420 European Junior Championship - Australians regain lead

4:30 AM Mon 15 Aug 2011 GMT

'420 European Junior Championship Nieuwpoort, Belgium. Photo courtesy Peter Campbell' Peter Campbell

International 420 European Junior Championship Nieuwpoort, Belgium - day five,

A faultless victory in heat nine has seen Australia's Angus Galloway and Alexander Gough sweep into first place in the International 420 class European junior championship gold fleet with one day of sailing left on the North Sea off Nieuwpoort, Belgium.

After being in the top two overall throughout the regatta, they pounced on the leaders are now one point clear of the French crew of Guillaume Pirouelle and Valentin Sipan, with a further nine points to the third placed Spanish team.

Today was the fourth win in nine heats for the young Queensland crew in a series that not seen them finish worse than seventh, by far the most consistent of any crew in the 101 boat fleet, now split into gold, silver and bronze fleets.

Racing finally got underway overnight after two aborted attempts, the first when the time limit expired when the leading pack was just over half a minute from the first mark, the second because of a 90 degree wind shift.

The third attempt was fine, with a clear bonus for those starting at the pin end - well spotted by Galloway and Gough.

They headed off on starboard tack, punching upwind a long way before tacking onto port and stylishly crossing the fleet. They reached the first windward mark significantly ahead and from then on continued to extend their lead.

Gough said after the race: 'I guess we kind of thought at the start we liked the left and kind of planned our race around it. And then with thirty seconds to go there was no-one on the pin end and we pulled on and tacked when we thought would be the best time, as there was more pressure on the left.

'There was a black cloud off (to) the left and it kicked up the breeze a little bit.'

Galloway took over: 'We kind of hit the straps and we had a really good one. Once you have a really good start and cross everyone, it's quite easy then, you have clear air and can do what you want,' before adding: 'Although the race is not over until you cross the finish line.'

The French crew had a fourth place in heat nine following their 17th in heat 8.

The other Australian crew in the championship, Tasmanians Alec Bailey and Doug Shephard again had a disappointing day, finishing 33rd and dropping down to 25th overall.

by Peter Campbell

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420 European Junior Championship - Australians regain lead

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