Nacra 17, 49er and 49erFX Worlds at Clearwater, Florida - Day 3
by Katy Nastro & Andy Rice 12 Feb 2016 07:16 GMT
9-14 February 2016
Third day is a charm
Day three of the 2016 World Championships in Clearwater, FL kicked off with a sunny, 4-8 knot variance giving everyone a sigh of relief and readiness. A beautifully clear Floridian day means: the Worlds has really begun!
49er
The fleet rigged up and got after it early launching to make a 10am start. The breeze dropped quite a bit, but after one general recall, the fleets were able to begin their day. One race was sailed in a slowly dying 5-7 knots, but unfortunately a third of the fleets were DNF due to the almost non-existent pressure. Almost two hours later and the 49er gods finally answered the RC's prayers. A building sea breeze allowed the boys to sail three more races getting a total of four in before the ladies were sent out to reap the same wind benefits.
Burling and Tuke had once again a strong performance on the Yellow course, getting straight bullets, absolutely slaughtering competition. The boys were able to take switch gears effortlessly between conditions. "Four straight bullets in one day, don't think we ever have done that before, " humbly remarked Blair Tuke. Both boys had some minor injuries from yesterdays blustery day, but from the looks of the results it would take a lot to stop these two! The closest competitor from these two is none other than Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, their worthy Aussie opponent. Outteridge and Jensen sailed impressively consistent all day, yet the scoring showed their second race of the day as DNF. Outteridge and Jensen went straight to RC to fix this little issue, as they actually won that particular race. Ten points from the Kiwi's, these two boats haven't competed on the same course yet, but they already seem to be throwing down the gauntlet.
John Pink and Stuart Bithel of team GBR have come out of the gate swinging. With the lowest score of the day being a 6th, these two consistently sailed their own race and were able to nab two 6th's, a 5th, and a 2nd. The other top British boat of Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Alain Sign are also having quite the start sitting just three points behind Pink & Bithel. The British selection committee keeps things pretty well wrapped, but these two boats are definitely feeling the heat from one another's performances early on. "I think the pressures on the other guys. We are just focusing on our results and I guess we'll just see how it comes out getting to the end of the week," says Alain Sign, cool as a cucumber.
Also on the Blue course with the Aussies, the French lead the pack with Julien D'ortoli and Noe Delpech sitting top of the pack after race two, but a 7th gave these two a bigger gap from the Aussies. D'ortoli and Delpech gave a consistent top 7 performance throughout the four races leaving them sitting thirteen points out of first overall. Julien notes, "For us to switch modes [from yesterday's conditions] we try to re-focus. In strong winds, you just have to think about the speed, and the technique. Then in no wind its just, you think about which side, which start, it's just a really different mode." The French selection is also quite coy when it comes to selections as the sailors won't know who goes until the beginning of March, nor what regattas and performances they based their selection off of.
Tomasz Januszewski and Jacek Nowak didn't have the best performance in the 2015 Worlds in Argentina, but they surely are starting out this 2016 Worlds on a better note. Currently sitting seventh overall (third for the Yellow course) Jacek is pleased with the way they've started their World Championship. "We are happy with the way we've started this regatta, in those locations, even if we had a bad start in the last race. Being on the right side of the last start was not the way to go. We are not calculating, but I know we are in a good position."
Carlos Paz Blanco and Anton Paz of Spain have started their Worlds on the Yellow course and seem to be the comeback kids for Spanish sailing. The pair qualified Spain in Santander during the 2014 Worlds, but haven't been exactly hitting the same top performances as the Alonsos, and Diego Botin/Iago Lopez Marra. The Alonso's have a chance at taking the Spanish berth during this event by finishing in top eight to steal the show. The other two Spanish teams need to place within the top eight, or else the fight is terminado, aka all over. "Right now we need to focus on medal race, and then in the medal race try to take a look at the points to see if we need to push more or its enough, " says Anton. The brothers were pretty consistent until the third race of the day. Carlos makes note of the difficult conditions by stating, "The third one was really difficult for us; we made a bad decision at the start, but that was our throwout. The last one [fourth race of the day] we got pretty lucky. The right was really right, and we got a second, so we're pretty happy. Have to try to keep that up."
49er FX
Fx sailors had a postponement on shore until mid-afternoon, allowing the guys a bit of extra time to get some more racing in before the old switch-a-roo. The ladies were sent out at about 2pm for a 3pm start. The women were able to tune up and get their sea legs back after a wet and wild day. Wild this day was not, as the women had feel good FX conditions, flatter water and manageable breeze. Yay! The ladies were all smiles, and slightly less frozen than the previous day due to quick, efficient racing.
Swedish team Julia Gross and Cecilia Jonsson felt their day was up and down, but were pleased with getting four races in after a hard initial start to this 2016 Worlds. The team took a bit of dip in their scores when they took a 15th in the second race for the day. They felt even though this was the downer, the bullet at the end made up for the trickier conditions. "Everyone was up and down, but we had everyone behind us in the last race, so that felt pretty good." Ending on a high, great job girls!
German sailors Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz are taking their FX fleet by the reigns and completely taking control. The pair didn't falter even as the breeze did vary several knots from the time the FX sailors got out to the courses to until the wee hours of daylight they had left to sail in. Two bullets to start the day, and then a 2nd and 5th to round out their epic start to this World Championship. There are three other German teams competing during this event. This regatta will be used to help determine selection. It may be chilly down in Clearwater, but the heat is on for the German FX girls!
Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth of team GBR also had a fiery day taking fourth place overall. The pair had a shaky start as they pulled a 19th to begin with. The two, although disappointed, are known for shaking it off and "putting on their Jagger pants," as the girls said back in Argentina. "We just approached every race as if it was a new day. New race equals new opportunity," replied Sophie Ainsworth after being asked how they approached the next set of races, winning them a bullet in race three of their set.
Rounding out the top five are 2014 World Champions Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze in fifth, along with recent Miami World Cup Champions Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech in fourth.
The racing will continue here in Clearwater tomorrow starting with the ladies at noon. Tomorrow we will also be broadcasting live via Youtube.
Aussies Waterhouse & Darmanin make a move on light wind day (by Andy Rice)
Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin made the best of a light airs day three at the Nacra 17 Worlds to move to 3rd overall after the young Australians scored 5,4,1. It was a long day on the water, almost six hours, so maintaining concentration was difficult, but absolutely key.
The Italian crew of Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri also did well, moving up to 2nd overall with 3,10,2. Bissaro was rightly pleased with his team's performance. "Boatspeed was critical today, and we were fast so that made life easier," he said. "So far at these Worlds we have had a big variety of conditions. Every day is different, so it's a fair battle across many different types of wind."
Normally the Australian and Italian performances would be enough to close the gap on the leaders, but the leaders are the three-time World Champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou who appear unstoppable in the Nacra 17 right now. Scores of 4,1,3 have helped to build a lead of 25 points over the second-placed Italians, so it seems likely the French will go to the Olympics as winners of all four World Championships in the young life of the Nacra 17 class. Not that Bissaro is seeing things that way. "Billy is doing better races than us at the moment, but we have everything we need to be in front, we are confident."
Denmark's Allan Norregaard and Anette Viborg Andreasen slipped from 2nd to 4th with a ho-hum day, but they're still not far away from the podium. Norregaard knew what he needed to do, it was just hard to execute in the light winds and choppy water. "Sail free, find your own space, because as soon as you were close to other people it was hard. Finding your own lanes was important."
Tom Phipps agreed with that assessment, and together with Nicola Boniface finds himself leading his more experienced British team mates. Scores of 6,5,21 have lifted the young Brits to 7th overall. "A good day in messy conditions," said Phipps. "We were able to find a lane to use our boatspeed. So often you're caught on the back of someone else, just being held up in one direction or other, but we found lanes that enabled us to optimise the boatspeed." The young crew are sailing way above expectations, and aren't considered serious prospects for Rio 2016 selection, although if they were to carry on like this they will be hard to ignore. "For us, Nick and I started sailing together almost exactly a year ago. It's been a baptism. It's been a battle against a lot of things, and it's nice that everything is falling into place now. It bodes well for the future."
Tomorrow's breeze looks set for a moderate south-westerly breeze, which should suit the Nacra fleet nicely.
Qualifying from the 9-11th of February. Silver and Gold fleet racing from the 12-14th with the Medal races on the 14th. The main hub of information will on www.49er.org
Incredible four gun day for Burling and Tuke (from Jodie Bakewell-White, Yachting New Zealand)
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have stamped a mark of dominance over their rivals on day three of the 2016 49er World Championships in Clearwater Florida, where the Olympic men's skiff, women's skiff and mixed multihull are vying for their 2016 world titles.
In the 49erFX Alex Maloney and Molly Meech had a solid day to lie 6th overall, while in the Nacra 17 Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders have lifted to 18th.
49er
The 2012 Olympic silver medallists and defending world champions won all four of their heats on day three of the six day regatta, and now show a clean-streak of five straight race wins as the regatta moves into day four.
"We had an absolutely awesome day," says Peter Burling after racing. "We've been waiting for a long time to get some good racing in, you know it was good to get out there and get one race in on the first day, but today the forecast looked really nice and we managed to get one race in the offshore breeze to start with, which was a little more shifty and lighter, but then the really nice sea breeze filled in and we had tree in pretty perfect skiff sailing conditions."
Talking about making the transition from heavy air set up to light airs, Blair Tuke explains, "The way you set up the rig is completely different."
"The first day we raced in 15 knots and really big seas with breaking waves and it was pretty full-on hard boat handling to just keep the rig in the air, so to change the mid set and change the way we set the boat up and how we approach the races for today. To get four wins out of it is pretty awesome, and something I don't think we've ever done ever before."
"We're excited for tomorrow and get a few more races in and hopefully keep the hammer down."
Watch the full video interview with Peter Burling and Blair Tuke here.
With four points the kiwis have the lead from Australian pair Nathan Outteridge and Ian Jensen who also sailed well today to lie six points adrift of NZL Sailing Team's Burling and Tuke. Great Britain's John Pink and Stuart Bithell are lying third a further five points behind the Aussies.
Isaac McHardie and Trent Rippey, Aon Fast Track Squad sailors, are well placed to make the cut and race in gold fleet after a solid day on the water today including two top ten results. They're currently in 20th position in the 68-strong fleet.
49er FX
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech were back on the water today in the 49erFX adding three races to their score-card and keeping it consistent and solid.
The NZL Sailing Team duo, who come to Florida straight off the back of a recent victory at 2016 Sailing World Cup Miami, are currently lying 6th overall at the end of day three. In today's three races Maloney and Meech placed 4th, 7th and 2nd and lie equal on 12 points with the Dutch crew in 5th.
With the top placed crews all very close on points and plenty of racing yet to come the kiwis will be pleased with their overall consistency so far.
Despite their young age, the Aon Fast Track 49erFX pairing of Erica Dawson (21 years old) and Ellie Copeland (20 years old) are demonstrating that they can foot it with the world's best and are on track to better their 2014 49erFX World Championships result of 34th.
In today's racing Dawson and Copeland placed 8th, 10th and 11th to now lie 15th overall.
Nacra 17
In the Nacra 17 World Championships, being sailed concurrently at the same venue, two races were added today.
Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders of the NZL Sailing Team are now in 18th overall after changes were made to yesterday's scoring and today's two races are added. Jones and Saunders placed 18th in their first race today, and then 30th in the subsequent race.
Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson, the young Aon Fast Track Squad pair, are just behind in 19th overall after placing 9th and 20th on the water today.
Racing resumes tomorrow in Clearwater with qualifying racing continuing longer than planned with a minimum of six heats required before splitting the fleets into gold and silver for finals racing. Medal races are planned for Sunday 14th February.
Outteridge/Jensen and Waterhouse/Darmanin make moves (from Cora Zillich, Australian Sailing)
Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) jumped to the top of the results ladder and into overall second place on day three of the 2016 Nacra 17, 49er, and 49erFX World Championships in Clearwater, Florida (Thursday, 11 February 2016 EST). It was only the second day of racing for the men's skiff fleet after Wednesday was cancelled due to too much wind.
World #1 in the Nacra 17 Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) also moved up into the top three and are ranked third after three days of racing. The pair also has a results enquiry and possible correction pending from Wednesday's OCS score.
In the light conditions, the women's 49erFX fleets got four races in with two Australian Sailing Squad crews ranked in the top fifteen – Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA) in 13th and Haylee Outteridge (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) 14th. Olivia Price (NSW) and Eliza Solly (VIC) follow in 21st.
Men's Skiff – 49er
Four races were completed in the 49er fleet on Thursday, 11 February and after Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen had started the event with a 15th on the first day, followed by no racing on the second day, the pair made the most of a full day of racing to jump up the results ladder into second.
In light conditions the pair posted a strong series of one race win, a second, third and fourth.
"We didn't get a race in yesterday and today the conditions were really light. It's a completely different game in the light air compared to the heavier conditions, but we take each day as it comes," Iain Jensen said.
"The first race was really light and then it swung around and we got a light sea breeze for the rest of the day. We had a second, first, third and fourth and were just executing good starts, going the right way and the speed seemed pretty good," he summed up the day.
"We seem to be going fast in the light stuff, which is an area we struggled in at the last Worlds. We're expecting some of the same for tomorrow and the days after that are looking pretty good."
Racing in the other fleet, defending World Champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) continued their series of straight wins to keep their lead going into day four of the event, which will see the completion of the Qualifying Series.
The three other Australian Sailing crews struggled with the light conditions and dropped down the ranks as a consequence.
Joel Turner (QLD) and Tom Siganto (QLD) are ranked 36th, David Gilmour and Lewis Brake 49th and Harry Price (NSW) and Harry Morton (NSW) 63rd.
With the jury having decided for another day of qualifying, they still have the chance to make up points before the fleet is split into Gold and Silver fleets.
Mixed multihull – Nacra 17
In the Nacra 17, the fleet was happy about a day in lighter conditions after an exhausting day two with four races in tough conditions.
Eight races have been completed thus far and after a consistent series of a fifth and fourth plus a race win in the last race of the day Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Waterhouse are sitting in overall third.
"Day three was a really good for us and we sailed a consistent day. It was quite soft and variable out there so we just used that to try and gain some points from the few errors yesterday," Jason Waterhouse said.
With a big shift in wind conditions and sea state it was all about adjusting the equipment accordingly and using the right finesse on the boat as Jason Waterhouse explains: "You just have to set up the boat a bit differently, the rig and the foils. We also had to change the way we sailed and needed a bit more finesse on the boat to keep it going fast. There was still a bit of left over swell there from yesterday so you still needed technique and the groove. But Lisa is sailing really well, keeping the boat go forward and that allows me to make good decisions."
The pair's current point score could still be bettered should the pair be successful in results enquiry they have put in about an OCS in Wednesday's racing.
According to Jason Waterhouse, after a premature start they did go back to re-start and he hopes the result to be corrected after providing video evidence to the jury.
Women's Skiff – 49erFX
Sailing in two fleets the 49erFX finally got underway on Wednesday, but with no racing on day one and just one race possible on day two the 49er/FX fleets tried to make up for lost racing on Thursday.
Three races were completed with some strong results across all Australian crews.
Australian Sailing Squad's Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA), who started the regatta with a third place, are the top ranked Australian crew in 13th after posting a 13-10-4-11 series today.
Haylee Outteridge (NSW) and Olympic silver medallist Nina Curtis (NSW) started the day strongly with a 3-9-3 series, but finished with an OCS in the last race and are ranked 14th.
Olympic silver medallist Olivia Price (NSW) and Eliza Solly (VIC) posted a 20-3-15-7 series and are ranked 22nd.