PRESSRELEASE
6th February 2015
Photos: Rob Plim
4 MORE RACES IN TRIALING WINDS ON DAY 2.
A long day on the beach for the competitors produced 4 more races in light and shifty conditions on the second day of the Downunder Pro – Formula Windsurfing Oceanic & Australian Championships. Steve Allen bounced back in to the top spot taking the lead by 1 point to Janis Priess and defending Australian champion Sean O’Brien.
Despite a variety of forecasts pointing to a lay day today, competitors who were at the beach early, were greeted with a light south-easterly breeze whilst preparing for the second day of racing at the 2015 Downunder Pro – Formula Windsurfing Oceanic & Australian Championships. The target from the race committee was to run 4 races today which would allow the sailors 2 dropped scores and mix up the places at the front of the fleet.
By 12.30pm racers were on the startline to begin the first race, with light and shifty winds around 7-11 knots. Steve Allen (Starboard/Severne) started the day strong, recovering from some gear failure in the final race yesterday to win the first race and bring him ahead on points overall after the first drop. Allen then posted 2 seconds and another first for the day as he battled with Latvian Janis Priess (Gaastra/Gaastra) who posted 2 firsts and 2 seconds also leaving only one point gap at the front of the fleet with Allen on top.
Sean O’Brien (Starboard/Severne), started the day 2 points behind the Danish Christian Justesen (Starboard/Neilpryde) and needed a strong day to claw his way back. O’Brien ended the day with a mixed bag of results, which included a 2nd in Race 6 which helped him claw back to equal points with Justesen; with O’Brien leading on a tie-break.
Brett Morris (Starboard/Severne) still leads the Grand Masters division and sits in 5th position overall ahead of Tibor Ferenczy (Starboard/Severne) and Rick Murray (JP/North) in 8th and 9th overall. Bruce Healey (Starboard/Severne) leads the Free-Formula division winning 5 out of the 7 races so far over the 2 days.
Tomorrow, being the final day of the contest doesn’t have the most amazing wind forecast, however today’s 4 races were a surprise if based on the weak forecast for the day. With that in mind, sailors will be down at the water early with a new start time of 10am for the first possible start to see who will take out the 2015 title.
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.
Contact and further information:
Sean O’Brien
Organising Committee / Media Relations
AUSTRALIAN WINDSURFING ASSOCIATION
Phone: 0402 467 857
E-Mail: seanobrien@aus120.com
Internet: www.fw-australia.com
