Sailing: Wind fails to show at sailing world championships

Micah Wilkinson and Liv Mackay search for more speed during racing at the world champs today. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing.

Water skiing was a better option than sailing with a lack of wind meaning there was virtually no racing at the sailing world championships in Aarhus overnight (NZ time).

Everyone expected good breeze for the fifth day of action, with 8-10 knots that gusted up to 20 knots forecast. Instead, the Bay of Aarhus often resembled a millpond as more than 1000 boats bobbed around like driftwood hoping the breeze might fill in.

There was enough wind to hold a handful of races early in the day.

One half of the Nacra 17 fleet got two races in, and New Zealand's Liv Mackay and Micah Wilkinson were third and sixth, but it could have been even better for the pair because they lost a couple of places late in the second race as the breeze died completely. As many as 14 boats failed to finish within the time limit, which will hurt those crews because they will be registered with 35 points for a DNF.

"We were pretty happy we had two keepers today, which was the aim going into today," Mackay said. "Surprisingly, we had a dying breeze which we didn't think was going to happen.

"It's never fun towards the end of a race when the wind is starting to die out. For Micah and I, it's about keeping calm, clear comms, keeping your head out of the boat and consolidating where you are. Tomorrow is our last day of qualifying for gold fleet so we just want three keepers on the board. It looks like another good breeze."

The other half of the Nacra 17 fleet, which contained Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders, tried to start one race but it was soon called off.

It left a muddy picture on the leaderboard with half of the 68 Nacra boats having completed two more races than the others, which means the scores for Mackay and Wilkinson, who were 12th going into the day, won't count until the others catch up.

It was equally confusing in the 49er and 49erFX fleets with some groups racing more than others - a decision was later made to scrap the second race for one of the three fleets in the 49er class to ensure everyone had raced the same number - but everyone will hope the breeze arrives tomorrow because light-wind racing can be a lottery.

Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey can attest to that.

The pair were third overall in the 49er going into today and were third halfway through their race before getting caught in a hole and finishing 19th. It saw them drop to 13th overall, one point ahead of fellow Kiwis Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie who won their race.

Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn were ninth in their only race and remain in second overall.

"We're happy enough," Gunn said. "It was light, tricky racing so to be inside the top 10 in this stage in the regatta is a keeper. We survived to fight another day."

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech will hope their comeback has started with a fourth in their only race - the other half of the 49erFX fleet didn't race so the result hasn't yet counted officially. The pair came into the day in ninth but will be aiming for a series of low scores to get back into contention.

It promises to be a hectic day six at the world championships as race officials try to catch up but there will be considerable interest in the first gold fleet action in the Lasers with New Zealand's Sam Meech holding a four-point lead over two Australians.

Results and standings after the fifth day of the sailing world championships in Aarhus, Denmark, overnight (NZ time):

Laser (165 boats)
1st: Sam Meech (NZL) 1 1 1 2 (13) 4 - 9 points
2nd: Luke Elliott (AUS) (13) 1 2 6 3 1 - 13 pts
3rd: Matthew Wearn (AUS) (7) 4 1 4 3 1 - 13 pts
17th: Andrew McKenzie (NZL) 6 4 (31) 17 5 12 - 44 pts
25th: Tom Saunders (NZL) 6 11 (21) 10 21 2 - 50 pts
36th: George Gautrey (NZL) 18 14 8 17 (21) 8 - 65 pts
101st: Matthew Kempkers (NZL) 40 12 45 (46) 22 33 - 152 pts

Laser Radial (119 boats)
1st: Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 4 3 2 (18) 2 2 - 13 pts
2nd: Line Flem Host (NOR) 3 2 5 (27) 1 9 - 20 pts
3rd: Paige Railey (USA) 2 1 (16) 5 7 7 - 22 pts
42nd: Olivia Christie (NZL) 28 48 (51) 3 12 8 - 99 pts
45th: Susannah Pyatt (NZL) 31 18 (41) 10 12 29 - 100 pts
101st: Annabelle Rennie-Younger (NZL) (58) 57 54 20 42 50 - 223 pts

Finn (90 boats)
1st: Edward Wright (GBR) 12 (13) 1 5 2 2 - 22 pts
2nd: Max Salminen (SWE) 3 4 (16) 10 4 1 - 22 pts
3rd: Nicholas Heiner (NED) 6 7 5 3 (9) 1 - 22 pts
7th: Josh Junior (NZL) (25) 3 8 4 8 3 - 26 pts
15th: Andy Maloney (NZL) 6 (13) 5 5 11 13 - 40 pts

49er (86 boats)
1st: Lucas Rual / Emile Amoros (FRA) 2 1 (6) 3 3 5 - 14 pts
2nd: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 8 2 1 2 (9) 9 - 22 pts
3rd: Tim Fischer / Fabian Graf (GER) 10 (11) 1 5 4 3 - 23 pts
13th: Josh Porebski / Trent Rippey (NZL) 4 3 (25) 3 4 19 - 33 pts
14th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 7 (18) 14 5 7 1 - 34 pts

49erFX (60 boats)
1st: Ida Marie Baad Nielsen / Marie Thusgaard Olsen (DEN) 1 (16) 3 3 4 - 11 pts
2nd: Charlotte Dobson / Saskia Tidey (GBR) 8 (16) 2 2 1 - 13 pts
3rd: Jena Hansen / Katja Salskov-Iversen (DEN) 1 (18) 1 7 6 - 15 pts
9th: Alex Maloney / Molly Meech (NZL) 5 (13) 6 6 11 - 28 pts

Men's 470 (64 boats)
1st: Anton Dahlberg / Fredrik Bergstrom (SWE) 1 3 6 5 5 1 (13) - 21 pts
2nd: Mathew Belcher / William Ryan (AUS) 3 (13) 8 4 2 4 1 - 22 pts
3rd: Jordi Xammar-Hernandez / Nicolás Rodriguez Garcia-Paz (ESP) 2 5 4 (18) 8 3 6 - 28 pts
17th: Paul Snow-Hansen / Dan Willcox (NZL) (25) 5 7 3 14 11 23 - 63 pts

Women's 470 (47 boats)
1st: Ai Kondo Yoshida / Miho Yoshioka (JPN) (12) 1 3 6 2 5 - 17 pts
2nd: Hannah Mills / Eilidh McIntyre (BGR) 9 (14) 1 1 5 3 - 19 pts
3rd: Camille Lecointre / Aloise Retornaz (FRA) 2 6 4 7 8 (36) - 27 pts
35th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith / Brianna Reynolds Smith (NZL) (40) 39 34 26 34 19 - 151 pts

Nacra 17 (68 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Marianna Banti (ITA) (1) 1 1 - 2 pts
2nd: Thomas Zajac / Barbara Matz (AUT) 2 (7) 3 - 5 pts
3rd: Vittorio Bissaro / Maelle Fraxcari (ITA) (3) 2 2 - 4 pts
12th: Olivia Mackay / Micah Wilkinson (NZL) 4 7 (26) - 11 pts
51st: Gemma Jones Jason Saunders (NZL) (35 DNF) 35 DNF 11 - 46 pts

Men's RS:X (76 boards)
1st: Louis Giard (FRA) 1 (7) 1 - 2 pts
2nd: Daniele Benedetti (ITA) 1 1 (4) - 2 pts
3rd: Kiran Badloe (NED) 2 (11) 1 - 3 pts
57th: Antonio Cozzolino (NZL) 23 26 (31) - 49 pts

Women's RS:X (62 boards)
1st: Zofia Noceti- Klepacka (POL) 1 (9) 3 - 4 pts
2nd: Lucie Belbeoch (FRA) 4 (5) 1 - 5 pts
3rd: Yunxiu Lu (CHN) (17) 1 4 - 5 pts
46th: Veerle ten Have (NZL) 9 24 (29) - 33 pts

Men's formula kite (61 boards)
1st: Nicolas Parlier (FRA) (1) 1 1 1 1 1 - 5 pts
2nd: Theo De Ramecourt (FRA) (2) 2 1 1 2 1 - 7 pts
3rd: Oliver Bridge (GBR) 1 (5) 2 2 1 2 - 8 pts
12th: Sam Bullock (NZL) 6 5 5 (7) 6 6 - 28 pts