Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta - Day 4
by ISAF 19 Aug 2015 08:01 BST
15-22 August 2015
Serious business
The Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta is serious business for the 326 registered sailors from 50 countries with high stakes and bragging rights on the line.
The Olympic Test Event is an opportunity for sailors to prove themselves as Olympic medal candidates to their National Olympic Committees and to set themselves apart from their rivals.
Many of the medallists seen at the Test Event will be on Olympic podium one year from now. Confidence and a can do attitude can be established this year in the build-up for the main event.
It was a long hard day for the competitors with a light breeze prevalent across all six racing areas. The hard working Race Committees put on seven races across the three racing areas inside Guanabara Bay with no racing possible outside.
A 6-8 knot southerly breeze enabled the 49erFX and Men's RS:X to complete two races whilst the Laser, Laser Radial and Men's RS:X completed one.
Wednesday 19 August is expected to be one of the busiest days on the water as the fleets look to catch up on the schedule.
49erFX
It's serious business in the 49erFX fleet with a single point separating Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze and Italy's Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich.
Across the six races so far, the fleet of 19 have pushed hard to stamp some sort of authority on their rivals with minimal separation on the race track.
Following a first race disqualification the Brazilians have been fully focused on the job at hand and sailed their way to a third and a first to advance up to first overall.
"The first day we had a protest so we thought, this is pretty serious," smiled Grael. "But it was good for us because we were like right, okay let's watch out. We've had to be careful and not do any big mistakes," finished Kunze.
Keeping focused on the job at hand the Brazilians have not finished out of the top three since their disqualification and grabbed the lead for the first time.
Grael and Kunze, 2014 ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year, have an infectious attitude, bouncing off of each other yet remaining remarkably cool under pressure. After speaking in Portuguese to a cluster of Brazilian radio, TV and written journalists who view them as Olympic champions in waiting they took time out to speak to the English press and explained they feel no weight of expectation from their nation, the hosts of the 2016 Olympic Games.
"I think they are putting pressure on us," explained Kunze, "but between each other we don't feel any pressure.
"We sail our own races without thinking about everyone too much. Today we never got under the fleet so it was easier to sail the race course."
The 49erFX, Women's Skiff, is the newest piece of equipment to the Olympic Games and will make its debut at Rio 2016. Since the boat made its debut at the 2012 ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne sailors have continued to adapt, develop and grow the attributes that it takes to win an Olympic medal.
Rio 2016 is less than one year away and compared to the 2014 test event, Grael can see a noticeable improvement in the fleet, "You can tell that everyone has had a really good season in Europe and it shows here.
"A lot of teams have ups and downs. This week the Italians are having a good week and last year the Kiwis and the Dutch were good so it's been up and down."
Even though the Italians do not lead, their scorecard is the most impressive. A total score of 22 is the lowest in the fleet and could prove vital in the latter part of the competition when the medals are decided. For now, their net score of 12 sees them just one point off the leading Brazilians.
Comfortably positioned in second place a medal at the test event is more than a sign of success for a good week of racing for the Italians as Conti explained, "For us this event is really important because if we make the podium here then we've qualified for the Olympics. It is a test event but we are fully concentrated and for us, it's like the Olympics."
The Italians have been one of the leading teams in the 49erFX, continuously striving for success and the podium. Conti continued, "We've been working a lot and we've been training in Rio a lot. We have focused more on ourselves this week and tried to keep the boat fast and to keep our heads out of the boat.
"We've put what we've learnt over the last few weeks into practice and today we had a fourth and a second. We are really happy about the result because today could have been bad if you missed a start so we're really happy."
Argentina's Victoria Travascio and Maria Sol Branz continue to impress in Rio. The Pan-American Games gold medallists are one of the lightest crews in the 49erFX and therefore revel in the light breeze. Six top seven results gives them third overall going into the fourth day of 49erFX racing.
Laser and Laser Radial
Gintare Scheidt (LTU), a Beijing 2008 silver medallist, is using her years of experience to her advantage in the Laser Radial and has opened up a seven point lead after she took her second race win of the week.
Scheidt is the only Laser Radial sailor with six top ten results and won the single Laser Radial race of the day convincingly. She remains a calm persona in the boat park and on the water, keeping her cards close to her chest, "I will not tell my secrets," joked Scheidt. "I just keep doing the basic things. As a sailor I don't always concentrate on things like the current which many sailors do. Many of them forget about the basic things so I keep it simple."
Light breeze can make for tense racing in the Laser and Laser Radial. As Scheidt explained, doing the basic things right can earn a sailor good results even in the tightest of situations, "Rounding the first mark there was just no gap in the fleet. It was just boat, after boat, after boat," explained Scheidt.
"I managed to round in fourth which was very good for me. I was close to the girls in front and then on the second upwind I did well and then on the downwind I was able to stretch and win the race."
Scheidt finished clear of China's Dongshuang Zhang who moves up to eighth overall. Paige Railey (USA) came through in third and sits second.
The single Laser race was won by Tom Burton (AUS) who has found his feet after a difficult start. Burton has picked up the last two Laser race victories and has pushed up to fourth overall.
Consistency has been hard to find in the Laser fleet this week. In days gone by, the likes of Burton and Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) have been able to march ahead of the pack, but not on Olympic waters in an event that will virtually mirror the Olympic Games.
Francesco Marrai (ITA) and Lee Parkhill (CAN) have launched their names into the spotlight this week with astute performances. Marrai holds the lead on 28 points with Parkhill two off of him.
Men's and Women's RS:X
China's Aichen Wang has opened up an impressive 20 point lead in the Men's RS:X by snapping up double bullets on the Pão de Açúcar racing area.
Wang comfortably won both of the day's races and has put himself in a winning position heading into the penultimate day of the RS:X competition. If he continues along the route he's going now, the chasing pack will be hard pressed to catch him.
Pierre Le Coq (FRA) sits in second followed by Ivan Pastor Lafuente (ESP) a point behind him.
Just one race was possible in the Women's RS:X with the race win going the way of Hei Man Chan (HKG). She is now sixth overall. Malgorzata Bialecka (POL) holds the lead after a fourth.
It's set to be an incredibly busy day on the water on Wednesday 19 August. All six race courses will be utilised with all fleets on the water. In total, 28 races are scheduled.
Tracking and Competition Status Screen at www.sailing.org/olympics/rio2016/multimedia/live_tracking.php
Results at www.sailing.org/olympics/rio2016/results
Useful links:
Super light day at 2015 Rio Test Event (from Yachting New Zealand)
A lack of wind in the 2016 Olympic city hampered racing today on what was day four of the 2015 Rio Test Event for Olympic class sailing.
The only kiwi crews to complete racing today were 49erFX pair, Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech (pictured above) who are now lying 5th overall, and Andy Maloney in the Laser, who has lifted to 10th.
49erFX
The 49erFX were the first to get underway today, but not until around 2:30pm when the women's skiff fleet were towed to the closest course where a light breeze had filled in.
Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech had a tough day at the office, but remain in the top five at the halfway mark for fleet racing. They're now 5th overall, three points behind Sweden in 4th.
"It was a tough day on the race course, pretty light, shifty and a bit of current effect as well – so a little bit of everything out there today," says 49erFX Coach Jim Maloney.
"The girls had a couple of really good comebacks. They got a 12th in the first race and in the second race they ended up 8th, and that was a really great comeback considering the first beat."
"Tomorrow is a new day, we'll look at the forecast, we're racing on bridge course, and it'll be exciting to get going again."
Local Brazilian's Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) are so far proving their hometown advantage and lead the fleet from Italy by one point.
Laser
Andy Maloney has climbed back into the top ten with a 6th in today's single race in the Laser fleet.
Around 3:30pm the men's single handed fleet, the largest of all ten events being contested here, hit the Ponte Course area where a 7-8 knot breeze provided race worthy conditions.
The 25 year old from Murrays Bay Sailing Club says, "I was pretty confident in my game plan I just had to execute it and I managed to a decent enough job of that on the first beat and rounded the top mark in 10th or so. Then in the second beat it got pretty tricky and I just managed to get it 'right enough' - a solid day and worth waiting around for."
"We've still got four fleet races to go and then a medal race. I will just try to keep plugging away at some top ten, top five results and execute my game plan each race."
Other fleets
Both the 49er (Peter Burling and Blair Tuke) and Nacra 17(Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders) were on a scheduled reserve day today which spared them the long and fruitless wait ashore that others endured.
With insufficient wind on the outside courses both the Men's and Women's 470 (Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox / Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie) were held in the boat park until mid-afternoon when racing was abandoned for them.
An attempt was made for the Finn fleet, in which New Zealand's Josh Junior is competing, late in the afternoon, but abandoned.
Waiting for wind at Olympic Sailing Test Event in Rio (from Australian Sailing)
Laser World #1 jumps into fourth
"Waiting for wind" was the theme of the day at the Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Tuesday (18 August 2015). Once again racing got underway late for the Australian Sailing Team and when it did, Tom Burton made the most of it by winning the one and only race of the day in the Laser fleet.
Apart from the Laser, only the 49erFX got a couple of races in, while the Finn stayed on the water until late to try and race but with a dying breeze had no luck. Racing was called off for the Men's 470, while the Nacra17 and 49er were on their scheduled day off.
Laser World #1 Tom Burton had another long day waiting to get some racing in. When the Laser fleet finally started racing in the late afternoon, he repeated yesterday's feat and made the most of the one and only race of the day posting another race win and moving up from seventh into fourth place.
"It was a long day again. We had a pretty steady breeze on the racecourse at the time but it did get a bit crazy. It was looking quite steady until the second lap when a big pressure difference came on and shuffled the results a little. But luckily I was a little out of reach and managed to get another win in," Tom Burton said.
"I'm glad to be back close to the front and in the game. The first few races shook me a little and now seeing other people have not such good races gives me confidence it wasn't just me and that the conditions are very tough. For sure I can still win if I sail my best from now."
It was the fourth day of racing for Burton and only yesterday he managed to jump from 14th into 7th place after winning the one race of the day.
No racing took place in the Finn class with the sailor's patience tested and everyone hoping for a front to bring in wind for Wednesday's racing.
"On Monday we already didn't have a lot of breeze when we went outside the bay to the Copacabana area. We waited for a long time before we eventually were sent in to the Nacra17 racecourse up near the bridge (Ponte) and got one race in before sunset. Today we played the waiting game again. Eventually the breeze came in, they sent the 49erFX out and we tried to follow after them, but it was such a narrow window of wind opportunity that we unfortunately didn't get a race in," Australian Finn sailor Jake Lilley about the challenges over the last two days.
About the forecast he added: "Tomorrow we expect it all to be a bit different with a front to come through and we hope to get three races in."
The Australian 49erFX with Olympic silver medallist Olivia Price (NSW) and crew Jaime Ryan (QLD) were the only Australian Sailing Team to get more than one race in. They had one race on Monday and after some waiting around for the breeze to fill in, the fleet got two races in on Tuesday. The pair posted an eighth and 16th moving up one spot into overall 15th.
"We had two races scheduled on the Medal Race course today to make up for some missed races from yesterday," crew Jaime Ryan said after racing. "We had to wait for a few hours for the breeze to fill in but when it did it was light, shifty, really tricky as that course is known to be. We had a good first race but didn't go too well in the second one, but overall we're happy with how it's going."
Price and Ryan are competing at the Test Event with Jaime Ryan filling in for Price's injured regular crew Eliza Solly (VIC).
Cousins Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) are currently the top ranked Australian Sailing crew and sit in third in the Nacra17. Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) are ranked fourth in the 49er while Olympic gold medallist Mat Belcher (QLD) and World Champion crew Will Ryan (QLD) are ranked sixth with only five points separating them from first place.
Wednesday (19 August) schedule will be adjusted to make up some races and will see all Australian crews back on the water.
Ten Australian sailors, including four London 2012 Olympic medallists, are competing in Rio in six of the ten Olympic classes in what is a key dress rehearsal at the 2016 sailing venue. Running from 15-22 August, it is the second Olympic Sailing Test Event to be held on Guanabara Bay, Brazil.