Yachting: Queasy start for French sailors

Dean Barker's team racing in the inner harbour yesterday. Picture / Paul Estcourt

The day before the Auckland Match Racing Cup started, French sailor Mathieu Richard and half of his crew were being treated for upset stomachs.

Richard wondered if his team would make it to the startline yesterday in the five-day grade one regatta because of severe viral infections.

They did and performed admirably in the fickle conditions that plagued the race course on the Waitemata Harbour.

At times the Harbour Bridge was the only object in view as the whole city disappeared under a blanket of murky weather.

Despite the challenging conditions, race organisers completed six of nine flights in the first round of the double round-robin competition.

Although there is a long way to go, Richard, ranked sixth in the world, is in the top four with four wins and two losses.

"It is our first time in New Zealand and our first time on these boats," he said.

"Three of us are sick. We are feeling very empty so we knew today was going to be tough.

"We are happy with how we went," said Richard.

Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and K-Challenge's Cameron Appleton, both New Zealanders, are on top of the leaderboard with five wins and a loss each.

Barker made an impressive start to the day, picking up three wins on end, but appeared to get himself tangled in the tide against Alinghi's Ed Baird.

Sailing alongside the Harbour Bridge, Baird nabbed slightly better breeze in the first beat, rounding the mark ahead of Barker, who was unable to find a way back.

"It was just a combination of things," Barker said of the loss. "You are going to get races like that every now and then. You are racing against some of the best guys in the world and you are not going to win every single one.

"It was tough and we are just glad to come away with a good scoreline on a day like this.

"It is never a lottery ... you certainly make your own luck, but no races are over, that's for sure."

The loss was Barker's first and only of the day, and it was the sole win for world No 2 Baird.

The American was the first to admit the conditions were trying and that he was perhaps still learning to combine with his new crew.

As expected, Oracle BMW skipper Chris Dickson finished the day up among the leaders with a four-win, two-loss record.

He lost to Richard and, in his final race of the day, to Appleton.

After a fairly even first beat, Appleton pushed Dickson out at the top mark and managed to extend his lead on his experienced rival in the swaying breeze.

Racing resumes today at 10am.