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Muller sets early pace in Melbourne.
Former World Champion, Thomas Muller sailing with his “Bavarian Dream Team”, Vincent Hoesch and Michael Lipp have taken the early lead in the Prince Phillip Cup after two races here in Australia. The 62 boat fleet had to wait patiently for a suitable breeze to fill in on this first day of racing hosted by the Royal Brighton Yacht Club, sailing on the deep the deep blue Australian water’s overlooked by the towering skyscrapers of Melbourne. However, the breeze did come and both races got away first time from a very well set starting line of 0.4 miles.
In race one with major wind shifts and pressure changes during the 2.5 mile first beat, Dragons from both sides of the course looked to have gained an advantage from time to time. Indeed the leaders were the teams that worked hard to stay in the pressure and keep taking the lifts on a relatively flat water first leg. Muller was locked in an early battle with Lawrie Smith GBR 751 and Anthony Lyn AUS 191. However, it was the cool and calm experience of Andrey Kirilyuk and Alexander Shalagin crewing for the former “World Ranking” number one Anatoloy Loginov RUS 27, who eventually took the winning gun. With Muller finishing 2nd & Anthony Lyn, crewed by Mark Lyn & Lauchlan Simpson 3rd.
In the second race the wind started to increase from the same 190 to 200 degree’s direction which saw the sea change from flat water to a short difficult chop. This waves made helming difficult and immediately potential “World Championship” contenders began to shine. Joergen Schoenherr DEN 401 crewed by current World Champion Theis Palm and Axel Watersdorph, started well at the Committee Boat end of the line and led throughout the race. Closely pursued by Muller and another Danish Sailor Soren PehrsonnDEN 394. In fact this proved to be the finishing order so with his two second places GER 996 Thomas Muller leads the fleet on 4pts. LoginovRUS 27 right behind him on 5pts and GBR 751 Lawrie Smith sailing very consistently in 3rd place with 9pts.
Today, Wednesday will see two more races of this scheduled 7 race series. Although light winds are again forecast, it is unlikely to stay that way all day with a 13.00hrs starting time, it allows for the wind to settle and hopefully produce some more excellent racing in this beautiful location…………..
Higher, faster, Longer……………. Stavros.