Heading into the last two days of racing at the W.E.S.S Australian 505 Championship, three boats are all within striking distance after what was a challenging day yesterday.
Racing was brought forward to start at 10am, which was changed to allow more time for as much racing as possible to catch up on lost races over the first two days.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS
The 505 fleet is close at the top end at the nationals at Brighton and Seacliff. Photos: Christophe Favreau
Three races were sailed back-to-back, which now leaves sailors with four races sailed out of a maximum nine.
The American duo of Mike Holt and Rob Woelfel, sailing on IO Integration, had a great day and finished with two race wins and a seventh.
They had a great battle in the final race of the day with the Canberra-based team of Daniel Keys and Daryl Roos in Intergalactic, trading places throughout the whole race in a drag race battle for the line.
Keys and Roos took the lead from Holt and Woelfel at the last top mark rounding before grazing the clearance mark and having to do a penalty — Holt sailed through to a race win from there.
The local team of Sandy Higgins and Paul Marsh on Hawaii Five-O finished the day as the regatta leaders with two second places and a fourth to join their opening race win from the day before.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the fifth race of the regatta, with Holt looking dangerous if he is able to drop his seventh from yesterday.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS
The team of Sandy Higgins and Paul Marsh in Hawaii Five-O are sitting first overall after four races.
Another local team of Peter Woolman and Phil Scapens, sailing on More Noodles, had a great day out on the water and won the second race of the day, which was both of their first ever national heat wins in the 505 class.
Woolman is fifth overall, one point behind the reigning national champion Michael Quirk, sailing with Reeve Dunne on Stealth.
The forecast looks grim for today and racing is currently postponed — stay tuned for all the updates.
