AUCKLAND, New Zealand — New Zealand native Cameron Appleton walked away from Tuesday's racing at the inaugural match-race regatta of the Swedish Match Tour with perfect scores. The 22-year-old Appleton won six out of six races on Wiatemata Harbor to surge to the top of the leader board, and now stands in a promising position to make Thursday's semifinals.
In a post-race interview, Cameron credited his crew with getting him out of a few tight spots in blustery conditions that ranged from 10 to 25 knots. Nonetheless, he obviously had enough of a boatspeed advantage so that he could pull sufficiently ahead to execute penalty turns in two races and still win.
In other action, young Dean Barker barely beat veteran match racer Chris Dickson in the last race of the day to knock Dickson back to second. With just four more flights of races to sail before the cut for the semifinals, there are six skippers still with a realistic chance of making it through to that final four. Along with Appleton, Dickson, and Barker, Gavin Brady, England's Andy Green, and Frenchman Bertrand Pace make up the top six in the standings.
Overall scores after Tuesday: