.

In the first Apprentice race it was extremely close as the top 6 boats rounded within 10 seconds of each other. Leading was Martin Lehner AUT. Series leader Stephen Cockerill GBR had improved from 8th to 3rd. Positions remained the same for the next beat until the next downwind leg where Cockerill led for the first time in the race. On rounding Mark 5 the leader thought he had seen a shortened course flag and stopped to eat a banana allowing Brett Beyer AUS and Lehner to pass him to finish first and second with Cockerill recovering to finish third. Cockerill said after the race ” I undoubtedly won the daft sailor award for the day.”

In race two Nick Walsh IRL started close to the committee boat and held on to the port layline to round Mark 1 with a comfortable lead from Mati Sepp EST. Beyer worked a shift on the right on the second beat to drastically reduce Walsh’s lead to round in second place and eventually pass Walsh on the last downwind legs toscore his second win for the day, Walsh finished second with Cockerill coming through to finish third.

In Masters group scoring was the closest of all fleets with two boats scoring 4 points for the day. In Race 1 Jack Schlachter AUS got a great start and hit the left side to take an early lead at the first mark followed closely by Colin Dibb AUS. By the first downwind mark both had opened quite a lead on the following pack now lead by Tracy Usher USA. Positions remained unchanged through the second beat, top reach and final run& but with a capsize at the jibe mark Schlachter lost first to Dibb. Not to be outdone, Usher capsized introducing a bit of drama for third but did manage to recover and hang on.

In the second race Schlachter got a great start and led the fleet for the first part of the windward leg. However, Usher managed to be enough to the right of Schlachter on the first beat to pick up a favourable shift, putting him in the lead at the first mark, with Schlachter very close behind. As in the first race the first two had quite a lead on the following pack. Usher and Schlachter had a tight race, swapping the lead at several times during the second beat and on run, but with Usher leading at the marks, hanging on to win the race. By the final beat the pack had sorted itself out with Dibb coming home third.

In race one of the Grandmasters, the fleet headed left, Mark Bethwaite AUS and Rob Lowndes AUS tacked away early and missed some of the lift from the left but Bethwaite managed to lead at the first mark with good boatspeed. On the first downwind leg several of the top group capsized allowing Dave Edmiston AUS through to second place where he finished the race behind Bethwaite with Frank Walsh AUS finishing third.

In race two the whole fleet sailed to the port layline, Bethwaite again led at the first mark with Sydney Barlow IRL rounding in second. Lowndes and Edmiston passed Barlow on the runs and then held position to finish second and third behind Bethwaite again.

In the first race of the Radial fleet Great Grand Master Dennis O’Sullivan IRL came off the start and went to the right and had a big lead at the first mark in the combined fleet. Downwind he sailed wide of the straight line course and which allowed Goran Bonocic CRO into the lead.

Lyndall Patterson AUS scored a result for the ladies in the second Radial race leading the combined fleet from start to finish.

Leaders after 4 races without discard

Apprentice (standard rig) Brett Bayer AUS 5 pts

Master (standard rig) Alex Nikolaev RUS 9pts

Grand Master (standard rig) Mark Bethwaite 3pts

Apprentice (radial rig) David Early HKG 4pts

Master (radial rig) Lyndall Patterson AUS 6pts

Grand Master (radial rig) Alden Shattuck USA 4pts

Great Grand Master (radial rig) Jack Hansen NZL 4pts