Richard Schulteis is leading the way at the 2019 Optimist World Championships as the young Maltese sailor has made it four wins in four races to take a commanding lead in Antigua after the opening two days of competition.

Schulteis is competing in the world championship alongside team-mate Antonio Gasperini, who is only 13.

Flanked by his father Josef Schulteis, Richard could not have enjoyed a better start when he snared first place in the opening two races held on Monday.

“I told them to be happy, enjoy and sail simple. Don’t make things complicated,” Josef Schulteis said.

“The conditions were beautiful out there. The wind was a little tricky because there was a lot of current and shifts which they had to make their way through.

“Richard sailed at a good speed and played the shifts well.”

A week of practicing on the water since his arrival in Antigua a week ago paid off for Richard Schulteis who bagged another two wins on the second day despite the high winds.

Richard Schulteis described the wind strength as “medium” but spoke of “tricky conditions” out at sea on the first day.

“It was hard because I did not know what to expect so I saved my race like I usually do and just went with the shifts – along with the seaweed.

“On Tuesday, the wind was good with some big waves,” he added. “In Malta we often get big waves so it’s not a problem for me.”

The first three days of racing sees teams divided into four fleets, identified by a colour.  Each sailor competes individually with scores awarded at the end of the day. The 60 sailors with the lowest number of points will be placed in the gold fleet and the remainder in silver, bronze and emerald categories.

After the first two days of competition, Richard Schulteis isleading the way with four points.

Defending champion Marco Grandoni is second on nine points while South Africa’s Ian Walker March is a further point adrift.

Gasperini is currently ranked 209th in a fleet of 255 sailors.