Sarah Ayton and Saskia Clark show promise in 470 Worlds
Sarah Ayton and Saskia Clark saw a solid day in the women’s fleet, advancing to fifth in their first World Championship since joining forces earlier this year.
Ayton, the double Olympic gold medallist, and Clark picked up 3,8,6 from their three races and are pleased with the promise they’ve shown during this first major regatta test.
“We started pretty well today – on all the starts there was a bit of tide doing something but we managed to get that nailed,” Clark explained.
“Starting well puts you in good shape to make that first decision yours – that’s what we’ve been struggling with a little bit this week so that was that an improvement today and hopefully we can continue and get a few more of those in tomorrow,” added Ayton.
“The sea state is the tricky bit,” Ayton said of the breezy racing conditions. “We’ve done a little bit of sailing in this, but today’s probably a good chunk of the sailing we’ve done in these sorts of conditions!”
Clark recalled: “There were a few waves coming at us where I thought ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do!’ and then they just took you off the side!
“There was one pretty bad upwind and one pretty bad one on one of the reaches that took me straight into Sarah’s lap!”
Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes struggled upwind in the third race of the day after losing their jib, but managed to overtake 10 boats on the final downwind leg to salvage a tenth place to add to their 8,4 from the opening two races. They’re poised in ninth place overall.
The Delta Lloyd 470 World Championships continue through until Sunday 18 July.
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