5:40 AM Fri 8 Jan 2010 GMT
The Australian Sailing Team crew of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen has had a tough day at the office on day four of the 2010 49er World Championship, slipping to tenth overall.
The reigning World Champions finished the first day of finals racing with a 21st, 20th and fifth, to be 41 points off leaders Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez who have stormed ahead of the fleet.
Though all is not lost for the Australians who are just 22 points behind second placed John Pink and Rick Peacock of Great Britain, meaning there is still plenty to play for.
"Today was a tough day for us," said Outteridge. "We raced in wind between two and six knots which was the lightest we've had all regatta. At times we were looking really good and other times we'd fall into a big hole."
"We were always in a good spot on the first beat but then seemed to luck out on the breeze and slip back," he said. "We managed to be close to the Spanish at the top mark each time but then were left scratching our heads a bit as they powered ahead."
"Today we were racing two laps instead of the usual four so it was quite hard to catch back up once you slipped behind. Though saying that in the third race we were about 15th at the top mark and then the wind died and we were all sitting around. We managed to get the only puff of wind out there and climbed back up to fifth at the end," he said.
With two days of racing still left to run Outteridge and Jensen can still have a major impact on the regatta, with the pair still within striking distance of second overall.
"It's now up to the Spanish to lose the regatta," said Outteridge. "We'll go out there again tomorrow and do the best we can and keep on fighting until the end of the regatta."
"Today was a real up and down day for everyone, if you got three tenth place finishes you'd be doing ok, but we managed to accumulate 46 points in one day which was more than we had from the whole qualifying series."
The Australian pair is well aware that the regatta will come right down to the medal race and if things continue to be similar to the opening four days the 2010 49er World Championship anything can and will happen.
Fellow Australians Will and Sam Phillips are currently in 16th position, after recording a 12th, 25th and 15th on day four. Euan McNicol and Tim Austin are 19th with Steven Thomas and Luke Parkinson 24th.
www.australiansailingteam.com.au
by Yachting Australia Media
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Sailing
