There was some tough competition yesterday (20 September) at Malcesine on Lake Garda for the first day of the 49er Gold Series that will decide the 2001 49er world champion.

In light, shifty conditions, racing was very close with the fleet changing places on many occasions. Paul Brotherton and Simon Hiscocks had a good day in the tightly packed fleet to finish in 13th an 8th place to finish in 6th place overall.

Alister Richardson and Peter Greenhalgh had a good start to the day finishing in 4th position, however, they were disqualified in the second race for being over the line when the start gun went, and are lying in 8th position overall.

“The competition now is very tight, these are the top 49er sailors in the world and places are changing all the time. The conditions are quite shifty and the trick will be to stay out of trouble and try and keep consistent, it will be a very high scoring regatta,” commented Olympic Development Squad Manager, Stephen Park.

No racing took place in the Silver fleet due to lack of wind.

Gold Series Results

Day 1, after 2 races (the result in the bracket is the individuals final ranking that is carried over to the Gold fleet series)

1st JONATHAN MC KEE/CHARLIE MC KEE USA13 pts (9),3,1

2nd IRER MARTINEZ/XABIER FERNANDEZ ESP 14 pts (4),5,5

3rd LUKA RODION/GEORGE LEONCHUK UKR 19 pts (5),12,2

Team GBR

6th PAUL BROTHERTON / SIMON HISCOCKS 27 pts (6)13,8

8th ALISTER RICHARDSON/ PETER GREENHALGH 32 pts (2),4, DSQ

17th IAN BARKER/ HARVEY HILARY 48 pts (14),21,13

19th CHRIS DRAPER/ MARK ASQUITH 50 pts (20),10,20