Weymouth and Portland Regatta solid start for Outteridge and Jensen

9:35 PM Sat 6 Aug 2011 GMT

'Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen racing in Weymouth - Weymouth and Portland International Regatta 2011' Thom Touw &copy

Australian 49er sailors Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen have made a solid start to the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, ending their opening day of racing second overall.

Outteridge and Jensen started the regatta in style, winning the first two races before finishing race three ninth overall, leaving them one point off the leading German crew.

The pair are undefeated after three regattas over the last three years in Weymouth but haven't always had the best opening day at the Olympic venue, making their two race wins and a ninth all the more impressive.

'To be honest it was a bit of a shock for us to do so well on the first day here,' said Outteridge. 'Obviously we're very happy with the results as we tried to keep away from the big pack and ended up sailing our own race and getting some nice shifts to find our way to the front in the first two races.

'At this regatta we've got 15 fleet races and the medal race and on day one you don't want to have any bad races so to have two firsts and a ninth is pretty good as I'm fairly sure we'll carry all of those, we're bound to be outside the top 10 at some stage,' he said.

Tom Slingsby sits second in the Laser fleet, six points behind regatta leader Andrew Murdoch of New Zealand.

Slingsby started day two as he left off on Friday with a race win on Weymouth bay before finishing 13th in the second race.

'In both races today I rounded the top mark a bit back in the fleet,' said Slingsby. 'In race one I had speed to burn and made my way through the fleet but in race two I couldn't quite get it together, but I'm looking forward to another two races in some good conditions tomorrow.'

In the Laser Radial class Krystal Weir is currently fourth overall following a fourth and a 20th place finish. Weir finds herself just six points off the podium after the opening four races.

Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page have moved up to fourth in the 470 men's class with an opening race 10th and a second on day two of racing for the class.

'We found more of a groove today and settled down after the opening day,' said Belcher. 'We were offshore today and the conditions were more difficult and it became more about strategy than yesterday in the harbour.

'It was good to crack the top 10 for the first time this regatta and move ourselves up to fourth overall,' he said. 'We knew it was going to be a high scoring regatta so it's about minimising mistakes and making the most of opportunities.

'Yesterday we made a slower start than we would have like but they're the cards we were dealt and now we're working our way back,' he said.

Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty lined up against the Russian crew led by Ekaterina Skudina in the quarter-finals of the Women's Match Racing.

The Australian trio lost the opening two races before fighting back to win race three convincingly and take the first to three-wins quarter-final to a fourth race.

Unfortunately the Russians, who topped the leader board after the round robin won race four and progressed to the semi-finals, with the Australians to race in the fifth to eighth place round.

'The wind came in today and we had a ball while racing,' said Curtis. 'Obviously we're a bit disappointed to lose three to one but we raced our hearts out and learnt some great lessons.'

Price said that the team was looking forward to the challenge of the fifth to eighth place race off.

'We'll be up against some big names in the race off including the British team and the Swedes so it's definitely going to be a tough round and we're looking forward to the challenge,' she said.

In the RS:X women's class Jessica Crisp remains 10th overall after the first six races, finishing with a 19th and a seventh on Saturday.

Fellow windsurfer Tim Gourlay is 25th in the RS:X men's after a 31st and a 25th in the day's two races.

Tessa Parkinson and Belinda Stowell ended their second day of racing in 23rd position, following a 23rd and a 22nd.

The Finn class got underway on Saturday with Australian Brendan Casey ending the day 16th overall. The Gold Coast based sailor finished the opening race 17th before crossing the line 16th in race two.

In the Star class Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth are 12th after a 13th and a race two ninth and are just three points outside the top 10.

Australian Sailing Team website

by Craig Heydon

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Weymouth and Portland Regatta solid start for Outteridge and Jensen

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