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Craig Heydon, Saturday, 10 July 2010 Racing is under way at the 2010 Laser Radial World Championship in Largs, Scotland, with Australia’s four entrants in the women’s competition having mixed results after the opening two races. Laura Baldwin is the best placed Australian in 17th position after a ninth in race one and a 14th in race two. Baldwin, who represented Great Britain at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and is now a part of the Australian Sailing Development Squad, is on 23 points, just nine off the top ten.
Ashley Stoddart is just four places behind Baldwin in 21st position following a great opening race in third position and then a 24th in race two. Stoddart, from Queensland, is just four points behind her fellow Australian.
The Australian Sailing Team’s Krystal Weir had a tough day on the water in Scotland, retiring from the opening race before bouncing back with a 12th in race two to be 49th overall.
“Today wasn’t the best way to start a World Championship but I’ll start from scratch tomorrow and push on from there,” said Weir. “In the first race I had a port starboard incident off the start line and then capsized, after that I was very deep in the fleet and ended up in retiring.”
“Then in the second race I was doing really well and then lost six boats on the final run to the finish line,” she said. “It was a tough day but you need them every now and then to stay grounded.”
“I’m looking forward to getting back on the water and getting more races under my belt, I’m learning from every race and my regatta starts again tomorrow,” said Weir.
Victorian Megan de Lange finished the opening day in 60th position and will confident of moving up the leader board following her recent strong showing at round six of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Germany.
The sailors were greeted by a typical Scottish summer with cold temperatures and rain making life interesting on and off the water.
“It was super shifty on the course today,” said Weir. “The breeze was very random with a lot of fronts coming through, I’d say it shifts from above 20 knots right down to about five through the day.”
“Race one was sailed in about 15 or 20 knots and race two kicked off in the same but fell away as we progressed,” she said. “It seems very frontal here and hard to pick, you really have to sail what you get and make the most of it.”
Racing continues in Scotland on Saturday with the 2010 Laser Radial Women’s Champion to be crowned on July 14.
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