Kieler Woche - Day 7
by Andy Rice 24 Jun 2017 08:42 BST
17-25 June 2017
Mat Belcher and Will Ryan lead after day 7 at Kieler Woche © Kieler Woche / okPress
A strong wind from the west gusted over 25 knots at Kiel Week, and some big names seized the opportunity to shoot up the leaderboard.
In the Men's 470, multiple world and Olympic medallists Mat Belcher and Will Ryan scored three bullets and have launched into a commanding lead over their fleet. It was a stellar day too for the Polish team now in charge of the Women's 470 leaderboard. Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Irmina Gliszczynska won all three of their heats and have displaced Germany's Frederike Loewe and Anna Markfort from the top spot.
The Laser Radial was playing catch-up after no racing for the singlehanded women the previous day, and Silvia Zennaro revelled in the change of pace. The Italian was going fast in the strong winds and has won three of her five qualifying races to hold a good lead over Turkey's Ecem Guzel who also jumped up the rankings today.
It's a closer battle in the Men's Laser where Estonia's Karl Martin Rammo and Enrique Arathoon of El Salvador are tied for the lead. Meanwhile perennial strong performer at Kiel Week, Germany's Olympic representative Philipp Buhl, made a charge up the leaderboard to sit in third overall. Rammo's Estonian team mate Deniss Karpak continues to lead the Finns while London 2012 Olympic Champion in the Star keelboat, Max Salminen of Sweden, now holds second overall.
The conditions made for challenging boat handling in the Nacra 17 catamaran. Germany's Jan Hauche Erichsen and Ann Kristin Wedemeyer have taken the lead for the first time this week, although only a slender one-point advantage over Rio 2016 bronze medallist Thomas Zajac and his new crew Barbara Matz.
The Olympic silver medallists from New Zealand, Alex Maloney and Molly Meech, sailed a very solid day to take the lead in the 49er FX Women's skiff class ahead of Great Britain's Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey. In the Men's 49er and Will and Sam Phillips were the masters of the 49er Men's fleet. The Australian brothers won three of the four Gold Fleet Races and have shot up to fourth overall.
The Polish team of Lukasz Przybytek and Pawel Ko³odziñski also enjoyed the tough conditions and rise to second overall. There are two days left for the Poles to try to catch the leading Australians, David Gilmour and Joel Turner. And they could just get the weather they want, because it looks like it's going to be more strong westerly winds for the final weekend of Kiel Week.
For all the news, results, video highlights and photos, go to www.kieler-woche.de