Quarter final places confirmed at the 2016 Youth Match Racing Worlds

Thirty-three matches sailed in a steady 20-25 knot wind in the lee of Ilôt Maître concluded the round robin stage of the 2016 Youth Match Racing World Championships in Noumea, New Caledonia.

Leading the way in to the quarter final stages are Australia who hold the top two positions from the qualifying rounds. The home crew skippered by Cyril Fortin dropped down to third position overall following a perfect round robin start on day one.
 
The Japanese crew, skippered by Ryo Takahashi, and the French crew, skippered by Robin Follin, made great comebacks in the dying stages to finish fourth and fifth respectively and could meet in the quarter final match ups as only the top three can choose their opponents.
 
The eight quarter finalists are:
 
1) Australia (Will Dargaville/ Royal Prince Albert Yacht Club)
2) Australia (Harry Price/CYCA)
3) France (Cyril Fortin/Cercle Nautique Calédonien)
4) Japan (Rio Takahashi)
5) France (Robin Follin)
6) Nouvelle-Zealand (Matthew Hughes/ Royal New-Zealand Yacht Squadron)
7) United States (Christophe Killian/ Balboa Yacht Club)
8) Nouvelle-Zealand (Oakley Marsh/ Royal Nicholson Yacht Club)
 
Second round robin review
 
The crews knocked out of the qualifiers are the Danish team, which included a 2014 World Champion crew member in Lars- Peter Rosendalh, and the Americans helmed by Charlie Lalumiere, ranked World #44.
  
The Australians from RPAYC won eight matches out of nine and so beat their fellow countrymen from CYCA into second place.
 
The Japanese crew of Ryo Takahashi were much improved. In the first round they had five victories out of nine matches, whereas they were first in the second round winning eight matches out of nine. At the end of the qualifiers, they finish in fourth place.
 
The New Caledonians, having won all their matches in the first round, lost four times in the second. They are third overall. The team are still considered outsiders for the title.
 
The French, helmed by Robin Follin, French Universities Champion in 2016 and SB20 World Champion in 2015, also did well in the second round.
 
The quarter finals take place on day four.
 
For the full results and leaderboard go to http://www.matchracingresults.com/2016/youth-world-championship/
 
You can also follow the results live on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NcMatch