The southerly breeze increased again today on Sydney’s iconic Harbour for Day 3 of the World Match Racing Tour Final 2022 at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. Completing the repechage round, the top eight teams now advance to the first-to-three point quarter-final stage.
As the forecasted southerly breeze built to a fresh 18-25 knots ion Sydney Harbour today with gusts of 30knots in 22 degrees sunshine, it was a test of the best match racing skills as eight teams battled for a place in the quarter-final to join USA’s Chris Poole and Denmark’s Jeppe Borch who already secured their place from the qualifying round. Local Sydney sailor Cole Tapper and USA’s Dave Hood/DH3 Racing were the first to depart the competition, both strong teams, showing the breadth of the competition at the WMRT Final. “We had a shocker today to be honest,” commented Tapper on his return to the dock. “We had opportunities in every race, but poor decisions cost us today – there have been no easy races this week, but we have really enjoyed the event and it has been a great experience being part of the world championship”.
Cole Tapper (AUS) – CYCA Youth Sailing Academy
The remaining six teams joined Borch and Poole to complete the draw for the quarter-finals which got underway in the late afternoon after the skippers drew their opponents in front of the Sydney Opera House. Completing the first flight of the quarter-finals before the end of the day, event favourites Chris Poole, Jeppe Borch, Nick Egnot-Johnson and Harry Price went to win their opening matches against their chosen competitors.
Nick Egnot-Johnson (NZL) – Knots Racing Team Photo: Andrea Francolini/WMRT
Megan Thomson (NZL) – 2.0 Racing
Photo: Andrea Francolini/WMRT
Quarter Finalists – Nick Egnot-Johnson (NZL), Jeppe Borch (DEN), Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (FRA), Mati Sepp (EST), Rocco Attili (ITA), Harry Price (AUS), Megan Thomson (NZL), Chris Poole (USA).
Photo: Andrea Francolini/WMRT
The forecast for tomorrow is expecting all but the same conditions with the Southerly breeze set in for the weekend. Racing for Day 4 starts tomorrow at 1200 AEST with live coverage by Adventures of a Sailor Girl, Nic Douglass which will be streamed across the World Match Racing Tour channels. Repechage Results after Day 3
