It was game on for the penultimate day of racing at the PredictWind Moth World Championships at Manly Sailing Club, north of Auckland for the first day of finals racing. After three days of qualifying, with nine races completed, the fleet had a well-deserved day off ahead of the finals, where the fleets were split into Gold and Silver.
Mattias Coutts (NZL / Youth) almost had a shattering day before racing even started, and it was touch and go if he would make it to the race course.
“It was a great day, but pretty stressful for me as I hit something in the water on my way out and had to head back in to do some repairs and only just made it back out in time for the second race,” said Coutts.
Coutts missed the first race as it took around 40 minutes to get his Mackay Bieker v3 stitched back up. He flew out to the race course and into the starting sequence of the second race of the day and took the bullet. Needless to say, it was impressive to watch.
Jacob Pye (NZL / Youth) won the opening race of the finals but didn’t have the day he planned. Pye finished the day with the first race gun, then fifth, eighth, and then 16th, which is subsequently his second drop of the regatta. He now sits 10 points behind Coutts on the leaderboard.
George Gautrey (NZL / Open) took out the third finals race, with Coutts securing his second bullet of the day for race four.
“It was a good first day of finals,” said Gautrey.
“I really struggled in the qualifying so I spent some time on the reserve day out training and it made a world of difference today. Getting a race win and some top-five results was great but gutting that it’s taken me this long to find out that I had a foil that wasn’t working, but it’s always good to be racing at the front of the fleet,” he continued.
“It should be an interesting day tomorrow and I’m looking forward to hopefully racing at the front of the fleet – looking forward to mixing it up,” stated Gautrey.
Richard Didham (USA / Open) is holding onto third place overall after an unfortunate UFD in the opening race of the day. He finished on a high taking second in Race 4 behind Coutts. Didham is also leading the Open Division.
There are eight youth sailors in the top 10, with Seb Menzies (NZL / Youth) moving up the leaderboard and into fourth overall. He had an impressive day, finishing in the top five out of the four of the races and now fourth overall. Jack Bennett (NZL / Youth), is on equal points with Richard Schultheis (MLT / Youth) who are fifth and sixth respectively.
Hattie Rogers (GBR / Women) is leading the charge in the women’s division against some of the best foiling sailors in the world having a top 20 finish in Race 4.
Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (FRA / Open)is leading the silver fleet after finishing consistently in the top five.
The PredictWind forecast for the final day of Moth World Championships racing is a 180-degree flip from what the fleet has been receiving. The south westerlies have dominated but the final day will see a shift to a light to moderate nor’easterly – which will definitely keep everyone honest out there.
“I’m feeling good about tomorrow, hopefully, I’ve had my bad luck of the regatta. Different conditions tomorrow with an onshore breeze should be a little bit steadier and hopefully, it should be all good,” said Coutts.
The final day of racing for the PredictWind Moth World Championships starts at 1200 hours on Thursday 9th January – then the World Champions will be crowned.
Words: Suellen Hurling for Live Sail Die & PredictWind
Photos: Suellen Hurling / Live Sail Die
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PredictWind Moth World Championships – Schedule
Friday 3 January – Briefing & Opening Ceremony
Saturday 4 January – Qualifying
Sunday 5 January – Qualifying
Monday 6 January – Qualifying
Tuesday 7 January – Reserve Day
Wednesday 8 January – Finals
Thursday 9 January – Finals
Host Club:
Manly Sailing Club, Whagaparoa, New Zealand
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