Hamish Jarrett Leads Yngling Worlds

Hamish Jarrett (AUS) has taken the overall lead in the International Yngling World Championship midway through the regatta on Sydney Harbour, moving from fourth to first in the 47 boat fleet.

Jarrett, a two-times Australian champion, and his crew of Federica Lauro and Alan Bracken, sailed to a third and first place on a day that Jarrett described as “a really hard day at the office” against strong international competition.

The first race of the day was sailed in a light and shifty easterly breeze of 5 to 6 knots, but in typical Sydney Harbour fashion it backed to the ENE in the afternoon and freshened to 12-14 knots, giving the fleet great sailing conditions.

Race five was Jarrett’s second win of the regatta, gaining the overall lead from fellow Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron member Michael Nash, who slumped to 13th place in race five after a sixth in the early race.

After five heats, Jarrett is on 20 points, four points clear of defending world champion Maarten Jamin from The Netherlands, who showed his light weather helming skills to win heat four in the light easterly breeze.

Michael Nash has dropped from first to third overall, with another former dual World Champion, Tom Otte, also from The Netherlands a close fourth. Youth sailor from The Netherlands, Anne-Christianne Kentgens, found the light easterly breeze difficult to read and placed 21st in race four, but recovered well to finish a close second to Jarrett. She is fifth overall.

Two times Olympic crew in the Yngling women’s racing, Karyn Gojnich, sailed a fine race four, beaten by just 18 seconds by Maarten Jamin, the defending world champion, with Jarrett just two seconds astern. Gojnich is 10th overall after five races.

“In the first race you had to make a decision to go right or left but surprisingly the leaders on either side of the harbour were pretty close when they converged on the first windward mark,” Hamish Jarrett said after the day’s racing. “We were back in 10th place and for us it was a catch-up race to finish third,” he added.

Describing the second race of the day, Jarrett said, “The breeze had swung to a nice nor’-easter and freshened for the second race, perfect sailing conditions on Sydney Harbour. The tactics were to hit the left-hand headland first and cross the fleet…we did that and led all the way!”

Jarrett won race five by 32 seconds from the young Dutch sailor Anne-Chistianne Kentgens and Jorgen Ring from Denmark.

The top ten placings in the 2012 International Yngling World Championship after five races are:

1. Hamish Jarrett (AUS), 1-8-7-3-1, 20 pts
2. Maarten Jamin (NED) 4-6-1-1-12, 24 pts
3. Michael Nash (AUS) 2-3-4-6-13, 28 pts
4. Tom Otte (NED) 5-4-6-11-8, 34 pts
5. Anne-Christianne Kentgens (NED) 3-12-2-21-2, 40 pts
6. Jordan Reece (AUS) 11-9-5-4-20, 49 pts
7. Lucas Lier (DEN) 8-2-12-13-15, 50 pts
6. Mikkel Winston (DEN) 13-5-3-15-16, 52 pts
9, Jorgen Ring (DEN) 28-1-9-18-3, 59 pts
10. Karyn Gojnch (AUS) 21-18-10-2-9, 60 pts.

Highlights from the fourth day of racing at the Optimist World Championship in Napier, New Zealand.

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