Today the Australian Championships started in Sydney, Botany Bay…

The location is a really nice place, its windy, sunny and it is extremely choppy when the wind picks up.

There are about 50 competitors, which is actually a lot in Australia. Formula is about to get bigger here, but far away from what it is in Europe, but that will come.

There are sailors represented from Singapore, Denmark, USA and a lot of Aussie Locals including good “old” Phil McGain.

Today we had 3 races in winds from 12-30 knots, building up in the afternoon.

In the first race Steve and Phil pulled of an awesome port tack start leaving the rest of the fleet behind, they where battle ling throughout the whole race, with Steve overtaking Phil on the last reach winning the race. Jesper Vesterstrom was put behind in 3 rd. position.

2nd Race, again a brilliant start from Phil McGain, Phil was leading all the way with Steve and Jesper pushing from the back. Phil finished 1st and Jesper was close to finish 2nd but stopped to long in the last jibe to get overtaken by Steve who got 2nd and Jesper 3rd.

Last race of the day, the wind really picked up now, gusting more than 30 knots. Jesper had a great start shooting out from the pin end with Steve and Phil behind. The wind was nuking and we where really holding on for our lives… Again Phil McGain took the win, with Steve 2nd and Jesper 3rd .

We had great racing today and afterwards we had a great Aussie Barbeque.

We will bring some pictures from racing tomorrow, today just from the Barbie…

Overall results from open class today top 4

1st Phil McGain – Gaastra/Starboard

2nd Steve Allen- Neil Pryde/Fanatic

3rd Jesper Vesterstrom- Gaastra/Starboard

4th Jesper Orth- Severne Sails/Starboard