2:30 AM Sat 18 Jul 2009 GMT
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'Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen'
Craig Heydon
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The Australian Sailing Team's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen have taken the lead at the 49er World Championships on the first day of the final series races at Riva del Garda in Italy.
The Australian pair hit the front in the Gold fleet after starting the Friday fifth, with a second, first and fourth in the day's three races.
The results have given Outteridge and Jensen a nice lead after 12 races and are now six points ahead of local sailors, the Sibello brothers
Australia's 49er coach Emmett Lazich said that Outteridge and Jensen sailed exceptionally well, especially in the first race where they were 11th at the top mark, and progressively moved through the fleet to second in a race where not many boats were moving up or down in the fleet.
'I was really proud of Nathan and Iain today but we know all too well how easy the wheels can fall off, so we won't be doing anything different until this regatta is over,' said Lazich. 'Just plug away as best as possible and play the cards as they're dealt out.'
Outteridge and Jensen are joined in the Gold fleet by the Australian Sailing Development Squad crews of Euan McNicol and Sam Newton and Will and Sam Phillips.
McNicol and Newton continue to improve as a team in just their third regatta together and sit 19th with five races remaining while the Phillips brothers are in 21st.
Lazich said that Friday's racing was held in light wind, mostly in the six to nine knot range with flat water and with very hot air temps the fleet had an attempted start in a light southerly Ora wind which was postponed before the gun.
'After about one hour waiting, all three races were held in a light northerly wind, with lots of wild stormy cloud activity in the northern sky,' said Lazich 'The course and wind direction was reasonably familiar to the Australian 49ers thanks to some pre regatta training sessions and in the end we had three fair races, and only after returning to shore did the clouds open up with extremely heavy rain for about one hour.'
'We're not sure what the weather has in hold for us tomorrow or the day after, we never do in this place, until we wake up,' he said.
In the Silver fleet Australia's David O'Connor and Robert Bell are in fifth place, ahead of Chris Nicholson and Ben Austin in eighth with only one race completed today. Steven Thomas and Kyle Langford are 22nd in the 32 boat fleet.
Australia also has crews in the Bronze fleet with Clint and Ty Marshall in 7th, Sean O'Rourke and Harry Bethwaite 13th and Robert Gibbs and James Garnaut in 23rd.
The 49er World Championships has two days of racing left, with the medal race to be held on Sunday afternoon.
by Craig Heydon
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