Rechichi and Stowell Begin World Championship Campaign

WAIS athletes Elise Rechichi and Belinda Stowell are the best placed of the Australian contingent in the women’s 470 after two days of competition at the 2011 Sailing World Championships in Perth.

After a difficult first day of competition on Monday, Olympic gold medallists Rechichi and Stowell fought back to record 12th and 14th position finishes in the two races on day two of competition, to sit 23rd in the overall rankings.

Fellow WAIS scholarship holder Chelsea Hall and her NSWIS skipper Sasha Ryan moved back in day two competition to currently sit 32nd overall.

Spain’s pairing of Tara Pacheo and Berta Betanzos currently lead the field, after winning both races on day two, whilst the Dutch and Japanese crews are close behind in second and third respectively.

After a number of changes at the front of the fleet early on in Race three, it was Pacheco who managed to hold on to the lead as she rounded the sixth and final mark before the finish.

“We felt very confident,” Betanzos said. “On Monday we made a lot of mistakes which we tried not to do today and succeeded.

“We would love to win all our races but that’s not possible,” she said. “We just try our best.”

Italy’s Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol (ITA) finished second, Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes (GBR) third, followed by Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke (GER) fourth and Yuka Yoshisako and Noriko Okuma (JPN) fifth.

Great Britain’s Clark and Hughes lead the pack from the start in Race four, closely followed by Israel’s Gil Cohen and Vered Buskila as they rounded the first mark.

But as the race drew to a close it was the Spaniards who again managed to getthe win.

Cohen and Buskila (ISR) finished second, Westerhof and Berkhout (NED) third, followed by Kondo and Tabata (JPN) fourth and Camille Lecointre and Mathilde Geron (FRA) in fifth place.

Racing continues on Wednesday, with the medal rounds to be raced this weekend.

-with Perth2011