Skandia Sail for Gold

[mpowlison]

June 4, 2012

Slow Burning Start

Skandia Sail for Gold 2012 kicked off today, featuring almost all of the medal contenders for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Over seven hundred athletes from 59 nations poured out onto Portland Harbour and Weymouth Bay, the cream of world sailing ready to put a marker down for the coming Olympiad. But conditions were tough, the forecast was for a transitional day, with a new wind arriving and strengthening throughout the rest of the week. So while Portland Harbour and Weymouth Bay delivered racing, it did so in fits and starts.

The 470 race course got the best of the deal, with two races for everyone and a relatively early finish. In the Men’s competition, some familiar names popped out in front. Early race winners were British Olympic representatives Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell, along with the all-conquering Aussie duo of Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page, winners of the last three world championships. Belcher and Page won their second race as well, and lead overall at the end of the first day. But it was also a return to the water and an immediate return to form for Britain’s double World Champions, Nic Asher and Elliot Willis who scored a second and a third to hold second overall.

Asher and Willis have been kept out of sailing through illness since a below-par World Championships in Perth last year, and this was their first regatta in 2012. In the meantime, rivals Patience and Bithell got the British Olympic slot for the Games – a bitter disappointment to double world champions that have yet to go to the Olympics. Asher commented, “I would like to carry on for Rio but we will make that decision after Skandia Sail for Gold with Sparky (Stephen Park; Skandia Team GBR Olympic Manager). I see other options are stepping into the Skiff or 49er. But it is fantastic to be back and we have some unfinished business here.”

he Women’s 470 fleet got underway in the afternoon and also completed two races – winners were the new British World Champions and Olympic representatives, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark. They posted a first and a fourth to lead from Elise Rechichi and Belinda Stowell from Australia. This is a rivalry that will go all the way to the Games.
The story out on the Finn and Star race course – the furthest from the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy – was more typical of the day. They went out in the morning, were sent back to the beach for lunch without any action, were then hauled back out on the water again in the afternoon to finally get a race in. After all that, it was Michael Hestbaek who took the win in the Stars with four-time medallist (two gold and two silver), Robert Scheidt in fourth.

The USA’s Caleb Paine won the Finns, with another four-time medallist (three gold, one silver), Ben Ainslie in fifth. Paine commented, “It feels great to have won today obviously not being selected to represent [the USA] in the Olympics, so to beat the other guys who will be there feels great.” But for Ainslie it wasn’t so much about the results, “My focus for the week is learning, especially the equipment in the boat; the results aren’t important this week it is just about getting the preparation right and learning as much about the venue as possible.”
The Paralympic course was one of those that raced in both the morning and the afternoon – starting with one race each for the Sonar and the Skud in the morning. The Sonar’s were won by Udo Hessels and Mischa Rossen of the Netherlands from Sven Reiger and Edmund Rath of Austria. In the SKUD 18, Qingdao bronze medallists, John Scott McRoberts and Stacie Louttit from Canada took the honours from Australia’s Qingdao silver medallists Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch.

John Scott McRoberts commented, “It was great to be first today and we are looking forward to the rest of the week and the windy conditions which we prefer; particularly as we already had lots of practice at the Delta Lloyd regatta in light air.” The 2.4mR fleet got out on the Paralympic course in the afternoon, and managed two races in the light conditions. Some very familiar faces were out the front, with both the Netherlands Thierry Schmitter and Megan Pascoe of Team GBR scoring a second and a third to tie for the lead overall, ahead of France’s gold and silver medallist, Damien Seguin in third.

Getting the toughest deal were the men on the Laser course, it was very late when they finally got going, pushing on towards seven o’clock. Unsurprisingly, they only got one race in, and it was won by Simon Grotelueschen, beating countryman Philipp Buhl. The Women in the Laser Radial did better, with two races completed by a reasonable hour. It was Dongshuang Zhang of China that took a first and second place to lead overall from Canada’s Isabella Bertold and Spain’s Fatima Reyes.

It was also a very long day out on the Women’s Match Racing course, they started at 10:00 and finished their eleventh flight at 20:20 – almost ten hours later. The only unbeaten teams at the end of the day were Australia’s Olivia Price who won six from six and Silja Lehtinen with four from four. And with Russia’s Ekaterina Skudina only losing one from six, these three currently top the standings, but there is a long way to go in this competition.

The 49ers took all day to get through it, but they finished three races for both fleets. At the top at the end of the day was Britain’s Dave Evans and Ed Powys with two wins and a third. It gives them a solid jump from Austria’s second-placed Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth and Nikolaus Leopold Resch. Evans commented, “We like the breeze so we are looking forward to the rest of week. Today was a condition we are ok in, but we don’t really do that well in; so getting a good result was great for us.”

The RS:X Women got two races in today, and it was Poland’s Zofia Noceti-Klepacka that had the best of the day, with a first and a second, edging Britain’s Bryony Shaw who had a solid couple of thirds, and Spain’s Marina Alabau with a second and an eighth. It wasn’t a surprise to Bryony Shaw, who commented afterwards, “We had a couple of light wind specialists up there in the first race and then the two girls who I see as my main rivals from Poland and Spain were there in the second race, really showing their experience when everyone was tired and a bit worn out after the first race, so it was a good little battle with those two.”

Zofia Noceti-Klepacka reckons she will be stronger in the windier conditions forecast for the end of the week though – which may or may not worry Shaw. “I prefer it when the conditions are windier so I am looking forward to the rest of the week; the forecast looks great so it will be more fun,” said Noceti-Klepacka.

The Men’s RS:X got one race done in the morning and another in the afternoon. The day belonged to 2012 World Champion, Julien Bontemps of France, with a first and a third. It was just a one point better performance than Toni Wilhelm of Germany who scored a first and a fourth.

For full results go to the website here

[mpowlison]

June 5, 2012

An Endurance Classic

If all you see of Olympic sailing is the medal race it would be easy to believe that the sport is intense, dramatic and short – and while it has those features, it’s also about endurance. And it was endurance that was tested at Skandia Sail for Gold today.

The British weather turned it on for the Queen’s 60th Jubilee celebrations with steady and occasionally torrential rain, cold temperatures and a steadily increasing breeze. It was a day to test the focus and commitment of even the toughest of athletes.

Perhaps it was unsurprising then that the Laser Radials saw some more famous names coming to the front, with Belgium’s Evi van Acker taking a first and a third to move into the overall lead. She’s being chased hard by Lijia Xu of China – bronze medallist in Qingdao and second at the recent Laser Radial World Championships. Xu had a great day in Weymouth with two firsts. Finland’s Sari Multala now holds third, with 2012 World Champion Gintare Scheidt in fourth, and double Skandia Sail for Gold winner, Marit Bouwmeester in fifth.

It’s a tough fleet, but van Acker isn’t fazed. “I don’t really care about the other girls, I am just here to do my best but it is really difficult not to look at the rest especially those who I have seen improve. My main focus is just on me and trying to be the best I can be. Sailing against Marit isn’t great, she is a great sailor but then I am too so we will see who wins.”

The Laser Men had a particularly tough time, not even getting their racing underway until late afternoon, in the worst of the weather, and then doing three races. It was the Australians that coped best with the conditions, with Tom Burton posting a first, second and a third to take a four point overall lead from his countryman, Tom Slingsby – multiple world champion and unbeaten on Weymouth and Portland waters.

Slingsby wasn’t finding it easy though, “It was a ok day for me, with a one, three and five and plenty of speed, but plenty of errors too. I think I made more and more errors as the day went on. I was too tired and not thinking straight. A lot more wind and rain today as well as big waves, so yes it was tough conditions. We were doing three lap races, so it was really hard on the body as well as it being freezing cold and raining meant it wasn't great. The visibility made things harder, in the second race I couldn't see the top mark along with 30-40 other guys who were in the top group. I think it was quite unfair to race in these conditions; perhaps we should have waited for better conditions.”


It was a big day in the Finn, after only completing one race yesterday, they had three scheduled today and they were all sailed. It was Giles Scott’s day, the Brit winning all three races – he still has a 21st from yesterday, but will move up the rankings once enough races have been sailed to allow him to discard his worst result. Meanwhile, the top of the Finn table has it’s normal look, with Ben Ainslie (GBR) leading Zach Railey (USA) by five points, after the British triple gold medallist scored a fifth, second and third for the day; Scott is in third.

There was also drama overnight, with an important redress decision for Pieter Jan Postma, who explained, “I had a big collision with Martin Robitaille yesterday, and he made a big hole in my transom and I took on a lot of water and they granted me redress for that. I also had some water in today but I wasn't sinking, and I am quite happy with my day.’ Postma now lies fourth overall after the Jury decision.

The Star class share the most distant course on the Weymouth and Portland sailing waters with the Finn, and they too had three races scheduled, and sailed them. It was the Irish team, - perhaps enjoying the weather more than some of their competitors - that had the best day. Peter O’Leary and David Burrows scored a first, second and fourth to hold a two point lead from the World Champions, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada.

Robert Scheidt was one of those not enjoying the weather so much. “We are really happy with those results but also quite tired with it being a rough day and doing three races. Six- seven hours on the water so I am very much looking forward to a shower!” Another man having a touch day was the 1988 Star Gold Medallist, Mike McIntyre, whose return to the fleet ended badly - he was on port tack on the first beat of the second race when John Gimson tried to duck behind him. The manoeuvre went badly wrong and Gimson crashed into the gold medallist - fortunately McIntyre had borrowed the boat from Gimson!

Out on the Paralympic course for the SKUD 18 it was a Jubilee day for Britain’s Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell – they won all three races in a remarkable performance that took them past John McRoberts and Stacie Louttit (CAN) and into a four point lead. Rickham commented, “We were really happy with our performance today – we worked hard and basically feel like we deserved those three race wins. The areas we have been having trouble with we’ve progressed since Hyeres, but really we’re more happy with our consistency across the races.”

The Sonars also sailed three races in the tough conditions, and the Netherlands trio of Udo Hessels, Mischa Rossen and Marcel van de Veen held their overnight lead with two fourths and a third. Chasing them are the French team of Bruno Jourdren, Nicolas Vimont Vicary and Eric Flageul in second, and Norway’s Aleksander Wang-Hansen, Marie Solberg and Per Eugen Solberg in third. Gold and silver medallist, Damien Seguin of France convincingly won the day in the 2.4mR with two wins. It still wasn’t enough to overtake arch-rival, the Netherlands Thierry Schmitter though – the two are now separated by four points. Britain’s Megan Pascoe is in third, another five points behind Schmitter.

The RS:X fleet got two more races in this morning and it was another absolutely dominant performance from Poland’s Zofia Noceti-Klepacka, posting another second and first to take a 16 point lead from Spain’s Marina Alabau, with four-time Olympic medallist Alessandra Sensini of Italy another two points adrift in third. Overnight third-placed Bryony Shaw broke her mast extension in the first race and didn’t finish, but recovered to a fifth in the second.

Shaw commented afterwards, “It is quite a rare thing that the equipment can break as it did today. It is typical that it never happens in training, most importantly we weren’t too frustrated to be honest, it is something that you kind of get on with and I think I kept cool enough to race well in the second race.”

The RS:X Men’s contest is taking a familiar shape, with France’s Julien Bontemps holding a five point lead over Britain’s Nick Dempsey. The pair just topped the table at the recent world championships with Bontemps winning it by a couple of points. But Demspey had the better of the day, with a first and a seventh to Bontemps who scored a comparatively poor fifth and eighth. In third is Germany’s Toni Wilhelm.

In the Men’s 470 class they got another two races completed and it was the three-time World Champions Matt Belcher and Malcolm Page who continued to dominate overall with a second and a fourth. But the day belonged to Kiwis Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders, who posted back-to-back wins to move up into silver, seven points behind Belcher and Page. Not far behind were Lucas Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente from Argentina, with a second and a first, now in bronze.

The 470 Women got their two races done by early afternoon and it was another top day for the British World Champions, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark. They scored a third and a seventh to hold a four point lead from second placed Camille Lecontre and Mathilde Geron. In third are the Americans, Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan, who won the fourth race, leaving them ten points adrift of the French.
Saskia Clark commented, “It’s certainly different to Barcelona where we won the Worlds – the weather is just so miserable! It’s good racing though and good to have some good strong breeze. We’re still pretty calm and want to do as well as we can, the podium is in sight but the key for us at this regatta is to pick out the learning points for our next training before the big one in August!”

In the 49er fleet the day belonged to American’s Erik Storke and Trevor Moore, who threw down a first, second and a third to lift themselves onto the podium. Moore commented, “Obviously the wind today was very different to what we had yesterday but we had good boat speed and really good starts. We managed the good starts yesterday but couldn't quite put it away, so today we sailed clear of the other boats as much as we could and used our boat speed to our advantage. It worked out for us.”

The British pair, Dave Evans and Ed Powys had another solid day with a first, third and fifth to hold their ten point overnight advantage over Australia’s multiple World Champions, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) – the latter scored a first, second and sixth to exactly match the Brits. Outteridge wasn’t entirely happy with his day, however, “I was a bit disappointed with the sixth because we were winning that middle race by quite a bit and had a capsize just before the finish. We had a good recovery, got up and finished in sixth but it was big waves out there... [and there] was just one that caught us out.”

Despite almost heroic efforts and another long day on the race course, the Women’s Match Racing didn’t get their round robin completed. The racing ended at flight 22, and there are four more flights to sail before the repecharge, so nothing is settled yet – but some are looking in better shape than others. The Russia team of Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Oblova and Elena Siuzeva have won nine of eleven races, not far behind are the British team of Lucy and Kate MacGregor, and Annie Lush, and the Australian team of Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty – both teams have only lost two of ten races.

These three are currently contending the top of the leaderboard with the French team of Claire Leroy, Elodie Bertrand and Marie Riou with eight wins from eleven races. Also in contention are the Finns, Silja Lehtinen, Silja Kanerva and Mikaela Wulff with seven wins from ten races. While the surprise strugglers are the USA’s Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi - many people’s favourites ahead of the event, but currently with just five wins from ten races.

[mpowlison]

June 6, 2012

The Breeze Picks Up and So Does the Competition

The weather forecast for the second half of Skandia Sail for Gold has been a hot topic of conversation for a while, and today it started to happen.

The wind pick-up this morning, and by the afternoon it was a challenging twenty knots and change for most race courses. Once again, the stamina of the athletes was tested to the limit – and it’s just going to get windier.

The RS:X Men raced in the morning in the more moderate conditions, and it’s still all about the one-two double act from the last world championships, Julien Bontemps and Nick Dempsey. Bontemps had another steady day with a third and a fourth to hold onto his lead, while Dempsey used up his discard with a 13th in race five, but then won the second race of the day. The gap between them is now seven points – it was only two at the end of the World Championships - racing between the pair is very tight. Threatening to split up the dynamic duo was Dorian van Rijsselberge, only one point behind Dempsey.

The British sailor explained, “I had a really difficult first race today, it was the first time we had sailed in the bay in a little while. I was pretty sure that the left was going to be quite favoured but the problem was that I lost my lane and I had to tack out so the separation was massive. The course was big which meant the separation was big, so I was caught out today - it didn’t do what I thought it was going to do which is unfortunate.”

In the RS:X Women it was another extraordinary day for Poland’s Zofia Noceti-Klepacka – with two first places to add to her tally – making four wins and two seconds. Noceti-Klepacka is now discarding a second place and has a significant jump on her long-term rivals. Trailing her by 13 points in second place is Spain’s Marina Alabau, with Lee Korzits of Israel in third, another eight points behind.

Zofia Noceti-Klepacka’s enthusiasm is perhaps one of the reasons she is doing so well. “I am training really hard and I have some really good training partners who include a world champion and I am really seeing the results from this. I will continue to train hard in the hope that at the Olympic Games I do well. I love Weymouth, the conditions are great, the wind is great so I sail slalom for fun in the evenings! I really like the people here, it is like Poland.”

The Paralympic course got a full day of racing in, and it was another blistering performance from the British Skud pair of Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell. They followed up yesterday’s hat-trick of race wins with another brace of bullets today to scorch into a five point overall lead from the Qingdao bronze medallists, John McRoberts and Stacie Louttit. Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch hold third another three points behind.

Alexandra Rickham said, “We have had a string of silvers at this regatta, which has always been tough to take, but we are sailing consistently at the moment. Today was really hard for everybody, it was probably the toughest conditions for us in terms of the crew and helm. It was gusting anything from 23-26 knots and Niki had to think pretty hard because the wind was shifting all over the place.”

The Sonar’s matched them with another two races and it was another British team on top – John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas scored a second and a third. Combined with the discard coming into play and allowing them to drop their 12th place, they passed Dutch overnight leaders Udo Hessels, Mischa Rossen and Marcel ven de Veen. There are only a couple of points in it though, with Canadians, Bruce Millar, Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes in third, seven points adrift of the Dutch.

Hannah Stodel spoke for the British crew. “It was a good day out there; it was massively shifty though; so it was anybody’s game. We got a little bit of luck when we wanted it and we sailed pretty well actually, so we did deserve it. Monday was just... one of those days when we couldn’t do anything right but that is over now and we are improving. We have picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves off!”

More Weather
Match 16 Races More...
49er 16 Races More...
RSXM 11 Races More...
RSXW 11 Races More...
Finn 11 Races More...
Radial 11 Races More...
Laser 11 Races More...
470M 11 Races More...
470W 11 Races More...
Star 11 Races More...
2.4m 10 Races More...
Skud 10 Races More...
Sonar 10 Races More...

The Breeze Picks Up and so does the Competition

The weather forecast for the second half of Skandia Sail for Gold has been a hot topic of conversation for a while, and today it started to happen.

The wind pick-up this morning, and by the afternoon it was a challenging twenty knots and change for most race courses. Once again, the stamina of the athletes was tested to the limit – and it’s just going to get windier.

The RS:X Men raced in the morning in the more moderate conditions, and it’s still all about the one-two double act from the last world championships, Julien Bontemps and Nick Dempsey. Bontemps had another steady day with a third and a fourth to hold onto his lead, while Dempsey used up his discard with a 13th in race five, but then won the second race of the day. The gap between them is now seven points – it was only two at the end of the World Championships - racing between the pair is very tight. Threatening to split up the dynamic duo was Dorian van Rijsselberge, only one point behind Dempsey.

The British sailor explained, “I had a really difficult first race today, it was the first time we had sailed in the bay in a little while. I was pretty sure that the left was going to be quite favoured but the problem was that I lost my lane and I had to tack out so the separation was massive. The course was big which meant the separation was big, so I was caught out today - it didn’t do what I thought it was going to do which is unfortunate.”

In the RS:X Women it was another extraordinary day for Poland’s Zofia Noceti-Klepacka – with two first places to add to her tally – making four wins and two seconds. Noceti-Klepacka is now discarding a second place and has a significant jump on her long-term rivals. Trailing her by 13 points in second place is Spain’s Marina Alabau, with Lee Korzits of Israel in third, another eight points behind.

Zofia Noceti-Klepacka’s enthusiasm is perhaps one of the reasons she is doing so well. “I am training really hard and I have some really good training partners who include a world champion and I am really seeing the results from this. I will continue to train hard in the hope that at the Olympic Games I do well. I love Weymouth, the conditions are great, the wind is great so I sail slalom for fun in the evenings! I really like the people here, it is like Poland.”

The Paralympic course got a full day of racing in, and it was another blistering performance from the British Skud pair of Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell. They followed up yesterday’s hat-trick of race wins with another brace of bullets today to scorch into a five point overall lead from the Qingdao bronze medallists, John McRoberts and Stacie Louttit. Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch hold third another three points behind.

Alexandra Rickham said, “We have had a string of silvers at this regatta, which has always been tough to take, but we are sailing consistently at the moment. Today was really hard for everybody, it was probably the toughest conditions for us in terms of the crew and helm. It was gusting anything from 23-26 knots and Niki had to think pretty hard because the wind was shifting all over the place.”

The Sonar’s matched them with another two races and it was another British team on top – John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas scored a second and a third. Combined with the discard coming into play and allowing them to drop their 12th place, they passed Dutch overnight leaders Udo Hessels, Mischa Rossen and Marcel ven de Veen. There are only a couple of points in it though, with Canadians, Bruce Millar, Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes in third, seven points adrift of the Dutch.

Hannah Stodel spoke for the British crew. “It was a good day out there; it was massively shifty though; so it was anybody’s game. We got a little bit of luck when we wanted it and we sailed pretty well actually, so we did deserve it. Monday was just... one of those days when we couldn’t do anything right but that is over now and we are improving. We have picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves off!”

Almost completing a British hat-trick in the Paralympic classes was Helena Lucas. After scoring a third and a fifth today and discarding a 17th from the first race, Lucas pulled up to tie level with the Netherlands Thierry Schmitter, who has an edge in the tie-break thanks to a first place. Schmitter only managed a sixth and an eighth, discarding the latter, and commented, “I didn't do as well today, it was a very hard wind to sail in and I had a few difficulties which meant I was unable to keep an overview of the fleet and lost a little bit of control... It's not so easy when there are four or five guys leading at the top, I sailed my discard today so I can’t make any more mistakes in this regatta, it's getting tougher and tougher but we knew that before we started.”

In the 49ers, the three-time Skandia Sail for Gold champions, Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen took control of the fleet after overnight leaders, Dave Evans and Ed Powys (GBR) had a poor day by their standards this week with a 10th and a 13th. Outteridge and Jensen scored two firsts and a fourth to climb into pole, now chased by the French team of Emmanuel Dyen and Stephane Christidis six points behind them. But making really good progress up the leaderboard with a first and two seconds were the British Olympic representatives, Steve Morrison and Ben Rhodes – now fourth.

Nathan Outteridge commented, “Today was a good day, we had a fourth and two firsts. We always worry about Stevie (Morrison) and Ben (Rhodes) they are slowly creeping their way back up the leader board. They have a won a medal the last two times we have raced, so we would never count them out.”

Steve Morrison said, “We had a good day today. It was in the harbour so we had some gusty, shifty winds then it got steadier and the sun’s come out so it's turned into a really nice day. This home event is a learning process. We feel like we've been sailing pretty well. We've sailed very consistently and none of the results we've got have been down to luck. They've all been solid, fought-out wins.”

It was still Australia’s day in the Lasers, with Tom Burton scoring a first and a ninth (which he discarded) to hold his overall lead. But countryman Tom Slingsby dropped from second after posting a sixth and a seventh. Burton commented, “I have been doing a lot of training with Tom (Slingsby), as he is our representative for the Olympics. I’m sure he doesn’t mind that I’m beating him, but it is pretty good to get one on him!”

Also taking advantage of Slingsby’s unusually average day were German Phillip Buhl, up into second and Sweden’s Rasmus Myrgren, now third. But it’s desperately tight after Burton; with Buhl, Myrgren, Slingsby and then Croatian Tonci Stipanovic separated by just a single point.

But right now, the Laser Radials are the toughest contest at Skandia Sail for Gold – Evi van Acker led overnight, but only just and now it’s even tighter. A second and a ninth saw her slide to third, overtaken by Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands and Lijia Xu of China, who posted a first and a fifth. But with Sari Multala (FIN), Alison Young (GBR) and Gintare Scheidt (LTU) also having a good day, the result is that the top six are now separated by just two points.

The Women’s Match Racing completed their initial round robin, and the top six went through to the Gold Group, skippers; Lucy MacGregor (GBR), Claire Leroy (FRA), Olivia Price (AUS), Ekaterina Skudina (RUS), Silja Lehtinen (FIN) and finally, Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) pulling it out of the bag to take the last place. The Repechage Round got underway with first blood going to Renee Groeneveld, Stephanie Hazard and Tamara Echegoyen – all with three wins each. They will complete the round in the morning. The Gold Group also started racing and Ekaterina Skudina put her nose in front with three early wins – again, the Group will complete their racing in the morning.

The Stars saw a fabulous return to world class form for Iain Percy and Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson. They scored a first and a second to move to the overall lead, with just a one point advantage from long-term Brazilian rivals, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada. Dropping to third and two points behind were the Irish pair of Peter O’Leary and David Burrows, with Richard Clarke and Tyler Bjorn from Canada just another point behind the Irish.

Ian Percy was cheerful, “A much better day today, found a lot more speed upwind and we are still working on our downwind, so managed to get a two and a one. Half way through the regatta and it all starts again with any number of boats still in the medals.”

The Finn class saw another dominant performance from Giles Scott, but today it was almost matched by Ben Ainslie. Scott won the first race, with Ainslie digging himself back from a poor first beat to score a third. Then Ainslie blew past Scott to win the last race, leaving him to score a second. USA Olympic representative Zach Railey is third, ten points adrift of Ainslie.

The 470 Men’s class saw a rare sight, the dominance of Australians Matt Belcher and Malcolm Page over-turned – worse, it was by trans-Tasman rivals Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders. The Kiwis delivered two first places compared to Belcher and Page’s first and a third. The discards also kicked in today, and when the New Zealanders dropped their ninth they went to the top of the fleet. In third place are the British Olympic representatives, Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell.

The 470 Women also saw the overnight lead overturned – and again it was the reigning World Champions that got pushed out of first place. The British pair of Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark had a poor day by their standards, with a 13th and a 14th. It dropped them to third behind the French pair of Camille Lecointre and Mathilde Geron, who scored a seventh and a second to maintain their five point advantage over the New Zealanders Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie, who had an equally good day with an eighth and a first.

[mpowlison]

June 7, 2012

Paralympic Classes Close With a Storm

The storm was building to its peak as the athletes left Skandia Sail for Gold on Thursday afternoon, and overnight it blasted Weymouth and Portland with winds in excess of fifty knots.

Waves broke over the famous Chesil Bank, the rain poured down and the venue was cleared in case of flooding. Welcome to the British summer.

By Friday morning the wind had not abated calling an early end to the Paralympic regatta. The other classes had longer to wait, but at 14:30 racing was called off for the day for everyone. The silver fleets and those that didn’t make the gold fleet cut for the medal race joined the Paralympians in packing up. Tomorrow, the top ten in each Olympic class will race for gold, silver and bronze.

The Paralympic regatta was always due to finish on Friday, all three classes were completed with six races and one discard. In the Skud the British four-time world champions of Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell dominated with a string of five consecutive wins, to take the gold medal with a five point advantage from the Qingdao bronze medallists, John McRoberts and Stacie Louttit. The 2008 silver medallist Daniel Fitzgibbon and his new crew, Liesl Tesch took the bronze, another three points behind.

The British Skud duo had never won the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta, Niki Birrell commented, “It feels fantastic to finish the regatta with a gold medal here in Weymouth and Portland. We came here wanting to win this event and we have done so, that’s great! Obviously we want to win the Paralympics in September so the overall result here wasn’t as important as the Games, but it’s still great to have won!”

In the Sonar’s it was another British team taking gold – John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas took the win from the Dutch trio, Udo Hessels, Mischa Rossen and Marcel van de Veen. There were just two points in it, with Canadians, Bruce Millar, Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes in third, seven points adrift of the Dutch.

Steve Thomas commented, “I was quite disappointed actually that racing got cancelled, it would’ve been good to get more practice in before the Games. We had an average start to the regatta but we improved on the second day and we wanted to continue with that through the week. It was a pretty tough competition, all the guys here are going to be at the Games, it was a strong fleet, everyone sailed well.”

Mischa Rossen, from the Netherlands Sonar, reflected on the week, “Well it’s been a very wet week but we had a lot of different winds which was good. We’re pleased with our second place finish but a bit disappointed, we really wanted to get out and try and beat the Brits today! We were only two points behind them so we did have a good chance, but we learnt a lot and we have a few things that we can take away and work on back home.”

Helena Lucas came desperately close to completing a remarkable British hat-trick in the Paralympic classes. Lucas had pulled up to tie-level with the Netherlands Thierry Schmitter on Wednesday, but Schmitter had the advantage in the tie-break thanks to a first place score. And with no more racing, Lucas was left ruing a lost opportunity, but consoled by a silver medal. “I’m obviously happy with the silver medal but at the same time a little frustrated as I was so close to the gold.”

“The last race on Wednesday, which was the last race of the regatta, I was in fourth which would have given me the gold but at the last minute I was piped over the line. The boat from Norway caught a good wave which took him over just in front – it was so close and so frustrating, as I kind of knew it was going to be the last race of the regatta. But it’s still good to medal and obviously its September that counts!”

Both Schmitter and Lucas may be pleased to have beaten gold and silver medallist Damien Seguin of France – one of Paralympic sailing’s most be-medalled individuals. Seguin had to settle for bronze on this occasion, four points behind the lead pair. Thierry Schmitter said, “I’m thrilled to have won, it’s a shame that we only got to sail three days when we came here to sail five, but the weather you can’t control and the good thing is that I finally won this regatta. The lesson is that you have to be good at every race and not wait until the second half of the regatta to get into the lead.”

While most of the dock talk at the gale-bound Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy was about the upcoming Olympics, plans are already in place for a post-Olympic future. In 2013 Sail for Gold will be part of the European Sailing Federation’s new European Sailing Cup. The rest of the circuit will be Garda Olympic Week, Italy; Delta Lloyd Regatta, The Netherlands; Kieler Woche, Germany and Semaine Olympique Française, France, with Sail for Gold currently scheduled for the 10th to the 14th June 2013.

The pause in the action was also a moment to look back on the work already done in developing the event. UK Sport’s Head of Major Events, Esther Nicholls, said: “UK Sport and the RYA have maintained an ambitious major events strategy in the six year period leading up to the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, staging 12 sailing events in the UK that have been backed by a collective investment of over £1.7million of National Lottery funding.
“Six Sail for Gold regattas have been staged at the Olympic venue in Weymouth during this time, providing British sailors with unique preparation opportunities ahead of London 2012, as well as giving volunteers, officials and support staff invaluable experience in the build up to a home Games.”

Looking ahead again, there is lots of anticipation for the Medal Race day tomorrow, all the classes are still wide open, some are desperately tight, no-one is guaranteed gold and very few are guaranteed a medal. The action starts early for the Match Racing Women – the intention is for them to begin at 08:00 BST, and they have plenty of sailing to do; quarter finals, semis and finals still to be raced. The rest of the classes start at 10:00 with the Lasers up first, follow it all with live tracking, audio commentary and the blog on the website.

[mpowlison]

June 9, 2012

Medals Decided at Skandia Sail for Gold

One storm had passed, but another was brewing - it was Saturday and it was medal race day at Skandia Sail for Gold and the drama was just beginning. There were ten classes and thirty medals to decide, and not one of them was a certainty.

After a week of tumultuous weather, the sun finally came out and the wind moderated to a perfect 15 knots for the opening races, building to a fresh 20-22 knots for the final medals. The action took place on two courses, one inside the harbour and the other under the Olympic spectator site on the Nothe.

Laser – Harbour course
Tom Slingsby was the man to beat, five-points ahead of Germany’s Philipp Buhl in second place. But by the time the fleet had reached the top mark, Slingsby had just one man in focus and that was Britain’s Paul Goodison. The Brit was fifth coming into the medal race, but with a real chance of still taking silver. Goodison, the Beijing Laser gold medallist, had a plan, he wanted the pin end, won it and headed off to the left-hand side.

At the first windward mark it was Slingsby first – Goodison one boat length behind. The pair pushed each other down the run extending away from the fleet, then on the second beat Slingsby, who is unbeaten on the 2012 Olympic racetrack, covered Goodison. He kept it up for the rest of the race and leaving Goodison vulnerable to the pack behind and as the wind pushed the fleet together on the final run, Tom Burton and Andy Maloney slid past on the line. The result gave Burton the silver behind his countryman, and left Philipp Buhl in bronze. Goodison had to settle for fourth.

470 – Nothe course
Current 470 World Champions, Belcher and Page have been dominant in the 470 class throughout the week. Their main rivals for gold were the British pair of Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell. Off the start-line it was the Brits that got the initial jump, controlling the Australian pair up the first beat and rounding the windward mark just ahead. However Belcher and Page managed to squeeze low round the mark getting inside, from there the Australian pair sailed away to win the medal race in convincing fashion. Patience and Bithell held second to give themselves the silver medal, while bronze went to the New Zealanders Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders, who finished the medal race with a solid fourth.

Laser Radial – Harbour course
This has been one of the tightest fleets all week, and going into the medal race three sailors were separated by the narrowest of margins and any one of Lijia Xu, Alison Young or Sari Multala could have taken gold. But it was the Netherlands Marit Bouwmeester that got the best start, unfortunately the Dutch sailor was in an uncustomary sixth place heading into the medal race, and then got a penalty coming into first windward mark. The overall leader, Lijia Xu then hit the windward mark and put herself out of contention, after a tight layline call and a shift saw Xu hit the windward mark. Her penalty turn set her back from fourth to ninth.

Britain’s Alison Young was just one-point off Xu going into the medal race, rounded the windward mark in second to get a grip on gold. It was one she didn’t relinquish before the finish. Only Ireland’s Annalise Murphy beat her, and her fabulous final race pulled her up into bronze medal position. In third on the water behind Murphy and Young was Finland’s Sari Multala, and that was enough to get her the silver. China’s Lijia Xu’s ninth place in the medal race dropping her down to fourth and out of the medals.

470 women – Nothe
The Kiwi pairing of Jo Aleph and Olivia Powrie looked like they would be left to sail their own race, nine points ahead of their nearest rivals, the French pair of Camille Lecointre and Mathilde Geron. There was still a big fight for silver and bronze with just four points separating the French from current world Champions, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark in fourth. A bad start for British pair – when their tiller extension broke moments from the start - meant they trailed the fleet as they headed up the first beat. But the French race wasn’t going to plan either, rounding the windward mark in ninth.

The British pair recovered better than the French, and it looked like silver was between them and the Brazilian pair of Martine Grael and Isabel Swan – the two boats equal on points coming into the medal race. But on the final gybe coming into the finish line Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan (USA) - sixth coming into the medal race – grabbed the win on the line. It pushed them up to silver, leaving the Mills and Clark to win their battle with the Brazilians and take bronze.

49er - Harbour
By now the wind was blowing 19 knots with gusts of 23, and the French pair Emmanuel Dyen and Stephane Christidis sailed a perfect medal race – the led from start to finish, with an impressive 300m gap at the finish. They were second behind Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen going into the medal race and the point’s difference meant that the Aussies had to get fourth or better to keep gold. Seventh at the top mark, they had time to make ground on the three lap windward leeward course and grab the fourth they needed by the finish. It left the French in silver.

Fighting it out for the bronze were the British crews - three made it into the medal race. Steve Morrison and Ben Rhodes, the British representatives at this year’s Olympics were in sixth place coming into the medal race. They stayed clean and finished second on the water, but it was not enough to beat their training partners, Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign, who grabbed a sixth place on the water and the bronze medal.

RS:X Women – Nothe
One of the star performers at Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta this week has been Poland’s Zofia Noceti-Klepacka, only counting firsts and second places going into the medal race, she had a 17-point lead over Spain’s Marina Alabau – who was in turn 15-points ahead of third. Noceti-Klepacka again showed the fleet the way home winning the medal race in impressive fashion and keeping gold. Marina Alabau also had a solid grip on the silver and an eighth place on the water was enough to get her the medal.

Behind the top two though the points were tight, just two points separating Olga Maslivets (UKR) in third from Alessandra Sensini (ITA) in fifth. After a four lap course, the final podium place went to Lee Korzits from Israel who finished second in the medal race, one place ahead of main rival Maslivets who dropped to fourth overall.

Star – Harbour
Next up were the heavyweights in the Star class – reigning Olympic champions Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson had a slim one-point lead over their main rivals, four-time Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt and his sailing partner Bruno Prada. The Irish and Canadian crews were just a couple of points back.

Off the start line, the leading pair headed left, but it was the right that paid. A port and starboard incident up the first beat meant the Brazilian duo had to do penalty turns, and it demoted them to the back of the fleet.

With O’Leary and Burrows in second at the leeward gate the Irish were now in pole position for gold, with the British and Brazilians fighting to hang onto silver and bronze. On the second beat, Scheidt headed right whilst Percy opted for the left again. At the top mark, Brazil had pulled up to sixth with the two-time British gold medallist two places adrift in eighth.

There was now a potentially mast-breaking 20-23 knots of breeze on the race course, and Scheidt and Prada surfed their way into fourth, while the Irish team had dropped to third. But it wasn’t enough, gold went to Ireland’s Peter O’Leary and Davis Burrows, while Scheidt and Prada took silver, with Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson having to settle for bronze.

RS:X Men - Nothe
Frenchman Julian Bontemps held an eight-point lead heading into the medal race, the Dutchman Dorian van Rijsselberge his closest rival. The RS:X boards flew round the four-lap windward leeward course, reaching speeds of 25 knots, and it was van Rijsselberge who took control, winning the medal race. And with Bontemps only finishing fifth, it left the pair on 31 points a-piece, the tie break going to Dorian van Rijsselberge with his medal race win. It gave the Netherlands the gold medal, France the silver, and Britain’s Nick Dempsey took the final podium position with a third in the medal race.

Finn - Harbour
Giles Scott, the young pretender to Ben Ainslie relished the windy conditions Weymouth and Portland had provided this week. The only blot on his near perfect scoreline has been a 21st on the first day before the breeze kicked in. With no racing on Friday, Ainslie seemed to have lost his opportunity to match race Scott to the back of the pack to make his 21st count, instead Scott went into the medal race with a 12 point lead.

Ainslie got the better of the start, but Scott’s clearing tack put him on the right side, and left Ainslie struggling to get back in the pack. With Scott blasting through to second on the run, Ainslie made an uncharacteristic error, capsizing at the leeward gate. Scott continued his great form to win the medal race and take the gold. Now it was all down to Zach Railey and Pieter Jan Postma to get over 5 places between themselves and Ainslie to deprive the triple Olympic gold medallist of silver. In the end, Postma was closest finishing fifth, but Ainslie still took silver by just one point.

Match Racing
The Women’s Match Racing was forced to make an early start with quarter finals, semis and the final all still to sail. They began at 08:00 and the action was constant from there. In the quarter finals it was the Russians, Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Oblova and Elena Siuzeva that beat the Spanish team of Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega and Sofia Toro by two races to nil; Clarie Leroy and her French team of Elodie Bertrand and Marie Riou took down the New Zealanders, Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt by another two races to nil. While the American team of Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vendemoer and Debbie Capozzi beat Finland’s Silja Lehtinen, Silja Kanerva, and Mikaela Wulff also two races to nil, and finally Australia’s Olivia Price beat Lucy MacGregor two races to one.

Onto the semi-finals with barely a pause for breath and this time it was Olivia Price’s Aussies that beat Ekaterina’s Russians – again, the score was two races to nil; while Claire Leroy and the French took down Anna Tunnicliffe’s American’s two races to nil. It meant a France versus Australia final, and it was Price that beat Leroy two races to nil, leaving Tunnicliffe to take the single race Petite Final and the bronze medal from Ekaterina Skudina.

Britain still topped the leaderboard at Skandia Sail for Gold with four golds, three silvers and four bronze medals. But Australia and The Netherlands are also right up there, we will know this summer if the British team can retain the top sailing nation slot. Lets hope the British summer makes an appearance.

Next year’s Sail for Gold Regatta is scheduled for the 10th to the 14th June 2013, forming part of the newly formed European Sailing Cup.

Overall top three results in all classes below. For full results go to www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk

SONAR
1 - GBR John Robertson, Hannah Stodel, Steve Thomas – 14 points
2 - NED Udo HESSELS, Mischa ROSSEN, Marcel VAN DE VEEN – 16 points
3 - CAN Bruce Miller, Logan Campbell, Scott Lutes – 23 points

SKUD
1 - GBR Alexandra RICKHAM, Niki BIRRELL – 5 points
2 - CAN John MCROBERTS, Stacie LOUTTIT – 10 points
3 - Daniel Fitzgibbon, Liesl TESCH – 13 points

2.4m
1 - NED Thierry SCHMITTER - 15 points
3 - GBR Helena LUCAS - 15 points
3 - FRA Damien SEGUIN - 19 points

WOMENS MATCH RACING
1st AUS Olivia Price, Nina Curtis, Lucinda Whittly 2-1
2nd FRA Claire Leroy, Elodie Bertrand, Marie Riou 1-2
3rd USA Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer, Debbie Capozzi 1-0

LASER CLASS
1 - AUS Tom Slingsby - 26 points
2 - AUS Tom Burton - 43 points
3 - GER Philipp Buhl - 43 points

470 MEN
1 – AUS Mathew Belcher, Malcolm Page – 14 points
2 – GBR Luke Patience, Stuart Bithell – 19 points
3 – NZL Paul Snow-Hansen, Jason Saunders – 28 points

LASER RADIAL
1 – GBR Alison Young – 26 points
2 – FIN Sari Multala – 28 points
3 – IRL Annalise Murphy – 36 points

470 WOMEN
1 – NZL Jo Aleh, Olivia Polly Powrie – 32 points
2 – USA Amanda Clark, Sarah Lihan – 52 points
3 – GBR Hannah Mills, Saskia Clark – 53 points

49er
1 – AUS Nathan Outteridge, Iain Jensen – 31 points
2- FRA Emmanuel Dyen, Stephane Christidis – 33 points
3- GBR Dylan Fletcher, Alain Sign – 52 points

RS:X WOMEN
1 – POL Zofia Noceti-Klepacka – 10 points
2 – ESP Marina Alabau – 37 points
3 – ISR Lee Korzits – 40 points

RS:X MEN
1 - NED Dorian Van Rijsselberge – 31 points
2 - FRA Julien Bontemps – 31 points
3 - GBR Nick Dempsey – 43 points

FINN
1 – GBR Giles Scott – 9 points
2 – GBR Ben Ainslie – 39 points
3 – NED Pieter Jan Postma – 40.3 points

STAR
1 – IRL Peter O’Leary, David Burrows – 23 points
2 – BRA Robert Scheidt, Bruno Prada – 23 points
3 – GBR Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson – 30 points