ISAF Sailing World Cup - Flags Gently Flutter Ahead Of Third Melbourne Day

The 33 country flags flying at Sandringham Yacht Club are gently fluttering, heralding a slower start to day three at the week-long ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne, the first stop of the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup series.  The postponement flag is flying, but the "gut feel" is that the midday session will begin an hour or so later, and this will push the 15:00 session start time out. An early morning 3 knot NNW wind has turned to a variable 5 knots from the south, forecast to reach up to around 15 knots during the afternoon along with the chance of showers. Locals reckon 10 knots tops is more likely.

On day three of the ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne and Sail Melbourne, Wednesday December 11, four courses will be used for the following Olympic, Paralympic and Invited classes racing; men's 470, women's 470, Finn, Laser, Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, 49er, 49erFX, Open 49FX, men's RS:X, women's RS:X, Bic Techno, Nacra 17, Liberty, Skud 18 and 2.4mR.
Men's and women's kiteboards are due to open their series from 15:00 this afternoon on the Hampton course.
Last night at the SYC's main Sailing World Cup social event, officials, sponsors and other guests from the Victorian boating scene gathered to meet the Australian Sailing Team and other sailing royalty for a panel discussion on foiling.
Emirates Team NZ wing trimmer and A-class guru Glenn Ashby, AST, Moth world champion and 49er gold medallist Nathan Outteridge, Moth visionary and designer Andy MacDougall and kiteboarding guns Ben Morrison-Jack, Jordan Girdis and Florian Gruber shared with the crowd their excellent insight into this development area of the sport.
How does Sailing World Cup Final qualification work?
Event winners from each ISAF Sailing World Cup (SWC) Regatta will qualify to the 2015 SWC Final whilst the best placed 'home continent' sailor in each round will also qualify. The top three finishers at the 2015 Class World Championships (if already held) will qualify to the 2015 SWC Final. The remaining SWC Final places will be awarded via the ISAF World Sailing Rankings.

(www.sailing.org)