After a slow beginning on the first day of the Bavaria Yachts International Youth Match Racing Regatta, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s Jordan Reece hit the water with determination today.
Racing was delayed today due to a shifting and unstable breeze which gave Reece the opportunity to finish his high school exam this morning and collect only one DNS on his regatta score card. Reece came out swinging in his first race of the day against the 5th overall placed CYCA team skippered by Will MacKenzie. Engaging him early in the pre-start, Reece locked MacKenzie out to the right hand side and controlled him as he led back to the start. With better speed and height, Reece maintained the advantage until he suffered the misfortune of incurring a penalty which cost him the race by a small margin.
Reece continued to improve throughout the day, commenting this afternoon, “our team work and pre-start manoeuvres have greatly improved thanks to this regatta, which is our first, and we were pleased to win our first race against Sandringham Yacht Club in the last match of the day. We are really looking forward to getting back on the water tomorrow to complete the round robins,” he added.
At the end of sailing today, the CYCA’s Will Ryan is leading the RNZYS’s Michael Thorpe by one point with Thorpe’s club mate Reuben Corbett, who scored the only win against Ryan so far, in the first match of the day, finishing strongly in third place.
Ryan is displaying the same tenacity that finally delivered him his first major win in the Australian Youth Match Racing Championship sailed on the Derwent River in September. Like those CYCA Youth Sailing Academy graduates who have gone before him, names like Euan McNichol, Seve Jarvin and more recently, Evan Walker, Ryan has developed a knack for match racing that sets him apart from the rest.
Racing continues tomorrow on Sydney Harbour with the expected completion of round robin two with semi finals and finals scheduled for Sunday.
Peter Campbell, Yachting Journalist
Sydney, Australia
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