Day 1 06/01/03

Competitors in the Sail Melbourne B14 World Championship at McCrae Yacht Club faced a long wait on day 1 as the racing was postponed from 1230pm until almost 630pm due to lack of breeze. When it finally filled in from 1100 the fleet scrambled to get a race in before the day's end. Guy & Rhys Bancroft (AUS) lept off the start line after tacking onto port at the pin end and, capitalising on a late shift to the left, laid the first mark to lead Jono Pank/Shaun Barber (UK) and Alex Matthews/Ewan McLellan (UK) in 5-10knots of breeze. On the first downwind leg, the first three boats held on on starboard tack to pick up some pressure and get a jump on the rest of the fleet, setting up a three way tussle for the lead. After the race committee moved the top mark to accommodate the wind change, the Bancrofts slowly eased ahead, upwind & down, to eventually win easily from Pank/Barber and Matthews/McLellan. Tim Fells/Dave Cunningham (UK) recovered from 6th at the first mark to take 4th position after slowly grinding down the leaders throughout the race. Only one of the two races scheduled was sailed with the race committee deeming 730pm too late to start a second race. As a result they will endeavour to sail three races tomorrow (Tuesday) in order to catch up. Two races per day are scheduled until Friday in order to complete 10 races in all.

Placings after race 1;

1. Buggar the Bone, Guy & Rhys Bancroft (AUS) 2. Jono Pank & Shaun Barber (UK) 3. Alex Matthews & Ewan McLellan (UK) 4. Tim Fells & Dave Cunningham (UK) 5. Old Timer, Simon Nelson & Andy Ramus (UK)