River Derwent SB20 fleet representative Export Roo has jumped from fifth to third overall overnight, day two of the Cascais SB20 World Championship off the coast of Portugal.
Skippered by Michael Cooper with his crew of RYCT Commodore Matthew Johnston and David Chapman, Export Roo sailed consistently for placings of 3-11-4 in the tricky 14-18 knot breeze off the historic port city of Cascais.
This places Export Roo on a net 27 points after six of the scheduled 14 races, one point behind the second placed French crew and just six points behind the leading Russian boat.
Victorian entrant Flirtatious (Chris Dare) has dropped from third to fourth overall, starting the day with a 61st place in the 78 boat fleet but recovering with a third and a 7th.
The third Australian boat in the fleet, Mind Games (Phil Reid) also from the Derwent fleet, is still well down the fleet, today placing 72nd and 56th before finishing an encouraging 20th in the last race of the day,
In the widely competitive fleet, there have been five different winners from five different countries, Portugal (2), Russia, Ukraine and France, in the first six races.
The outlook for racing overnight looked ominous with 50 knot winds overnight, but as the crews left the dock for the second day the breeze died completely before shifting to the north, filling in to a fickle 14-18 knots.
