Greta Pilkington has hauled herself back into medal contention at the ILCA 6 Women's World Championship, producing one of the best performances of her young career on a day when Dublin Bay turned into a lottery.
The Aucklander posted scores of 6, 14 and 4 in overnight racing (NZ time), climbing from 19th to fifth overall. She now sits just 19 points off the podium with two races left in the Elimination Series.
It wasn't looking that way 24 hours earlier. Pilkington had finished 44th in the only race completed the previous day, a result that dropped her well down the fleet before she fought straight back.
"It was like doing a full cycle with the pots and pans in the dishwasher, here, there, left, right, this person's high, that person's high. I had no idea. It was anyone's game," Pilkington said.
"The second race especially was chaotic, so I'm glad to come out of it a little bit unscathed, but yeah, all to play for."
Conditions on Dublin Bay were brutal and unpredictable. Racing started in 16 to 19 knots with a metre of swell, but the wind swung wildly through the afternoon, dropping as low as 7 knots and gusting back up to 19. A late tide change stirred things up further, churning the racecourse into what felt like a washing machine.
For Pilkington, it came down to survival.
"I think you're just trying to come out of each day unscathed. Today was one of those days where it was better to be lucky than good, and that worked in my favour, a few good ones, and hopefully I can roll that into tomorrow," Pilkington said.
That 6-14-4 scoreline was the biggest climb up the leaderboard of the day, lifting her to 53 points overall and putting her right in the mix heading into the final day of the elimination phase.
This is new ground for the Kiwi sailor, who has never before reached the final day of a World Championship inside the top 10.
"To be fair, I've never actually made it into a final-day top ten before, so this is a first for me," she said.
"But I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. If I start worrying about the points now, it's all going to go downhill. So just keep doing the basics, keep it simple, and we'll see what happens at the end of tomorrow."
Two more races are scheduled tonight, New Zealand time, to complete the Elimination Series. The top 10 sailors will progress into the Final Series, where the world title and medals will be decided.
