Competitors at the Laser World Championship
arrived early at the Terrigal venue this morning
after a late start and finish to Race 3 yesterday.
Principal Race Officer Tony Denham and his crew
plan an early start to racing, with the first
warning signal planned for 9.30am. Everyone looks
a little weary this morning, but that is the
nature of World Championship sailing events where
the weather always dictates the state of play.
A respected Laser sailor himself, Denham and
his crew will attempt to put three races to bed by
late afternoon. Should they accomplish that
mission; the race schedule will then be just two
races behind.
The race committee made the call after checking
expected weather conditions for today. The Bureau
of Meteorology predicts ideal south/south-westerly
winds of 15-20 knots, tending south-east this
afternoon and easing throughout the day to 10-15
knots on 1 to 2 metre seas and a
south/south-easterly swell of 2 to 2.5 metres.
Tomorrow's current outlook looks fine too, with
east/nor-easterly sea breezes at 10-20 knots on 1
to 2 metre and a south-east swell of around 2
metres.
As the boats left the ramp this morning, at
around 8.45am NSW time, the skies were a genuine
blue with a few white fluffy clouds. We are all
crossing our fingers for a dry day - just for
something different.
First race away this morning is the Robson
Civil Projects Qualifier Race 4, followed by Boral
Qualifier Races 5 and 6.
Julio Alsogaray (ARG) heads out to the race
course with a two point lead over world champion
Tom Slingsby (AUS) and a three point lead over the
USA's Brad Funk. However, Alsogaray has two
bullets in his score, so leads the Championship
with some confidence.
In other news, GBR193065 (Robert Godwin), was
granted redress: "as her position in Race 3
was made significantly worse through no fault of
her own due to an omission of the Organising
Authority in supplying a boat with a defective toe
strap." Godwin gets 13 points. The scores of
the other boats remain unchanged.
In the second incident, the Race Committee
protested ITA193085. "ITA193085 knowingly
broke Rule 31.1 (touching the pin end starting
mark) and by not exonerating, broke Rule 2.
ITA193085 is disqualified from Race 3 and her
score shall not be excluded (DNE)."
For all information and photos go to:
http://aus08.laserinternational.org/
.
