420 Boys sailors Otto Henry and Rome Featherstone are in pole position after securing a second and a first placing on the second day or racing at the 2017 Youth Sailing World Championships at Sanya, China.

The pair finished behind Americans Thomas Rice and Trevor Bornath in race three, but scored a bullet in the next race to leap into the lead by four nett points in the 26-boat fleet.

Another Australian duo, brother and sister Shannon and Jayden Dalton, are in second position in the Nacra 15, four nett point away from leaders Lucas Claeyssens and Anne Vandenberghe of Belgium.

Team coach Tristan Brown said the pairs made the most of a challenging day in Sanya, with 12 knot winds dropping to around six knots around the middle of day and haze giving way to sunshine before clouding over again.

“It’s great to see the sailors build on their experiences and some were able to really find some consistency today, but for others it was a tougher day,” Brown said.

“Starting is still a common area for improvement for most teams in this tough World Championship fleet.

“We have three coaches here with World Sailing that have their own coach boat and can give feedback to all the sailors. They provide a group debrief each night and the sailors are able to learn and share with many other teams.”

Brown said today’s racing would be a chance to build on the experiences learnt so far and capitalise on growing familiarity with the wind and patterns, as well as the dynamic of big fleet racing.

“The team is growing through their experiences and the support they have for each other is great to see. Even the Frisbee games in the morning are getting better too!” he said.

In other results, Laura Harding and Eleanor Grimshaw are 13th in the 420 Girls, Henry Larkings and Miles Davey are 6th in the 29er Boys, Jasmin Galbraith and Chloe Fisher are 29er Girls, Caelin Winchcombe is 15th in the Laser Radial Boys and Elyse Ainsworth is 16th in the Laser Radial Girls.

Windsurfers Alex Halank and Hailey Lea are 22nd and 18th, respectively, in their RS:X events.

Racing continues today on the waters off Hainan Island in the far south of China.

RESULTS CAN BE FOUND HERE

AUSTRALIAN TEAM PROFILES

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