Helema improves her rank

Cook Islands sailor Helema Williams has ended her World Sailing Championships campaign in the laser radial class at Perth improving her rank from 91st to 85th.

Team manager Anne Tierney reports on the progress of the team, which includes Junior Charlie and Taua Elisa at the regatta.

Day five dawned as usual without much wind and just as reliably of late the doctor (Fremantle wind) arrived just about on time for the laser radial flight to start.

Helema was full of determination to get herself further up the ranking in her class.

Winds were a challenging 18 knots plus sea breeze and there were less waves and more chop.

Race one saw Helema away to a very good start with good boat speed and looking very good on her choices upwind, she rounded the top mark in 10th place, held it downwind, dropped back a little to 16th place and finally finished in 21st place a great effort in challenging weather conditions.

Race two, the 10th of the series Helema didnt get such a good start, she chose the right side of the course as did most other sailors making it hard to find clear air to develop the boat speed to separate from the crowd.

Eventually she was able to shake clear and improve her position taking over other lasers to finally finish 29th place.

Her downwind technique has improved a lot with the exposure to these great sailing conditions.

Helemas overall results were an improvement from 91st ranking to 85th ranking a very fine effort!

On Sunday, Junior Charlie and Taua Elisa made final preparations for their competition which started yesterday.

Both are very excited and looking forward to the challenge.

The finals for the laser radial were held on the centre course right in the central part of Fremantle beach with grandstands and rock walls full of people perching to see the racing! What a great venue.