2010 Princess Sofia - Strong start to World Cup regatta for Australia

11:07 PM Sun 28 Mar 2010 GMT

'Belcher and Page on day one in Palma - 2010 Princess Sofia (Photo: Victor Kovalenko)' Yachting Australia Click Here to view large photo

The Australian Sailing Team's Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page have got their 2010 European campaign off to the best possible start, winning the opening 470 men's race at round three of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Spain. The 100 boat 470 men's fleet was split into two groups with the Australian pair winning their race to have a share of the regatta lead with American's Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl.

'The conditions were pretty light today, between two and five knots and nothing coming through from the south-west,' said Belcher. 'With such a big fleet it was pretty good to finish one race in these conditions.'

'Today was a nice day on the water, we didn't have the best of starts as we misjudged the line and tacked out early and then in such a big fleet there are boats everywhere and it was tough to get a laneway,' he said.

'We pushed on and found ourselves first at the top mark and from there were able to sail away with it a bit as the others fought it out behind us.'

'Unfortunately after the first race the breeze completely died so we were sent back to shore and it looks like tomorrow will be an early start with three races,' said Belcher.

Belcher and Page are enjoying the challenge of competing against such a large, competitive, 470 men's fleet.

'We've got a great mix of crews here, it's good to be racing in a big fleet and really testing out what we've worked on over the Australian summer and the first two rounds of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Melbourne and Miami,' said Belcher.

'The conditions are expected to be varied throughout the week so we'll get a taste of everything,' he said. 'After today's two to five knots we should have between 10 and 12 tomorrow and then building right up to between 25 and 30 on Tuesday, all of which will be a good test.'

Australian Sailing Development Squad Crew Sam Kivell and Will Ryan raced in the same fleet as Belcher and Page and finished in 21st position, to sit 41st overall after day one.

The Australian Women's Match Racing Team crew of Nicky Souter, Nina Curtis and Jessica Eastwell finished the opening day tied for second position after three wins and a loss.

Souter had wins against Susanne Ward and Trine Abrahamsen of Denmark, Marga Cameselle of Spain and lost to Dutch skipper Mandy Mulder.

The Women's Match Racing competition has been split into three groups of eight crews with Souter drawn in the same group as teammates Katie Spithill, Olivia Price and Rayshele Martin.

Spithill finished the day with two wins and two losses with the two Australian Women's Match Racing crews yet to face off against each other this regatta. Spithill's wins were against the Danish crews of Ward and Abrahamsen while she lost to Cameselle of Spain and Mulder of the Netherlands.

The opening Women's Match Racing round robin continues on Monday.

In the Star class Australian sailors Paul McKenzie and Phil Toth finished the day in 18th, after a 12th in race one before being over the start line in race two.

www.australiansailingteam.com.au

by Craig Heydon

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2010 Princess Sofia - Strong start to World Cup regatta for Australia

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