Kieler Woche - Day 8
by Andi Robertson 25 Jun 2016 23:58 BST
18-26 June 2016
World champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have won the 49er Class at Kieler Woche without needing to sail Super Sunday's medal race. So the Kiwi pair, winners of the 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 world championships, will go to the Rio Olympic regatta in 40 days time, with their amazing record intact, unbeaten since they took the silver medal at the 2012 Olympic regatta at Weymouth & Portland behind Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen.
Burling and Tuke stepped up a gear today in difficult gusty, puffy conditions and were visibly better around the courses, taking three race wins in a row to give themselves a margin of 26pts going into Sunday's Medal race. They extend their tally of major regatta wins to 27.
The duo came to Kieler Woche looking to get their mindset back into '49er racing mode' after time out racing in the America's Cup World Series,
Tuke summed up their immaculate performance today:
"We were hoping to go out and put down a good performance today. Racing has been tight all week so it is nice to extend out with a bit of a lead going into the Medal Race tomorrow. It is always hard to say that you have achieved exactly what you wanted to coming here. We are always working on improving our weaknesses and there are always weaknesses, but we are happy to have ticked off a few things. It is good to get up here and do some more racing, to get our heads back into racing.
The medal race is always important. It is always good to do them. It's part of the Olympic programme and so you always need practice at those things. It should be a good bit of fun and hopefully with a nice breeze."
In the 470 Junior World Championships Japan's Keiju Okada and Naoya Kimura go into Super Sunday's Medal Race with a lead of 10 points over Germany's Malte Winkl and Matti Cipra.
Conditions were most difficult for the first race of the day when the wind was lightest and the building, moving rain clouds were dragging the 7-9kt breeze around creating some big shifts in direction. That, once again, set the tone of the day. Unfortunately for the local heroes, Winkl and Cipra, their bid to overturn the Japanese lead over today's three contests started badly when they were given a BFD disqualification while Okada and Kimuara sailed to an impressive victory.
The second race was a bit more open. The wind picked up with pressure built more evenly over the course, but still with some big puffs. Successive rain clouds brought wind and then after the clouds had gone there was less wind. It was really difficult to see the puffs and lulls on the water. Italy's Giacomo Ferrari and Guilio Calabro ensured they have a solid place in the Medal Race winning the second race of the day and then placing second behind Daicha Takayama and Akira Takayanagi, the Japanese crew. So Japan will have two crews in the Medal Race and France three, defending 470 Junior World Champions Guillaume Pirouelle and Valentin Sipan holding third, two points behind Winkl and Cipra and 12pts behind the class leaders Okada and Kimura.
"We will fight with everything we have got to win tomorrow." Said crew Kimura, "We had good starts today and were fast." Germany's Malti Winkl surveys their prospects for Sunday:
"We will see how we go in the Medal Race. We have done quite a lot of them now and so we are experienced and have gained places on the Medal Race and that gives us confidence. Everything will be close and it can be very shifty on the course in front of the Harbour so we have to sail our own race."
The Women's 470 Junior World Championship is not as open. From their three races today sailed in 4.9 to 15kts Spain's Silvia Mas and Paula Barcelo won twice to mean they go into the Super Sunday Medal Race with a lead of 14pts over France's Marina Lefont and Lara Granier, while Greece's 2015 runners up Maria Bozi and Rafailina Klonariou are third, one point off second.
Helm Silvia Mas says she and her Barcelona crewmate Paula Barcelo are up for the fight:
"Overall it feels good to take a little more advantage over the other competitors. We can go into the medal race feeling a bit more calm but it is definitely not over because of course the Medal Race counts for double points. So it is very complicated. We need to stay calm, controlled and clinical. We have done two medal races before and we like them. We love the fight." The J/70 European Championships sailed into an element of drama when the Race Committee called 27 teams out under the Black Flag in Race 6 for the Blue group including several top teams, some of whom were protesting this evening. It is understood the situation is being reviewed. Meantime Claudia Rossi and her Petite Terrible crew sailed clear of controversy and posted a 1,4,4 in the other fleet to build a significant 14pts lead going into the final day. Eduardo Lupo's crew lies second, but their three times Melges 24 world champion Lorenzo Brassani was one of the tacticians seeking to have Race 6 reviewed. Britain's Charlie Esse is up to third overall scoring 4,9,3 today.
"It was a tough old day. We are really chuffed to have done so well so far. We have worked hard with training in Monaco and in Malta. We intend to stay relaxed and focused, to sail the same way we have so far on the final day." Said Esse.
Wave of early starts cuts the number of title contenders
Day three of the European Championship of the J/70 seems to have had a big effect on the points table. In the first race for the Blue fleet over 30 boats were disqualified due to an early start. And several crews were subsequently judge OCS in other races. But staying clear of trouble Claudia Rossi (Italy) and her professional team continued their winning ways. With scores of 1, 4, 4 today, she is the unchallenged leader of the fleet.
No fewer than 38 disqualifications because of OCS were reported in the list of the 91 teams, who started in the sixth race of the series. Race director Nino Shmueli defended his tough approach: "It was all according to the rules. We are sailing with huge stickers on the bow in the J/70 fleet, so we could recognize all early starters. Even if only one team had started right it would have stood as a race." Three races were sailed and so Shmueli was satisfied with the day: "Despite the thunderstorms and the shifting winds, the full program could be sailed. In the afternoon, the wind picked up a lot. But we have brought back everyone ashore without damage."
Of course, the emotions of the teams, that had been disqualified, were a bit different. "It was fully compliant with the rules, but morally questionable", said Christian Soyka (Itzehoe), who was pushed down to 19the because of their "BFD" disqualification. "In the yellow starting group, one start had been cancelled, in the blue group, they kept it running. You have to follow a precedent in this case." Soyka now has a clear objective for the final race day: "To learn! Today we were wrong not good. We have never sailed in this wind and with these waves before. It was not before the last race, that it quite worked." The best German team is the crew from Hamburg with Carsten Kemmling skippering. They lie tenth.
The leading team with Claudia Rossi at the helm can already think about winning overall. The Italian sailors are leading by 14 points ahead of their compatriot Edoardo Lupi and now in third British team of Charlie Esse. And so for Claudia Rossi, a good place in the last two races should be enough to become the European Champion.
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