Rio Olympians Carrie Smith and Jaime Ryan are cherishing the opportunity to race against male sailors at Sail Melbourne International, as they continue to rebuild after a challenging post-Olympic lull.

The 470 duo are the best-placed women’s crew among the 12-boat fleet, holding down fifth spot after six races, including two solid fourth placings in squally and rainy conditions off Royal Brighton Yacht Club. World Champions Mat Belcher and Will Ryan lead the way.

“It’s super rare for the women and men to be racing together but it’s so good,” Smith said.

“I’ve always known that for us to get better and be the best girls in the world we had to sail like the men and get them to push us. So this opportunity is awesome. It’s pushing everyone to their limits.”

The timing is perfect for the pair, who came 15th at their debut Olympic regatta before enduring a tough European season.

“After that we decided to come together for six weeks, just Jaime and I, and we went to different coaches around the country and got information and really focused on ourselves and our relationship,” Smith said.

“It brought us right back to the basics and we realised we just had to build from there. Sail Melbourne is the first regatta since doing that and I think it’s really showing that we can work solidly as a team and push hard.”

Smith is a staunch advocate for females in sailing and wants to see more women progress from the Australian Sailing Squad to join Nacra 17 star Lisa Darmanin in the Australian Sailing Team.

“We know it’s on us to get the results to get more women in the Team,” she said.

“We were lucky to have myself, Jaime, Lisa and Ash [Stoddart] go to the Olympics. But we want to see more women getting opportunities. It’s the way forward and it’s something we all need to work towards.”

Another sailor pushing up the ranks on Day 3 was Australian Sailing Team member Oliver Tweddell, who scored a confidence-boosting bullet in the first of the two Finn class races to move into third spot behind top-placed Jake Lilley and second-placed Tom Slingsby.

“We’ve got Max [Salminen] the gold medallist and current World Champ, Ed [Wright] is a former World Champion, Tom’s an Olympian and multiple World Champion, and Jake’s an Olympian - so these boys are no slouches,” Tweddell said.

“I’m very happy with winning a race today. I was very close to winning one yesterday, as well. I’m just trying to work on certain things and, even if I’m not winning races, I’m looking to improve. That’s the main thing. I’ve had a lot of stuff going on this week so I’m happy that I’ve been in the hunt. Today, I’ve made a move and I’ve jumped up a little bit.”

Bad weather prevented any action in the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17s, though the Lasers squeezed in three races, with World Championship bronze medallist Matt Wearn emerging victorious in two and World Championship silver medallist Tom Burton winning one. Burton leads the fleet by a point from Wearn.

Results for Australian Sailing Team, Australian Sailing Squad and Class Training Squad members:

Men’s One Person Dinghy (Heavyweight) - Finn

Jake Lilley (QLD/QAS) – AST: 1,(2),1,1,2,1 – 1st

Oliver Tweddell (VIC/VIS) – AST: 3,(5),5,2,1,4 – 3rd

Lewis Brake (QLD/QAS) – ASS: (12),8,7,4,6,7 – 6th

Jock Calvert (TAS/TIS) – ASS: (11),10,6,5,7,6 – 7th

Men’s One Person Dinghy – Laser

Tom Burton (NSW/NSWIS) – AST: 3,2,1,1,(5),2,1 – 1st

Matt Wearn (WA/WAIS) – AST: 2,1,3,3,1,1,(4) – 2nd

Jeremy O'Connell (VIC/VIS) – ASS: 1,3,2,2,3,(7),6 – 3rd

Luke Elliott (WA/WAIS) – ASS: 5,4,4,(7),2,3,2 – 4th

Mitch Kennedy (QLD/QAS) – ASS: 9,6,(16),11,4,4,3 – 6th

Finn Alexander (NSW/NSWIS) – ASS: 7,8,(16),9,6,6,7 – 7th

Two Person Dinghy – 470M/W

Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan (QLD/QAS) – AST: 2,1,(4),1,1,1 – 1st

Chris Charlwood and Josh Dawson (WAIS/NSWIS) – ASS: 4,4,2,2,(5),5 – 4th

Carrie Smith and Jaime Ryan (WAIS/NSWIS) – ASS: 3,6,3,(8),4,4 – 5th

Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries (WA/WAIS) – ASS: 6,5,6,5,(13),6– 6th

Dana Tavener and Katherine Shannon (NSW/NSWIS) – ASS: 9,8,7,9,8,(10) – 8th

Sophie McIntosh and Orla Mulholland-Patterson (NSWIS/WAIS) – ASS: 8,(10),9,7,10,8 – 9th

Shelley White and Emma Baillie (QLD/QAS) – ASS: (11),11,10,6,9,9 – 11th

Men’s Skiff - 49er

David Gilmour and Joel Turner (WAIS/QAS) – AST: 1,(5),4,1,2 – 1st

Sam Phillips and Will Phillips (VIC/VIS) – AST: (4),4,1,4,3 – 2^nd

Kurt Hansen and Harry Morton (NSW/NSWIS) – ASS: 8,7,(10),2,1 – 5th

Lachlan Gilmour and Ryan Donaldson (WA/WAIS) – ASS: 6,2,(7),7,4 – 6^th

Jim Colley (ASS) and Simon Hoffman (NSW/NSWIS): 7,9,6,10,13 – 10^th

Women’s Skiff – 49erFX

Amelia Stabback and Ella Clark (NSWIS/WAIS) – ASS: (3),1,1,2,3 – 1st

Tess Lloyd (ASS) and Harry Mighell (VIC/VIS): – (4),4,2,1,1 – 2nd

Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot (NSW/NSWIS) – CTS: 2,2,4,3,2 – 3^rd

Caitlin Elks and Hayley Clark (WA/WAIS) – ASS: 1,3,(5),4,5 – 4^th

Mixed Multihull - Nacra 17

Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (NSW/NSWIS) – AST: (2),1,1,1,1 – 1st

Paul Darmanin and Lucy Copeland (NSW/NSWIS) – CTS: 1,(2),2,2,2 – 2nd

Tayla Rietman and Lachlan White (VIS/NSWIS) – CTS: 3,(4),3,3,4 – 3rd

Connor Nicholas (CTS) and Alexander South (WA/WAIS) – (4),3,4,4,3 – 4th

For full results click HERE

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