By Australian Sailing
A long, dramatic day on the water for our Aussie sailors as the final day of fleet racing played out under testing conditions at the first Sailing Grand Slam of the season. The day started with shifty offshore winds, followed by a complete shutdown across the bay before a new breeze filled in from the opposite direction, a true mental and physical test for the fleet.
Daily Highlights:
In the ILCA 6, Zoe Thomson charged from 4th into 1st overall heading into the medal race. She holds a slim 3-point lead and is laser-focused,”I’m going to be going out there to win and just execute the strategy… go out there and sail my race and see what I can do.” She’ll be joined by Mara Stransky, who secured her place in the medal race in 9th overall.
Grae Morris weathered a tough day of iQFOiL slalom racing, but thanks to his earlier dominance, retains the top spot and heads straight into the 4-board grand final. In this new medal series format, Grae has already earned 1 win, he now needs just one more before anyone else gets two to take the title. “We’ve had the full range of conditions… it’s been nice to test the new size sail and see what I need to work on when I go back to Australia. I’ve got a lot to work on and that’s showing.”
In the Nacra 17, all three Aussie teams will line up in the medal race:
Brin Liddell & Rhiannan Brown in 5th, Ruben & Rita Booth in 7th and Archie Gargett & Sarah Hoffman in 10th. Whilst they are out of medal contention all three teams gain vital experience on the big stage.
In the ILCA 7, Zac Littlewood closed his regatta with a brilliant 2nd place, but heartbreakingly missed the medal race by just 1 point. Ethan McAullay, after a strong start to the week, couldn’t quite find his rhythm in gold fleet and wrapped up 16th overall.
In the 49er, Shaun Connor & Otto Henry posted a standout 2nd place in gold fleet today, finishing their first major international regatta together in 14th overall, plenty to build on for the new pair.
In the 49erFX, Laura Harding & Annie Wilmot just missed the cut in 12th, but showed solid progress, including a 2nd place yesterday, and are taking key learnings into the next phase of training.
Aussies in the Top 10 
Grae Morris, iQFOiL Men
Zoe Thomson, ILCA 6
Mara Stransky, ILCA 6
Brin Liddell & Rhiannan Brown, Nacra 17
Ruben & Rita Booth, Nacra 17
Archie Gargett & Sarah Hoffman, Nacra 17
Medal races kick off from 11am local time today, and we’ll bring you the full wrap tomorrow at the conclusion of the event. 55 Australian sailors have battled it out this week in Mallorca against the world’s best
Full results can be found here https://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/…/race-resultsall
Photo by Beau Outteridge
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