Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta - Day 7
by ISAF 22 Aug 2015 08:22 BST
15-22 August 2015
The penultimate day of the Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2015 served up four more podiums with Italian, Lithuanian, Kiwi and Brazilian sailors claiming the golden honours.
Francesco Marrai (ITA) kick started the day taking the first gold in the Laser whilst Lithuania's Gintare Scheidt (LTU) followed shortly after in the Laser Radial.
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) confirmed their status as the leading 49er sailors with another complete performance whilst the best was saved until the last. Home nation favourites and the popular crew of Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) stole the show in the 49erFX, coming from behind to clinch gold.
The Men's and Women's 470 and Finn confirmed the Medal Race participants whilst the Nacra 17 will have to wait another day to sail their Medal Race after time run out to hold it on the day.
49erFX
Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze came from behind to take a memorable gold medal in the 49erFX.
Home nation favourites and Olympic champions in waiting, as perceived by the Brazilian media, Grael and Kunze were able to overturn a nine point deficit between Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich (ITA) as they took their chance when it came.
Conti and Clapcich ended the race at the back of the fleet and a fourth for the Brazilians gave them gold by three points.
The Italians were in the driving seat heading into the race but small mistakes in the Medal Race gave the Brazilians an initiative as Conti explained, "We made a mistake at the first rounding. The spinnaker halyard was stuck in the spreaders. It was my mistake as I did not bear away after the gybeset. We were still in control of the two boats we needed to be in control of until the last upwind and they, the Swedish and Brazilians split and we made a tactical mistake. We decided to stay with the Swedish and the rest of the fleet. It meant that the only way we could lose was from the Brazilians as she could gain boats."
And gain boats is exactly what the Brazilians did as Grael described things from her point of view, "I knew there was a chance we could turn it around but I was more concerned about keeping silver than taking first but we got a chance on the last downwind so we took it.
"It was quite a tricky race. We pulled out a very nice last downwind and we managed to get enough points to win from the Italians. I don't think it could have ended better."
By the vast amounts of Brazilian media in attendance throughout the day, it was almost as if Grael and Kunze had won Olympic gold itself. But as a test event, dealing and handling with an expectant crowd is just what is needed, "The Brazilian media either worship you or kill you," explained Grael through a smile, "We get pressured into talking about the bay but it's all under control.
"I'm feeling really happy. You can kind of tell what the Olympics is going to be like, really hard to sail in and anything can happen."
Sweden's Lisa Ericson and Hanna Klinga completed the podium after an eighth in the Medal Race.
Laser
Francesco Marrai (ITA) will be able to book his plane ticket to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games after he took gold in the Laser. For the Italian team, any sailor that finished on the podium at the test event would be guaranteed a place at Rio 2016 and Marrai secured his spot on the startline in the most stylish of ways, with a golden shine.
Coming into the event Marrai was a rank outsider for gold with several leading sailors aiming to lay down a marker and when asked if he thought he'd win the Italian exclaimed, "No, no, no, not at all. Last year I finished sixth and that was a very good regatta for me.
"I didn't expect to win or get a medal but I found myself up there and I just kept on fighting. The first day I was down in seventh and second, third and then first for three days and I was able to just keep my position.
"I'm very happy right now, it's quite a new situation for me and I cannot show much emotion but this is very big for me."
A ninth in the Medal Race handed the Italian gold in a high scoring week of Laser racing. Consistency was almost non-existent as Rio's challenging breeze and current tested the sailors not only physically, but mentally.
"It's a very complicated place," explained Marrai. "You can find both strong and light wind. Big waves outside the Bay and little ones inside the bay. It's a very complete place. You need to be a complete sailor. I really love this place."
As for Marrai's planning for the next 12 months, "It's going to be a big challenge. We're going to make a program with the federation and do our best for next year. We want to be well prepared to get that gold medal again, of course."
Fourth in the Medal Race handed Jean Baptiste Bernaz (FRA) silver whilst Tom Burton's (AUS) fifth gave him bronze. It was heartbreak for Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) who got stuck in challenging conditions on the race track that meant he finished at the back of the pack to fall from second to sixth.
Lee Parkhill (CAN) took the Medal Race bullet.
Laser Radial
Gintare Scheidt held on to take gold in the Laser Radial despite receiving a discretionary penalty in advance of the Medal Race.
Scheidt was awarded four extra points for breaching the class rules which in fact relegated her to third overall going into the Medal Race so she had it all to do.
In the end Scheidt took the bullet which handed her a well-deserved gold medal, "Today was a bit tense because I was protested due to measurement and I got an extra four points in the Medal Race. It was not a nice way to start the Medal Race day but it was my mistake, nobody else's and I accepted it. I went into the race not thinking about it and that's what I did.
"I'm feeling great now, it's a big relief. Today I was tied with two other boats and I could have lost the medal but now it's time to celebrate. It's a good present for my son who is six years old today. He's in Lithuania with my mother but he's always cheering for me and saying to me, 'mummy you're sailing so good, keep it going'."
Scheidt's son will wake up with good news from his mother but the report from his father will be mellow after he missed out on a medal by two points in the Laser. "There was only one medal in the family this year," smiled Gintare. "Two would be perfect but we sailed at our maximum. Sailing is something you have to do at the best you can."
The Robert, Gintare Scheidt husband and wife combination is a well decorated one and Gintare is comfortable with her surroundings in Rio, "The Brazilian team helps me a lot. I feel like a part of their team and they help me with everything. Also Robert, he has a lot of experience here but I don't have the possibility to train here much. I have only sailed two regattas here. Most people think I'm a local here but I'm not. The top sailors training here sail in Rio a lot more than me."
For now, the Scheidt's walk away with one medal but with one year of preparation remaining, who's to say it won't be two?
Evi Van Acker (BEL) and Marit Bouwmeester (NED) completed the podium whilst Paige Railey (USA), having occupied a podium position for the large part of the week missed out after a DNF in the Medal Race.
49er
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) extended their unbeaten run in the 49er by taking a convincing victory.
With just a single result out of the top eight in 11 races, the Kiwis set another marker on the road to Rio. Heading into the day they had a comfortable lead over their rivals and knew a solid result would seal the deal. They did exactly that, coming through in fourth and Tuke was pleased with a job well done, "It feels great. You know, it's a really big objective for us one year out from the Games and we've put a lot of emphasis on this, this year. We're really happy and it puts us in a good place going into next year."
Burling echoed his compatriots thoughts, "Obviously this is great practice for us trying to test everything for next year. We're really happy with how we started off. We started off pretty solid, not fantastic, but we just got better during the week."
The test event allowed the 49er sailors the perfect opportunity to imitate the Olympic arena. Twenty boats on the start line is the exact same number as the Olympic Games and for the Kiwis it was the perfect opportunity to show their rivals, many of whom who will sail at Rio 2016, who is boss in the 49er, "This week's been really great practice for us," commented Tuke, "There are 20 boats like we'll be racing in next year with one boat from each country which isn't what we normally have at other regattas.
"That's been really good for us. We have a lot of little things and tricks you learn from sailing in the bay and just how we prepare as well with our coach and support staff. We've learnt a lot this week, not just from the results but a lot of other things and we're happy with how it's played out over the last three weeks in Rio."
Nico Delle-Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) sailed their way to a Medal Race second that confirmed them as silver medallists.
Bronze was in the hands of Manu Dyen and Stephane Christidis (FRA) as Germany's Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel finished at the back of the pack. However, three crews sailed the wrong course and were subsequently disqualified which promoted the Germans up to sixth overall handing them bronze.
Finn
It's tight at the top in the Finn class with one point separating Pieter Jan Postma (NED) and Giles Scott (GBR) after the pair took a race win apiece as fleet racing concluded.
Scott has chipped away at Postma's early week lead by notching up some consistent scores and a fifth alongside his bullet pulls him within reach of Postma. Whilst Postma took the opening race victory a tenth followed and it will all boil down to the Medal Race.
Tapio Nirkko (FIN) is within reach of the leading pair, eight points off of Postma. Meanwhile the fourth placed Jonathan Lobert (FRA) is ten points off.
Men's and Women's 470
The Medal Race places were decided in the Men's and Women's 470 after a race apiece on the Escola Naval racing area.
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) will go in with a five point lead over Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha (USA) in the Women's 470. Both teams have daylight between themselves and the third placed Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) who have four other teams able to overthrow them from the final podium spot.
In the Men's 470, Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) have a handy seven point lead over Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS). The Croatians managed an eighth compared to the Australians 14th and as a result hold an advantage.
Onan Barreiros and Juan Curbelo Cabrera (ESP), Luke Patience and Elliot Willis (GBR) and Sofian Bouvet and Jeremie Mion (FRA) are all tied on 45 points in third.
Racing is scheduled to commence at 13:00 local time on Saturday 22 August as racing draws to a close at the Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2015.
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:
Gold for NZL at 2015 Rio Test Event, another Medal hope tomorrow (from Yachting New Zealand)
One year out from the Olympic Games, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have won the Gold medal at 2015 Rio Test Event easily securing victory with a 4th in today's 49er medal race.
New Zealand's 49erFX crew of Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech have finished just outside the medals in 4th overall, while tomorrow Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie will go into the Women's 470 medal race lying 3rd overall.
49er
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke took 49er gold today in front of a beach crowd at the Olympic sailing venue on Guanabara Bay. In today's medal race they played a conservative game plan covering the only crew with the potential to steal the overall win from them.
Burling and Tuke have totally dominated the Olympic 49er class over the past twelve months, and indeed the past three years, with an unprecedented string of consecutive victories. Burling and Tuke have now won 20 major events in succession. No other 49er sailor has ever been unbeaten for 12 months, let alone three years.
Today they've stamped it home once again. Significantly this victory is on the Olympic Games race track and they remain the crew to beat at the one year to go mark.
Tuke, talking after returning ashore says, "It feels great. You know, it's a really big objective for us one year out from the Games and we've put a lot of emphasis on this this year."
"We're really happy and it puts us in a good place going into next year."
The regatta started a week ago and Burling describes how it's gone, "Obviously this is great practice for us trying to test everything for next year."
"We started off pretty solid, not fantastic, but we just got better during the week. We had a pretty big lead going into today but it was mathematically possible for them to beat us so [today] we stuck with the Austrians who were right next to us."
2015 Rio Test Event mimics the format for next year's Olympic sailing regatta and as such, a focus is to learn as much as possible and put that knowledge to use.
Tuke says, "This week has been really great practice for us. There are 20 boats like we'll be racing in next year with one boat from each country which isn't what we normally have at other regattas. That's been really good for us."
"We've learnt a lot this week, not just from the results but a lot of other things and we're happy with how it's played out over the last three weeks in Rio."
49erFX
Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech have wrapped up the regatta in 4th overall. The kiwi skiff women sailed a strong medal race today to take 3rd place on the water, but it wasn't enough for them to grab a place on the podium.
Maloney, 23 years and Meech, 22 haven't finished outside the top ten at all the major international regattas this year with a silver medal at ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth in June. Later this year they head to Buenos Aires, Argentina for the 49erFX World Championships in November.
Women's 470
At the end of the penultimate day of their regatta Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are on track for a podium finish. The Women's 470 fleet managed only one race late in the day in Rio, but Aleh and Powrie scored another solid keeper result with a 3rd place.
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) have the lead on 23 points, Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha are in 2nd on 28 points. The kiwis are another 16 points adrift which makes improving tomorrow a big challenge.
Nacra 17
Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders wait another day for their medal race, which is bumped into tomorrow's schedule after a delayed start on the medal race course today.
The kiwi Nacra 17 crew go into the final double points race in 6th overall, five points off a top five finish.
Finn
The Finn fleet were the first to get underway today fortunate to be allocated a course area which provided enough wind for two races to be completed. Josh Junior started the day with a 2nd place, with a 13th place in the next.
25 year old Junior progresses into the Finn medal race, scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, lying 5th overall.
Laser
Yesterday was a day of mixed fortunes for Andy Maloney in the Laser fleet posting a 2nd to start the day strongly. Unfortunately the 25 year old from Murrays Bay Sailing Club wasn't able to replicate that in the second race of the day and he was edged out into 11th and didn't sail today's Laser medal race.
"A solid 2nd in race one yesterday was completely undone with a shocker in the final race. Very disappointed to end the event with my worst race and drop out of contention," reflects Maloney.
"On the positive side, I am beginning to feel really comfortable in the Rio sailing conditions after this stint, which gives me some good confidence moving forwards at this awesome venue. Time to learn from it all, and make gains."
Men's 470
Men's 470 pair Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox were back on the water today sailing one race in which they placed 13th. They conclude the regatta in 20th overall.
Tom Burton wins Bronze Medal at Olympic Sailing Test Event in Rio (from Australian Sailing)
Australian Sailing Team's Tom Burton (NSW) has won the bronze medal at the Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Friday, 21 August 2015 local time.
Australian Sailing Team's leading Nacra17 crew of Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) had their scheduled Medal Race delayed to Saturday, due to postponements for Medal Races schedules prior to theirs today. The pair will carry their yellow leaders jersey into the final event day and are in medal contention five points ahead of the second ranked Dutch crew.
Olympic Gold Medallist Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) finished a confusing final Medal Race in seventh and the event outside the medal ranks in overall sixth.
Three Australian Sailing Team crews will race Saturday's Medal Races after Finn sailor Jake Lilley (QLD) put in a strong last day of fleet racing. The 23-year old posted a third and sixth to move into overall seventh. Olympic gold medallist Mathew Belcher (QLD) and Will Ryan (QLD) complete the Australian contingent in Saturday's Medal Races.
Australian Sailing qualified five of its six crews competing in Rio for the top-ten Medal Races.
One Person Dingy – Laser
It was week of long days on the water for Laser World #1 Tom Burton and the Medal Race day was not much better. The Laser kicked-off the Medal Races but with a light and ever changing wind, the start of racing was held up resulting in the whole day's race schedule having to be postponed.
"It was long day for a Medal Race day. We were down early getting the boats measured and then out there it was really shifty and patchy so we sat around and were postponed for a little bit. But the breeze came in and we had a shifty race," Tom Burton said.
The Medal Race was always going to be a tight one with Tom Burton going into it ranked third and tight on points with Frenchman Jean Baptiste Bernaz in fourth and only three points behind second ranked Tonci Stipanović from Croatia. Italian Francesco Marrai topped the ranks sixteen points ahead of Burton ahead before the final race.
And Burton made it interesting for everybody watching with changing positions in and outside the medal ranks through out the race:
"I had a nice first beat really picked it well and led around the first mark. At the bottom I got done for rocking (yellow flag penalty turn) I think and picked the wrong gate mark as well so that put me back into third. I kind of went the wrong way getting shepherded by one of the guys in contention for a medal with me. I was up and down but finished off with bronze, so I can't be too sad."
"The whole week was kind of up and down. I started off very slow and not sailing very well and getting a little unlucky as well. It could have been better at the start, but I had a really solid middle, which got me back into the game and for the last few days I was really back in it. I didn't go quite well enough to get right to the front but things got definitely better and I was sailing much better towards the end, which I was quite happy about."
With less than one year to go to the Rio Olympic go Burton is happy with where he stands and about the learnings from this event.
"Two test events and two medals so I'm pretty happy and I definitely learnt a lot about the conditions. I've been here for nearly a month and I've definitely improved my knowledge of the venue and saw a lot of conditions here. I definitely feel comfortable here and sailing in any of the courses. We'll do a few more camps here and hopefully get a little bit more comfortable, but at the moment it could be Sydney harbour."
Despite having medalled at the two Sailing Test Events, the internal Australian battle between Australia's second ranked Laser sailor Matt Wearn (WA) and Tom Burton will continue until a final selection decision is made.
"Matt is World #2, I'm World #1, so it couldn't be any better. I remember going into London, Slingo (Tom Slingsby) was super happy to have a really good training partner. And no matter who goes it will be the same. We'll both be pushing, we're both good enough to be there and it's a pity only one can go."
Matt Wearn trained with Tom in Rio in the lead up into the regatta and stayed with the team in Rio throughout the duration of the regatta.
Men's Skiff – 49er
Olympic Gold Medallist Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) finished a confusing final Medal Race in seventh and the event outside the medal ranks in overall sixth.
Gold and silver were out of reach for the pair going into the final top-ten race, but a bronze medal was still possible when they were in second place for most of the final race. Subsequent confusion within the fleet about the course to be sailed, as well as the low sun obstructing the view of the finish line, resulted in a loss of points for Outteridge and Jensen as well disqualification for several other crews as Nathan Outteridge explained:
"It was pretty entertaining out there at the very end. We had a pretty good start, were leading on the left pack and second around the top. We held second the whole way around, which would have moved us up a few spots. But coming into the finishing line there was some confusion within all the boats as no one knew where the finish line was."
"In an actual fact we had to go through the gate and do a reach through the finish, which our class basically never does, so there was a bit of confusion there. Plus the finishing line was in the sunlight so you couldn't see it until about the middle of the pack. And we also thought it was actually three laps, because normally when there is no orange flag up the finish is not open so we thought we must have read it as two rather than three laps. So we went for another lap and saw everyone heading off for the finish. We finished last in the race, but I think three other boats missed the finish completely by doing the wrong course. It was an entertaining race, but didn't change our position overall. Up until that gate we were happy with how the race was going for us."
Looking back at the week he added self-critically: It's lot of lessons learned for us and it was a tough week for us. The first two days, we were going quite quick and sailing quite well in the sea breezes. A couple of mistakes in individual races set us from first in the race to mid-pack and we then never really recovered from there. And then yesterday, with the frontal system that came through, we just had a pretty average day and you're never going to get on the podium with results like that.
We've got a lot to look at and try and work out if it was a boat speed issue or if it was a tactical issue. At the end of the day, it's usually both. It's invaluable to be here and to compete and we're really disappointed with the result, I think it's pretty obvious. But we've got about a year to try and work out what we need to work on between now and next year."
Men's 470 & Finn
It was a long tricky final day of fleet racing for Mat Belcher and Will Ryan. The day started out with a change of course from inside the bay to the offshore course Niteroi due to floating rubbish on the inside Bridge (Ponte) course that had been flushed out of the many creeks and rivers by overnight rain.
Offshore the fleet was waiting for the wind to fill before they were moved back into the bay again and completed one race on the Naval course after the Finn class.
Belcher and Ryan retained their overall second rank despite a 14th place in that race and while they are seven points behind the first ranked crew from Croatia, points are tight across the top nine boats with all of them having a chance to win gold in Saturday's double-point Medal Race.
In the Finn class the medals are out of reach for Australian Sailing's Jake Lilley (QLD), who continued his climb up the results ladder moving up three spots from tenth to seventh to qualify for Saturday's Medal Race. Lilley was excited to get the opportunity of another race on the Olympic waters:
"There's not a lot I can do to move forward in the Medal Race, but the London Olympic Silver medalist is five points behind me. So, I guess I'll keep an eye on him and try and win the race. Another day out racing in Rio is just fantastic practice for next year, so I can't wait."
Australia will be represented in the Nacra17 (13:00 local time), Finn (13:45) and Men's 470 (14:30) classes in Saturday's Medal Races.
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. Five out of six qualified for the final top-ten Medal Race.