Price remains perfect at Youth Match Racing World Championship
Harry Price (AUS) ended the day undefeated and alone at the top of the leaderboard at the Youth Match Racing World Championship hosted by Balboa Yacht Club.
Harry Price (AUS) ended the day undefeated and alone at the top of the leaderboard at the Youth Match Racing World Championship hosted by Balboa Yacht Club.
The day’s key match-up was Price and George Anyon (NZL) at the end of Round Robin one.
Both had been undefeated through their first ten matches.
After a closely-contested pre-start, Anyon gained control on the final approach to the line and won the start cleanly.
Price had to tack away for clear air, but then Anyon became ensnared in dirty air from another match that was on their second upwind leg.
Price had clear air on the upwind right, and was helped, too, by a bit of a right shift.
He grabbed the lead and never looked back, winning by five boat lengths.
With a nice 7-8 knot late afternoon breeze, the Race Committee kept the sailors on the lumpy Pacific Ocean until nearly 1900 (7pm), completing four flights of Round Robin two.
Price continued his winning ways, taking all four of those matches to end the day undefeated on 15-0.
Certainly the upset of the day was the Anyon-Whitfield match in Round Robin two.
Matt Whitfield (GBR) has been coming on strong and handed Anyon his second defeat of the day.
Anyon led early, but Whitfield found some breeze on the second upwind leg to pull ahead. Despite the loss, Anyon still stands second overall on 13-2.
Ettore Botticini (ITA) lost an important match to American Greiner Hobbs (Tampa, FL), but won his other matches to end the day on 10-5. Hobbs had a stellar day, pulling his team even with Botticini on 10-5.
The two are tied for third overall.
Local favorite, American Charlie Welsh of Newport Beach, is also in the hunt for a semifinal berth, ending the day fifth overall on 8-7.
Round Robin racing for the twelve teams from nine nations (two from AUS, NZL and USA) continues tomorrow, with the top four teams advancing to the best-of-five knockout semifinals.
The semifinal winners will race head-to-head for the championship in a best-of-five finals on Saturday.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Results
Full results from the 2017 Youth Match Racing World Championship are available here – http://www.matchracingresults.com/2017/youth-world-championship/
Social Media
Follow the event on World Sailing’s social networks and get involved in the conversation using #MatchRacing #YouthSailing #WorldSailing.
World Sailing Facebook
Instagram – @worldsailingofficial
Twitter – @worldsailing
Live content can be seen on Balboa Yacht Club’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/balboayachtclub and live results updates will be available by their Twitter account @balboayachtclub.
Press Releases
International press releases will be released after racing throughout the duration Youth Match Racing Worlds. All the latest news and reports will be available to read here – http://www.sailing.org/news/index.php#.WXsa6YqQyK4