Tears in Heaven

Pos Helm Nat R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Pts

1 Nathan Outteridge AUS 5 1 1 1 1 1 5

2 Peter Burling NZL 2 3 2 1 1 1 7

3 Joe Turner AUS 2 1 1 7 2 3 9

4 Scott Babbage AUS 6 2 2 3 3 4 14

5 Rob Gough AUS 1 3 3 4 5 4 15

6 Iain Jensen AUS 1 9 7 2 6 2 18

7 Tom Slingsby AUS 6 2 6 3 2 5 18

8 John Harris AUS 9 7 3 8 3 3 24

9 Brad Funk USA DNF 8 11 2 4 2 27

10 Arnaud Psarofaghis SUI 4 4 6 7 7 6 27

Here's the leader board at the Worlds after 2 days and 6 races. No Bora, no Simon, several new names, so whats happening? Is this a shift in the world power of Mothing? It's all going the Moth Squad way at the moment and with Brad keeping the US Airforce just in contention, likewise for Arnaud and the Euros. Bora and Dalton are just outside the top 10 in the early teens. So why the Aussie domination? Could be a couple of things playing out:

• Moth Squad loaded with talent? Yes possibly but the US and Euro top sailors are also pretty seriously capable with ex Olympians and ex World Champions.
• Practiced more? No doubt pulling together the concept of a team, load with talent, and then practice together like hell is one out of the US airforce play book. The concentration of Moth sailing in Sydney again helps especially if you compare to the US where getting together for a regatta is a serious exercise in logistics.
• Focus and build up? Did designing and building the wing plus shipping and travel to Australia, take the focus out of the US airforce build up at the last minute? Similarly a dreary winter in Europe and then travel can't have made a solid build easy for the Europeans either. But it certainly looks like Moth Squad had a strong build of momentum leading up to the event which can only have helped.

But as they say, it isn't over till the fat lady sings and with the format of the event allowing the results from first 9 races to be taken through as a non discard, all is to play for in the last 2 days.

Game on and don't discount anyone in the top 15 from pulling off the Championship!