Racing at the Youth Match Racing World Championships has stepped up a gear, with Australian skipper Daniel Kemp topping the round robin before the fleet moved straight into quarter-final action on the same day.
Despite a gruelling 12-hour day on the water on Monday, the fleet showed no sign of fatigue. Conditions were stronger than forecast, with 6 to 12 knots allowing organisers to complete the final three round-robin flights just after noon.
Kemp finished with nine wins and two losses, a full point clear of five teams locked on eight wins. "It was a pretty hectic finish of the round robin with two close races against Morgan Pinckney (USA) and Ethan Fong (NZL). We won both, so it was to get those two wins, enabling us to win the round robin and have the first pick at our opponent in the quarter finals. We chose Danish skipper Victor Melchior, should be great fun," he said. The Australians took the opening quarter-final race to lead 1-0 heading into Wednesday. First to three wins advances to the semis.
New Zealand's Ethan Fong is also through to the quarters as one of the five teams on eight round-robin wins, and will face France's Marin Micoulot. "We had a good meeting with Marin in the round robin and we were lucky to come out on top. But it is close racing out there and no one is easy, but we are exited to race him," Fong said.
Micoulot was relaxed about the conditions. "Light winds, strong winds, it doesn't matter much for us. We are exited to be racing here at the Worlds, and we are ready to show our best on the course."
Danish skipper Mathias Rossing, second in the round robin, selected Sweden's Theo Westerlind as his quarter-final opponent. Rossing won their opening race before the breeze faded and racing was abandoned for the day. "The round robin was extremely close with five teams ending up with eight wins. Luckily we were able to come out at the top end, and we are happy to get to sail against the Swedes," he said.
Wednesday's forecast calls for another warm day with light winds and the chance of a stronger breeze building later. With the long hours already banked, organisers look well placed to get all scheduled racing done and crown a new world champion by Thursday.
