Consistent sailing from Sienna Wright sees the Howth Yacht Club ace on equal points with the overall leader of the female ILCA 6 fleet at the Youth Sailing World Championships in Brazil and 29er European Champions Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain of Royal Cork YC and the National Yacht Club have moved up from seventh to fifth place.

It was a day of change at the top of the standings across the Youth Sailing World Championships as new leaders emerged after a third day of racing.

Sienna Wright of Howth Yacht Club sits in second overall in the ILCA 6 fleet at the Youth Sailing World Championships in Brazil Photo: World Sailing

Alenka Valencic (SLO) and Roos Wind (NED) both earned bullets to leave little separation between the sailors at the top of the ILCA 6 female class.

Valencic took victory in the day’s opening race, finishing ahead of Sophie Zimmermann (PER) and Petra Marendic (CRO), who sits third overall.

That is just one place and six points ahead of Wind, who bounced back from a 17th-place finish in the opener to pip her Croatian opponent into second for the day’s final race, with Sienna Wright (IRL) third.

That was enough for Wright to sit second overnight, level on points with leader Emma Mattivi (ITA), who posted a pair of sixth-place finishes.

Four Irish boats and six sailors are competing in Armação dos Buzios.

29er Female

Lucia Cullen and Alana Twomey (Royal St. George YC and Royal Cork YC) lie 16th, dropping back from 11th in the 25 boat Female Skiff 29er class.

Lucia Cullen and Alana Twomey (Royal St. George YC and Royal Cork YC) lie 16th, round a mark during racing at the World Sailing Youth Championships in the 25 boat Female Skiff 29er class

Ewa Lewandowska and Julia Maria Żmudzińska maintained their dominant lead in the 29er female class despite bullets going elsewhere on day three of the competition.

The Polish pair sit 16 points clear of Fleur Babin and Sarah Jannin, who strengthened their grip on second with two bullets.

The French duo edged leaders Lewandowska and Żmudzińska into second on the first and last races of the day, with the other won by Laura Hamilton and Carolina Zager (USA).

The Americans edged Jule Ernst and Louisa Schmidt (GER) and Boróka and Szonja Fehér (HUN), with the Hungarians now third overall.

29er Male/Mixed

Ireland's 29er European Champions Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain of Royal Cork YC and the National Yacht Club have moved up from seventh to fifth place after nine races sailed in their 30 boat fleet.

Karl Devaux and Hugo Revil (FRA) kept their hold on top spot of the 29er male standings but face stiff competition from Alex Demurtas and Giovanni Santi (ITA).
 
Devaux and Revil clinched victory in the opening race of the day, their fourth of the competition, but were not allowed to extend their lead as the Demurtas and Santi won the final two races.
 
The Italians bid to reel in their French rivals who took a blow after a seventh-place finish in race seven, with Lukas Kraus and Ondrej Bastar (CZE) and Charlie Gran and Sam Webb (GBR) finishing behind Devaux and Revil.
 
But Demurtas and Santi bounced back with consecutive bullets to sit 14 points off the summit overnight, edging out the leaders in the day’s final race with Guilherme and Fernando Prazeres Menezes (BRA) taking third to climb to fourth overall, a point behind Gran and Webb.
 
''The wind shifted a lot in intensity,” said Guilherme. “We jumped to fourth in the classification and we’re going with everything we can to reach the top positions tomorrow and look for that podium.”

ILCA 6 Male

Fiachra McDonnell of the Royal St. George YC stays 20th from 48 in the male ILCA 6 fleet. 

An opening race bullet helped Mattia Cesana (ITA) to the top of the ILCA 6 male standings after the third day of racing.

Cesana took his second race victory of the competition, coming in ahead of Santiago Guinand (PER) and Soma Sigmond (HUN) on another day of mixed results across the fleet.

The second race was won by João Pontes (POR), with Guinand again second and Jack Graham-Troll (GBR) third.

It leaves Cesana with a 12-point lead in the standings after nearest challengers Hidde Schraffordt (NED) and David Ponesti Mesquida (ESP) struggled to close the gap with finishes of 35th and 36th, respectively, in the second race of the day after strong showings in the first.

Racing continues on Thursday. Results are here