VIDEO- Race Day 1- 49er World Championship

Race Results - Day 1

Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen lead the fleet after three races at the 49er World Championship in the Bahamas.

After a third and two first places today, they are ahead of the British pair Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes (4, 2, 1).
Another British team, John Pink and Rick Peacock (2, 1, 7) are third.

Race 1 got underway in 15-18 knots of breeze, in perfect conditions. By the start of race 2 the wind had increased to 18-20 knots but dropped down to 6-8 knots during the race.

Words of a 3-peat were already muttered to Nathan Outteridge after the first days racing who humbly replied, 'I had a good day today.' Outteridge and crew Iain Jensen of Australia are returning 2-time 49er World Champions.

British sailors Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes also sailed a great first day with fellow countrymen John Pink and Rick Peacock in 3rd overall; each team sharing a win in their 3-race day. At the beginning of the week, it looked like Pietro Sibello of Italy would be out of the competition after an equipment issue that caused his foot to be in a cast. But come race day, Pietro and brother Gianfranco were true to their number 1 ranking and were on the starting line giving the fleet their best at winning the World Championship.

49er World Championships top 10 overall after three races:

1. AUS 1 (Outteridge/Jensen)
2. GBR 4 (Morrison/Rhodes)
3. GBR2 (Pink/Peacock)
4. AUS1134 (Phillips)
5. GER961 (Schadewaldt/Baumann)
6. GBR1096 (Evans/Powys)
7. UKR 1081 (Luka/Leonchuk)
8. AUT5 (Delle Karth/Resch)
9. FRA8 (Dyen/Christidis)
10. DEN1113 (Nielsen)

Overall results:

Full results: www.49erworlds.org

49er Race Day 1- Photos & short Intro Video

Please note that all images displayed on this post are © 2009 Lyndah Wells Photography, Contact me for usage first.


Freeport- Grand Bahama- The 49ers were out on the water today and I was lucky enough to be on the press boat with the fantasticaly talented Fried Elliot- the offical photographer for the Seiko world Championships. His beautiful images can be seen here
Also check out my friends at
Thebahamasweekly.com for details of the race.

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