Harry Price Leads at Musto International Youth Championship

Sydney, Australia (November 23, 2016) – Harry Price (CYCA) and crew finished the round robin today at the top of the leader board of the Musto International Youth Championship.

With 10 wins and one loss, Price is closely followed by George Anyon (RNZYS) and Will Boulden (RFBYC) with one less win. However, it was George Anyon who made the biggest move up the ladder, losing only to Price today in a tough match. Will Dargaville (RPAYC) was the fourth boat to skip the repechage round and progress straight to the quarter finals.

It was an earlier start for some, to make up for lost matches yesterday due to breakage, and the breeze filled in right on time at 9:30am for first warning signal. The breeze then built from the north-east to 12 knots until 12:30pm where it started to get shiftier and lighter as thunderstorms approached Sydney Harbour.

The top four boats in the round robin were due to race each other this morning, and there was nothing left out on the water by each of them. The racing was intense, with each race between them having at least one lead change.

Dargaville received a pre start penalty in the race against Price for not completing a tack in the dial up, but led for the first lap, before Price made an attack at the final top mark and defended well downwind to take the win. Price and team had lost his first race of the championship to Will Boulden earlier that day, and crew Sam Ellis said they needed to keep things simple after that.

“We had a big gap between races, which gave us time to stay cool, calm and collected before getting back on the boat. We assessed the race course and conditions, and kept our race plan simple with Dargaville for our next race.”

George Anyon’s race against Price was the last in the round robin, when the breeze was dying and getting shiftier. Anyon had a healthy lead of 3 lengths around the bottom mark when the conditions changed, allowing Price to get the hook in a tack and take the lead and eventually the win.

“The wind died up the second work, and we struggled to change modes. It was the only part of the day where we didn’t focus on keeping the boat fast. We had a good day and happy with how we’re sitting going into quarter finals tomorrow.”

At 2pm the repechage got underway before thunderstorms affected the breeze and forced the Race Committee to send the competitors ashore for the day. With only 2 flights completed from Stage 2, James Hodgson (SCSC) and Oakley Marsh (RPNYS) made strong starts to the round with 2 wins from 2 races.

Racing will resume at 10am on Thursday November 24 with the race committee intending to complete the repechage stage, quarter finals and commence the semi-finals meaning a potentially long day for some on Sydney Harbour.

Event details – Scoreboard – Facebook

Twelve teams from four countries will compete in Elliott 7ms from November 22 to 25 in Sydney Harbour. The winner of this World Sailing Grade 2 youth match racing event receives an invitation to Long Beach Yacht Club’s 2017 Ficker Cup Grade 2 event, which is then a qualifier for the Grade 1 Congressional Cup.

Source: Olivia Price, CYCA