place on Friday. Full results can be found at the Event Website or yngling.org.
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