WAIS Sailors Progress to Gold Fleet
WAIS sailors in action at the 49er/FX World Championships in Argentina have qualified for gold fleet and will look to secure top ten finishes.
WA’s Caitlin Elks who crews for skipper Tess Lloyd enjoyed a successful third day of the regatta racing, posting two second place finishes to move into 11th place over all ahead of gold fleet racing.
The pair had battled tricky conditions and a bout of illness earlier in the competition but responded well on the final day of qualification racing to move themselves into the front end of the fleet.
“It was our last day of qualification and it was great to get two really good results. We needed a consistent day to move us up on the leader board,” Tess Lloyd said.
“It was a lot more consistent breeze today than some of the other days. And after all the rain, which made the water quite dirty and both Caitlin and I getting sick, we seem to have recovered from that and have been getting back into the racing quite nicely.”
“It was really good to today to get some good results under our belt. We just have to keep having some consistent days and hopefully we can make it into the top ten to get into the Medal Race, which is what we are aiming for.”
WAIS sailor David Gilmour and his crew Rhys Mara have moved through to gold fleet with a ranking of 17th following three days of competition.
The Australian Sailing Team members have had an up and down campaign with three top ten efforts, countered by four races outside of the front end.
The duo are one of four Australian crews contesting the men’s event in Buenos Aires.
You can follow results and live action via the official website: http://49er.org/event/2015-world-championship/