Breeze up in Medemblik

Andrew Mills and Ali Young ahead at the Delta Lloyd regatta

The second day of racing in the Delta Lloyd Regatta tested sailors' fitness and their equipment. Winds averaging 25 knots and gusting to 30, throughout the day made for physical racing.

Only racing in the Nacra 17 catamaran and the 49er FX skiff classes were cancelled. The Finn and Laser Radial were the first to launch in the morning, followed by the RS:X men and women. The remaining fleets were kept to shore waiting for the wind to decrease.

Hyères Sailing World Cup winner, Andrew Mills (GBR) has taken the lead from Greg Douglas (CAN) in the Finn class after three races sailed this morning. Mills is discarding a DSQ at the start of race two to count only top five places. The day's race wins went to Miami SWC winner Caleb Paine (USA) and PJ Postma (NED) leaving them second and third overall.

The Laser Radial completed two races on the three scheduled. Britain's Ali Young has maintained the lead with a bullet in the first race. The second race was taken by Annalise Murphy (IRL) who is renowned for excelling in the heavy winds. The Irish sailors is now second overall ahead of Marit Bouwmeester (NED) who put in a consistent two seconds.

Hei Man Hayley Victoria Chan (HKG) enjoyed the waves and planing conditions to lead the RS:X Women from Moana Delle. With a bullet and two second places, Hélène Noesmoen (FRA) scored her best results on the water climbing to sixth overall.

In the RS:X Men London 2012 gold medallist Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) conserves his lead but Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL), winner of the Saiing World Cup event in Hyères is closing the gap with two first places and a second. 2012 World Champion Julien Bontemps (FRA) won the third race and remains third overall.

The race committees had a very long day on the water. After the completion of racing in the Finn, Radial and RS:X, the remaining classes were kept ashore waiting for the wind to calm down. At 1700 the warning signal was finally given for the 470s and Lasers while racing cancelled for the 49ers, 2.4mR and Sonar.

Soon after 1900, the 470 and Lasers returned to shore having sailed two races in 20 knots. London 2012 gold medallist Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) continued their impressive performance adding another two bullets to their scoreline and now comfortably lead the Women's fleet.

In the Men's 470, Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) won the first race and placed second in the last to take a narrow lead over the Australians Matt Belcher and Will Ryan.

“It was a long day today as we were postponed for four hours until the wind finally dropped below 25 knots,” said Belcher. “Once we finally got racing Will and I didn’t have the best of days. In the first race we were over the line early at the start and decided to go back so were left playing catch up for the rest of the race.

“The only issue then was that the races here are only 25 minutes long and you just can’t catch up that distance with such short races,” he said. “The second race wasn’t great either but that’s sailing for you. We felt that we got a sailing lesson from the fleet today and that’s why we love the sport, there’s always something to learn.”

The Lasers were last back to shore. The windy races were dominated by the Australians and New Zealanders, however consistent results from Croatian Tonci Stipanovic (3-4) puts him in the lead after five races.

Today saw the end of the qualification stages for the Laser, Radial and RS:X. They will now be split in Gold and Silver fleet for the next two days with the top 25 in each class qualifying for the Gold fleet.

Racing continues in Medemblik on Thursday with an early start planned to catch up with the race schedule.