Sonar and 470 Women lead the way after day two in Hyeres
by Lindsey Bell 28 Apr 2016 21:05 BST
27 April - 1 May 2016
British crews occupy pole positions in two events after two days of Sailing World Cup competition in Hyeres, as breezy opening day conditions gave rise to a lighter wind test and some early evening racing on Thursday (28 April).
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark moved into the top spot in the 470 Women's event, while the Paralympic World Champion trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas held on to their yellow jerseys for a second day in the Sonar fleet.
Elsewhere British sailors have moved into early podium positions in the RS:X windsurfing events, with Nick Dempsey and birthday girl Bryony Shaw, 33 today, both in second place overall, and Nick Thompson and Helena Lucas third in their respective Laser and 2.4mR events.
After a two hour postponement to racing as the wind built and stablised, Robertson, Stodel and Thomas continued where they had left off in the Sonar event on Wednesday, winning the opening race of the day in the lighter winds before posting a sixth in their second race to see them maintain their overall first place.
"Hyeres is throwing out everything at the moment – we had dogs off chains yesterday and a nice light, fluky day today. It's throwing everything at us, but then again it's good to practice in everything," Stodel explained.
"Pretty much the full fleet's here who will be at the Games – we're just missing the Kiwis. We're getting a run for our money, as always it's tight racing and people were changing places all over the show today.
"We've got to just keep playing the long game. It's not over until it's over in Sonar world!"
With the Para World Sailing Championships taking place in the Netherlands next month, where the trio will aim to defend their 2015 crown, they are using this World Cup regatta to fine tune ahead of that event, and ultimately the Paralympic Games itself in just over four months' time.
"We've three events left [before the Games], a World Championships coming up and only it's been six months since the last World Championships so there's not been a lot of time to put any changes in place.
"We're just working on the processes as a team, making sure the four of us including our coach are working well, which we seem to be, and it's nice and steady basically."
For Laser World Champion Nick Thompson, Hyeres is also providing a final shake down ahead of his World Championship in Mexico next month, but he admits his priorities remain on Rio rather than a title defence.
"It's not long at all now until our World Championship in Mexico, about two weeks, and I think this event is a brilliant warm-up event for that. The size of the fleets will be pretty similar, albeit at the Worlds you have qualifying and then finals, but it's good, close racing and it's great practice.
"Really the programme for me this year has been about what's the right thing to do in the build up to Rio. If I'm honest, the build to the Worlds would have been a bit more time in Mexico if we didn't have the Olympic Games. I'm certainly raring to go and I think everything's in shape for the Worlds but certainly the focus more is about Rio."
Thompson picked up two sixth places from his two races on Thursday to see him up into third place overall, but acknowledges that with three days to go and a typically close Laser fleet, there's a lot still to play for.
"Two sixes was a pretty good day looking at the scorecard but I still feel like I left a lot of points on the racetrack. I think that's just the nature of this fleet, I think everybody feels the same way. There's plenty of work still to do."
There were mixed fortunes for the British Sailing Team's 470 crews on Thursday. While Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark elevated themselves into first place thanks to 6,1 in the women's fleet, Luke Patience and Chris Grube will look to bounce back after a frustrating day with a 26th followed up by a black flag starting disqualification in their second race. They're currently 13th.
Bryony Shaw started her birthday off with a bang, winning her opening race of the day in the RS:X women's windsurfing fleet. She followed it up with a second and a tenth to move into overall second from her overnight position of sixth, while Nick Dempsey occupies the same spot in the RS:X Men's event with 7,5,2 from his three races.
Helena Lucas picked up a fifth and a race win to see her into third in the 2.4mR event, Alison Young is currently fifth in the Laser Radial.
The 49er fleet was the last to leave the shore on Thursday, finishing their scheduled three races just at around 1830 (local). European bronze medallists John Pink and Stuart Bithell are currently fourth overall, James Peters and Fynn Sterritt seventh and Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign are 11th.
Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves ended their four-race day with a win to see them up into eighth place overall.
Full results are available at www.sailing.org/worldcup
Racing will resume from 1100hrs (local) on Friday 29 April, with the final races for the Paralympic classes on Saturday 30 April and the medal races for the Olympic classes on Sunday 1 May.
Live medal race coverage will be available on Sunday 1 May – stay with us at www.britishsailingteam.com, on Facebook or Twitter @BritishSailing for updates throughout the week.