Australian sailors at 2020 ILCA Laser Standard World Championship - Day 2
by Clare Ridgway / Australian Sailing 12 Feb 2020 22:28 NZDT
9-16 February 2020
Finn Alexander - 2020 Laser Men's Standard World Championships, day 2 © Jon West Photography
Three Australians make up the top six places after day two of the 2020 Laser Men's Standard World Championships at Sandringham Yacht Club.
Finn Alexander remains the top Australian in fourth overall after the first drop followed by Luke Elliott in fifth and Matt Wearn in sixth.
"Today there was a little bit more breeze but for me in the first race I just didn't quite get the first shift on the first beat so I was back a little bit," Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) member Finn Alexander said. "Second race I started off at the pin. It was slightly high risk but I stuck to my guns. I had some nice lanes and good shifts and finished off with a second. It would have been nice to scrape a couple more points in for the first race though."
Finn was in the Yellow Fleet with fellow Squad member Luke Elliot dueling it out in the second race. "Finn and I were battling it out the whole race. He was on top and I was second. I had a good second beat and managed to get on top of Finn and to keep him behind me. It was a good solid day."
Australian Sailing Team (AST) member Matt Wearn was happy with two seconds in the Red Fleet. "On day two you want to put in a couple of good results. I took a couple of seconds today and I was pretty happy with that. I was on the right side of the shifts. I didn't sail at 100% but it was good enough and hopefully I will make some better decisions tomorrow and pick up a couple of bullets."
It was a physically and mentally tough day on the water with a shifty Southerly at 15 to 20 knots and long races. "It was physical. It was hard," Mitchell Kennedy (ASS) (29th overall) said when he returned to shore. "Some of those upwinds I was like, "far out these are getting long". I got some good starts and had some good pace but lost concentration a few times and boats just went past me."
Defending World Champion Tom Burton (AST) (25th overall) agreed conditions were trying. "I was slogging around all day. I had some average to decent results but nothing special. I still need to chip away."
For more information on the 2020 ILCA Laser Standard Men's World Championship and full results visit here.
Results after Day 2: (124 entries - three fleets of 40+, three days qualifying six races, then finals and medal race)
4th: Finn Alexander 2, 1, (15), 2 - 5pts
5th: Luke Elliott 3, (6), 2, 1 - 6pts
6th: Matt Wearn (6), 4, 2, 2 - 8pts
25th: Tom Burton 7, (13), 9, 7 - 23pts
29th: Mitchell Kennedy (13), 7, 9, 9 - 25pts