Laurie Jury (left) luffs Josh Junior on Club Marine (right). Image copyright RNZYS.
Dickson and Jury climb up the points table as five teams contest the four semi final berths
by Barry Davies
Chris Dickson and Laurie Jury both won their five races today to boost their overall points to 13 each as five teams battle it out for the four semi final berths.
Dickson had a flawless day on the water after only winning five races in Round Robin One, his young crew worked hard with their legendary skipper in Round Robin Two to take eight wins out of nine races. With just one more race to sail tomorrow, will 13 or 14 points be enough to grab a semi finals spot?
Graeme Sutherland and crew still hold the overall lead with a total of 15 points and his spot is safe, but chasing hard on his heels is Jury, Dickson, Reuben Corbett & William Tiller.
Jury with his 5 wins today and 13 points overall is tied with Dickson, but has 2 races to sail tomorrow and surely will take a semi-finals spot.
Jury’s most spectacular win of the day was against Josh Junior and his young Wellington team who were bow to bow off the start line and rounded the top mark with Jury just in front. Both boats hoisted their spinnakers and Junior gybed to try and roll-over the top of Jury. Jury luffed slowly and Junior reacted but not enough according to the match umpires, who gave Junior a penalty for not keeping clear. In the process of luffing, Jury ripped his spinnaker and would be unable to use it for the final run.
As they rounded the bottom mark Jury was again in front but needed a spectacular upwind beat to gain enough of a lead to stay in front of Junior on a downwind leg without a spinnaker. The two boats rounded the top mark, Jury had about a 5 boat length lead, but Junior with the bonus sail area of a spinnaker quickly caught up. Jury keep the race close and managed to stay inside of Junior, who he luffed again and Junior received another penality. Jury was able to then coast home to the finish.
Reuben Corbett had another steady day on the water winning four out of his five races, only losing to Sutherland. Corbett and his crew have remained consistently in the top four, with fourteen points overall, but is his spot safe as he faces rivals Junior and Jury on the water tomorrow?
The youth team helmed by William Tiller had a tough day on the water only winning one race against the all female crew helmed by Jess Smyth. Tiller and his young crew are still a chance to make the top four but go up against Jury and Junior tomorrow morning.
Graeme Sutherland (Harken - left) versus Wataru Sakamoto (KPMG - right). Image copyright RNZYS.
In the women’s crews, Samantha Osborne was the big mover today with a total of 3 wins out of 5 races but it wasn’t enough to catch Stephanie Hazard who holds a 1 point lead over Osborne.
Racing begins at 10am tomorrow (Saturday) morning, with Flight Ten of Round Robin Two, just two flights to sail and the top four will be decided.
Friday's Results
Flight Five
Osborne beat Kroening by 21s
Jury beat Hazard by 45s
Dickson beat Tiller by 42s
Sutherland beat Smyth by 19s
Corbett beat Sakamoto by 20s
Flight Six
Dickson beat Junior by 27s
Corbett beat Hazard by 1m3s
Osborne beat Smyth DNF
Sutherland beat Kroening by 6s
Jury beat Sakamoto by 19s
Flight Seven
Corbett beat Osborne by 2m12s
Jury beat Sutherland by 29
Dickson beat Hazard by 58s
Tiller beat Smyth by 40s
Kroening beat Junior by 21s
Flight Eight
Dickson beat Sakamoto by 1m10s
Jury beat Osborne by 55s
Sutherland beat Corbett 1m19s
Junior beat Smyth by 37s
Kroening beat Tiller by 30s
Flight Nine
Jury beat Junior by 29s
Sutherland beat Sakamoto by 34s
Corbett beat Tiller by 22s
Osborne beat Hazard by 30s
Dickson beat Smyth by 1m
Points Table
Sutherland 15 wins / 3 losses / 15.0 points
Corbett 14 / 4 / 14.0
Jury 13 / 5 / 13.0
Dickson 13 / 6 / 13.0
Tiller 12 / 6 / 12.0
Junior 9 / 8 / 9.5 *
Kroening 7 / 11 / 7.0
Hazard 6 / 12 / 6.0
Osborne 5 / 13 / 5.0
Sakamoto 4 / 14 / 4.0
Smyth 1 / 18 / 1.0
*0.5 points deducted for damage
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
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