Australia and New Caledonia sailing towards medals

Australia’s women sailors continued to dominate the individual dinghy sailing on Thursday at the Sol2023 Pacific Games at DC Park.

Facing some tough competition from Tahiti and Samoa, the two Australian sailors held on to first and second-place finishes in all three races for the morning session.

In third place, it was a battle between Tahiti and Samoa. In race one, Tahiti fought off some serious competition to keep a third-place finish. Samoa however recovered in the second race to finish third with Tahiti finishing last after facing intense competition from the two Solomon Islands women. The final race saw Tahiti recover to earn two third-place finishes from the morning races.

Annie Eastgate, the head coach of Australian Laser Sailing, said: “Our guys are hoping just to learn from each race, learn from their competitors, and try and get the best out of themselves in the conditions that we get. It has been a good learning experience for all our sailors. Some of them have had some good races, so we just have to keep that going.”

In the men’s windsurfing, the two leading New Caledonia sailors continued to maintain their lead in both events. In the men’s sailboard light (windsurfing), Samuel Launay won all three races. In the men’s sailboard heavy (windsurfing), fellow New Caledonian Laurent Cali also kept his winning streak going.

Summing up the day’s action, sailing race manager Rob Ridley said: “We had three races this morning in Group A for the ILCA 6 and then we also had three races for the windsurfers. We came back for a bit of lunch and the breeze dropped out completely so Group B in the ILCA 6 sat out and waited for the breeze to fill in. It eventually came around 4pm and we were able to get those three races in. So, a very successful day all around.”  

The sailing action continues from 10am on Friday at DC Park. Entry is free.

By Willie Fafale, Jaylyn Ernest, Karen Veraro and Elron Dokese, Pacific Games News Service