Australia and the Netherlands Hold on Tight to Top of Leaderboard

The mast breakage on day 1 must seem a long way away for Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) as they secure their second day at the top of the leaderboard after another strong performance. Whilst Lisa Westerhof/Lobke Berkhout really haven’t let any other team even get so much as a sniff at the front of the fleet and have extended their points lead to 23 over the next team.

470 Women
Lisa Westerhof/ Lobke Berkhout (NED) have amassed a 23 point lead in the Women's 470 after contending with three days of big winds before today's light and shifty conditions at the Semaine Olympique Francaise.

The Dutch pair have dominated the Women's 470 finishing in the top two in six of eight Women's 470 races so far and are happy with their performance, "The level in this event is high and we knew that today would see some changes with the light wind. Despite a 15th in the first race we managed a good result in the second and keep our lead."

Westerhof and Berkhout lead Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos (ESP) in second. French pair Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Géron climbed to third after a fourth and a first.

With the Dutch so much on form, it is highly unlikely any slip will now stop them from claiming victory at Hyeres, from last year’s winners Pacheco/Betanzos.

470 Men
Different skill sets were tested on the water today but for Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) they remain in control and continue to lead the Men's 470 fleet over the Dutch Coster brothers and Greece's Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis.

"In race one we did quite well and got a nice shift to the right, it was really fickle and nobody had any real idea where to go, you just had to use the opportunity in front of you and hope for the best a bit, things went our way and we finished fourth," said Belcher. "We found ourselves pretty deep in race two but fought our way back from about 25th or worse at one point to finish 11th which was fantastic."

With two second place finishes in today's racing, Portugal's Marinho Alvaro/Miguel Nunes climbed to fifth. Gold fleet race victories were taken by the Japanese duo Ryunosuke Harada/Yugo Yoshida and Finland's Joonas and Niklas Lindgren.

Fleets will commence racing at 1000 with the Medal Race top 10 places set to be decided.

More Information:

Event Website
470 Men Results
470 Women Results
470 Facebook Photo Gallery
ISAF Sailing World Cup News

Image: Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) © Victor Kovalenko

Source: Corinne McKenzie