THE WINDS ARRIVE.

Day 3 of The Downunder Pro – Formula Windsurfing Oceanic & Australian Championships kept to the forecast of strengthening winds allowing 3 more races for the 49 competitors in difficult conditions.

The forecast of strengthening north-easters, the seabreeze direction, for Day 3 of the Downunder Pro allowed the Race Committee to get 4 clean starts away today. Race 1 began at 3pm with a very light 8-12 knot breeze that eventually dropped out halfway through the second lap for the competitors with Sean O’Brien (Starboard/Point-7) leading the race when it was eventually abandoned due to light winds.

After a short interval of 45 minutes, the wind strengthened and another start was attempted with current event leader Wilhelm Schurmann (Starboard/Neilpryde) dominating the next two races with clean boat-end starts ahead of Mathias Pinheiro (Starboard/North) and Brett Morris (Starboard/North) and Sean O’Brien (Starboard/Point-7) who shared 3rd and 4th places in both races of the first session today.

After the wind had strengthened to 18-20 knots, one final race was started with Morris taking a cracking port end start to round the top mark 100m clear of Pinheiro and Schurmann in 2nd and 3rd. With the consistent winds Morris extended his lead after the first lap with the two Brasilians and O’Brien taking different options on the final upwind to try and catch Morris, but to no avail. With Morris winning the final race he is 2 points clear of O’Brien as first Australian for the event, with Schurmann still the event leader ahead of Pinheiro.

A tough battle will be on tomorrow for the first placed Australia, with Morris, O’Brien and Sam Parker (Starboard/Neilpryde) all within 4 points of each other going in to the final day. With the forecast showing strong winds for tomorrow, it will definitely be an exciting day for the leaders and an opportunity for the Australians to take back the Brasilians’ lead in the event.

Further information about the FW Oceanic & Australian Championships as well as a media service with press releases, results, rankings, background information and photo/video downloads can be found on the official website www.fw-australia.com.