Aussie sailors tested by tricky conditions at Rio Olympic site not pollution issues

WHILE pollution and debry has been a well publicised issue in Rio, tricky conditions are now the biggest issue for Australia’s top sailors.

Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2015 is the second sailing test event in preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition. Held out of Marina da Gloria from 15-22 August, the Olympic test event welcomes more than 330 sailors from 52 nations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Credit Jesus Renedo/Sailing Energy

AUSTRALIA’S youngest sailors are showing their older teammates how it is done at the Aquece Rio test event for sailing.

While pollution and debry has been a well publicised issue at the event, it is the tricky conditions which are causing the biggest issues for Australia’s top sailors.

Consequently cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin are the only crew ranked in the top three after two days of racing on the controversial courses to be used at the Rio Games..

Racing on the new Nacra 17 mixed boat, which will make its Olympic debut in 2016, the pair notched a 5th, 6th and 2nd to move into third place overall at the regatta a year out from the Olympic Games.

“Consistency really pays off, so it’s good to keep the numbers low,” said Lisa Darmanin.

Just off the podium are London Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen who have taken time out from their America; s Cup campaign with Artemis to work on defending their gold in Rio.

“It was up and down with snakes and ladders everywhere,’’ said Outteridge, now fourth overall.

“We did a pretty good job of keeping towards the front but we have to up our game a bit over the next few days to reel the leaders in.’’

Fellow Olympic champion Mat Belcher and his crewmate Will Ryan have fallen back to sixth overall in the 470 racing but still have time to claim a confidence-boosting win at the Test event.

“I wish I could tell you what was going on, our results show we didn’t really have a full grasp of it,’’ said Belcher. We raced well, hard and it was bit of luck at times, but hopefully we’ll figure it. We’ve got a year to do it.”

Laser sailor Tim Burton is currently in seventh overall with Finn sailor Jake Lilley 13th.

Originally published as Aussie sailors tested by tricky conditions at Rio Olympic site not pollution issues