Nacra 17, 49er and 49erFX Worlds at Clearwater, Florida - Day 5
by Katy Nastro & Andy Rice 14 Feb 2016 06:49 GMT
9-14 February 2016
Sweden and Spain make plain sailing of tough conditions (by Andy Rice)
Tamara Echegoyen and Berta Betanzos leapt to the top of the leaderboard after another dominant performance off Clearwater Beach on the penultimate day of competition at the 49er and 49erFX World Championships.
The Spanish team looked totally at home in the moderate to strong breezes and the rough shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, scoring 2,1,3 in the first three races of the Gold Fleet finals. The drone footage from the live TV coverage showed the Spanish had a clear straight-line speed edge on the downwind legs.
Later in the day on the same course, it was the Swedish team of Carl Sylvan and Marcus Anjemark who showed mastery of the rough conditions, their 2,4,3 scores making them the fastest team of the day in 49er Men's division. While a scoreline of 4,20,2 is not what we've come to expect of the usually invincible duo of Pete Burling and Blair Tuke, the reigning World Champions from New Zealand have still extended their lead to 28 points over the rest of the fleet.
49erFX Women
At the beginning of the day, New Zealand's 2013 World Champions Alex Maloney and Molly Meech were topping the leaderboard, but the Kiwis couldn't hit their stride today, slipping to 5th overall. Instead it was the Spaniards who dominated the day, building on their perfect run of three qualifying-heat victories the previous day to put Echegoyen and Betanzos into a 9 point lead over the Brazilians, Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze also had a very good day with 12,3,2. The defending World Champions, Italy's Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich lacked the raw speed of the Spanish and Brazilians, but still did enough to hold 3rd overall going into the final day.
Echegoyen, the London 2012 Olympic Champion in keelboat match racing, and former 470 World Champion Betanzos are really getting their act together in the demanding skiff. They couldn't quite believe how well things had gone over the past two days of competition. "It was hard conditions on the downwind legs in the big waves," said Betanzos, "but we're really pleased with the speed." The Spanish were taking no chances through the high-risk manoeuvre of gybing, holding on to the gennaker hard as they went through the gybe and only releasing the sail once they were safely on their new course. But they were so fast in a straight line, the safety gybes didn't matter; they still pulled distance on their rivals most of the time.
Ida Marie Nielsen and Marie Olsen have been one of the most consistent performers in the past three years of the 49erFX class, winning the Europeans in 2013 and finishing on the podium of the past two World Championships. However, two OCS disqualifications for starting too soon put the Danes on the back foot, relegating them to 31st overall just two days ago. A better final day's qualifying scraped them through to the 25-boat Gold Fleet finals, but they would still have to sail out of their skins to be able to get back in contention with their rival Danish team mates also vying for Olympic selection. Nielsen and Olsen soaked up the pressure and converted it into high-wind boatspeed, taking home scores of 3,5,1 which lifts them to 9th overall and within striking distance of the other Danes.
49er Men
Today's first day of Gold Fleet racing was billed as the big showdown between the reigning World Champions, Pete Burling and Blair Tuke, and the reigning Olympic Champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen. Unfortunately Outteridge was carrying an injury to his ribs and the Aussies never hit their stride, dropping from 2nd overall to 6th after three mid-fleet finishes. The Kiwis didn't have it all their own way either, dropping from 2nd to 4th on the final run to the finish of the first race. It looked like they had overstood the layline and gybed too late, but it wasn't quite that simple. "The outer jacket on the kite halyard stripped itself," he said. The gennaker dropped to the water, and Tuke had to run in, rehoist and secure the gennaker with a temporary knot. Under the circumstances, 4th place was a remarkable recovery.
However, the shredded halyard still need replacing and with the help of their coach Hamish Willcox, the World Champions set about running a replacement halyard up the mast and re-rigging the gennaker whilst out on a puke-inducing, lumpy seaway. "We had a bit on just getting that done between races, no time to change our rig sittings and that put us on the back foot for the next race," said Burling, who said they lacked a bit of speed on compromised rig settings. The result was an uncharacteristic 20th in the next race, although they made amends with a 2nd place in the final race of the day.
Even after all those mishaps, the New Zealanders look well set to take their 4th consecutive world title and to raise their unbroken run of victories in international competition to 23 regattas, an incredible run stretching back more than three years. Behind Burling there was a game of musical chairs going on, with Nico Delle Karth and Niko Resch of Austria moving up into 2nd overall, and the 2008 Olympic Champion from Denmark Jonas Warrer with crew Anders Thomsen sitting in 3rd overall.
No two days appear to be the same in Clearwater and after today's cold northerly breeze, it drops lighter and potentially shiftier as the wind will be blowing from the east, straight offshore and over and around the tall hotels and tower blocks that line Clearwater Beach. It could be a very different challenge, and another test of all-round ability.
Nacra 17 (by Katy Nastro)
Clearwater, FL. Day five of the Nacra 17 World Championships can pretty much call it as the unstoppable, and apparently unbeatable, Billy Besson and Marie Riou have separated themselves enough from the pack that even with a perfect day for the any of the close competitors, they mathematically take their fourth world title. "I called my family, and they were very happy. Right now this feels, weird, well no it feels, surreal!" said Marie with relieved sentiment.
Marie and Billy were embraced by many enthusiastic faces onshore. Apart from the fact that these two now are four time world champions, they capsized in the last race, unfortunately breaking the tiller extension. The extension was unrepairable on the water and so the two decided to retire for the day. This circumstance would normally knock the first place boat from its pedestal, but oh no, not for these French champions. The regatta was won even before the tiller extension mishap occurred! The pair could take the day off tomorrow and bask in the Floridian sun, but instead they are going back out to sail, and of course support their compatriot's who are now vying to break into the top five. #VivaLaFrance
Sitting in second, almost on another playing field, is Allan Norregaard and Anette Viborg Andreasen. had a superior day with finishes of 6th, 3rd, and 2nd respectively. The pair was having fun, but they did feel the conditions were a bit problematic at times. Anette notes, "It was very wavy, and the wind was up and down, so it's really tricky to sail the boat and to keep the nose up." Their last downwind on race three of the day, both Allan and Anette really tried hard to focus on not going swimming. #ThankYouFootStraps
The Danish team sits just two points away from former Austrian Tornado sailor Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank. They know first place is out of reach, but are happy for Bill and Marie as they feel the French sailed "incredibly." The Danes have only been sailing together for a year and with one podium finish at the 2015 Europeans, but not yet a World Championship, only means one thing: there is a first time for everything!
Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank sit in third position with a 7th, 2nd, and 6th to round out their score board. The two played the conservative card, withholding any aggressive action on the start line ensuring no OCS's for the day. They took control of their positions early on and were able to sail securely into each position. Fifty points separating their boat from the French dominators, Tanja feels a bit mixed about the locked in first position. "Yeah, for them it's pretty nice and it must be cool to be safe already before the medal race with the gold medal, but for us, I don't know, for all of us we just don't know how to get to that level. " Even if they wanted it, gold is just not happening for the Austrians at this 2016 Worlds.
Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri were smiling on shore after todays races. No mishaps with unidentified objects hovering underneath the surface this time, so the only thing crashing into their hulls were big waves and solid breeze. "It was a really fun day, a lot of wind, a lot of waves, which we enjoy so much! We had good results today, but we unfortunately in the first race were probably BFD, but we didn't realize it...but despite that, we are happy and will be there tomorrow to fight for the podium." The two currently sit in fourth, just eleven points from third.
Vittorio and Silvia take a zen approach going into the medal day. They feel that the best way to go into the last day of a major event is to just relax a little bit, and if you're feeling nerves, a beer might help!
Day five racing was applauded by all as it was warmer weather and the mostly near perfect conditions for the Nacra 17 class. This venue has produced all varying seas and breeze for the fleet, but they seem to favor the windier days they've had so far - unless it's cold of course! Argentinian legend Santiago Lange definitely agrees, "It was really good today, and it was really good regatta conditions wise."
Be sure to catch the final day of racing in Clearwater, Florida, as the Nacra class will be featured on the 49er/FX live stream found on the 49er YouTube page. Check it out!
The fleet not competing in the medal race will have one race at 12:00, they medal race series for resp. Nacra 17, 49erfx and 49er will start at 14:30 pm/ 2:30 pm.
Live coverage of the Medal Races
To find out if the Spanish can win their first 49erFX World Championship, and if anyone can stop Burling & Tuke winning their fourth 49er World title, tune into tomorrow's live TV coverage starting at 10am local time (Eastern Standard Time).
Schedule
- 1:.00am Three 49er Gold Fleet races
- 2:30pm Nacra 17 Medal Race
- 3:00pm 49erFX Medal Race
- 3:30pm 49er Medal Race
Burling and Tuke go into final day World Champs with strong lead (from Jodie Bakewell-White, Yachting New Zealand)
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke will take a healthy 28 point lead into the last of the 2016 49er World Championships in Clearwater, Florida.
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech have relinquished their overall lead slipping to 5th overall after today's racing but have tomorrow to push for a podium finish.
Conditions were extreme again today with Clearwater's shallow waters quickly chopping up into a high stakes, boat breaking environment.
Starting at 10 o'clock tomorrow the gold fleet in both the 49er and 49erFX will sail three more races before the top ten progress and sail the final determining medal race in the afternoon.
49er
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke remain well out in front in the 49er World Championship still 28 points in front of the pack after sailing three gold fleet races in choppy, rough and challenging conditions off Clearwater today.
"We're really looking forward to getting out there and into some gold fleet racing in the 49er," commented Burling ahead of today's competition. "I think that some of most fun racing you can get in the 49er is gold fleet at a world champs so we're really looking forward to it."
It wasn't all plain sailing for the kiwis today who recorded a 20th in their second race after an average start left them buried in the fleet, but a 4th in the opener and a 2nd to close the day sees them maintain their points margin on the pack.
The Austrian pair of Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth and Nikolaus Leopold Resch have moved into 2nd overall with Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Ian Jensen dropping away to 6th and rumoured to be affected by injury.
49er FX
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech have dropped out of the overall lead in the 49erFX after placing 17th, 9th and 11th in today's gold fleet racing in Clearwater. However points are close around them and there's plenty more racing to come tomorrow and Maloney and Meech will be focussed on achieving good race results to put them in medal contention going into the medal race.
Molly Meech describes the day; "When we first got out there the conditions were actually really nice, and the waves were really nice to go sailing downwind. We did three races and over the course of the three races the waves picked up and things got a little bit trickier."
Meech continues, "Our day wasn't so good today, we had pretty tough racing and ours starts weren't that good which has been a work on, and it was just tricky all round for us."
After interruptions early in the regatta organisers have added three gold fleet races to the schedule on the final day before the top ten medal race, and the kiwi women will be looking to put those to good use.
"One more day of gold fleet racing tomorrow and then a medal race, so there is a lot of points up for grabs and anything can happen."
Taking the overall lead are Spain's Tamara Echegoyen and Berta Betanzos who have really hit their stride yesterday and today. They lead from Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze by nine points.
The other kiwi crew of Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland are also racing in gold fleet, and go into the final day of the regatta holding 18th overall.
Nacra 17
In the 2016 Nacra 17 World Championship the NZL Sailing Team pair of Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders has improved their overall position after racing on the penultimate day the regatta, but not enough to make the top ten medal race cut off.
"On the Nacra course we had up to 16-17 knots, puffy winds, big waves and pretty full on sailing," describes Jez Fanstone, Yachting New Zealand High Performance Director.
With moments of brilliance through the 15 race series the kiwis have collected three top five race finishes but have been unable to maintain their consistency and finish today in 14th overall.
Jason Saunders says, "It was a tough day racing again today we started off in 12-15 knots and some pretty nasty waves and it built, especially in the last race and it got pretty hard for sailing but it was good fun and nice to have some good breeze again after a couple of light days."
"It was a better day for us today, slowly getting better" says Saunders. "I still wouldn't say it was an amazing day. We have had a pretty tough regatta for us so far and it was nice to get at least a couple of good races in. We're feeling like we're getting better but unfortunately we've run out of time to get a good result, but we've learnt a lot and we're looking forward to the rest of the year."
"We've learnt a lot with equipment here, and we won't make the same mistakes again so I think there is a lot of things we can change to get back to what we think is our best level."
"We have about a week off now and then we have our home regatta, Oceanbridge Sail Auckland and we'll go there and we'll race around with the young guys and a few of the other kiwis and then we'll build up with the usual Europe trip, Palma and Hyeres and mix that in with a couple of stints in Rio and really looking towards August."
Aon Fast Track Squad sailors Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson end the day in 17th place overall in the 43-boat fleet.
Both crews will race again tomorrow with a final fleet race planned for all boats not placed within the top ten, while those that did make the cut will sail just their medal race.
The Nacra 17 will debut at the Olympic Games this August in Rio, and the fleet will come together again before then to compete at up-coming Sailing World Cup Regattas in Hyeres in April and Weymouth in June.
Character building penultimate day (from Cora Zillich, Australian Sailing)
It was a character building and tough penultimate day at the 2016 Nacra 17, 49er, and 49erFX World Championships in Clearwater with the breeze picking up throughout the day and the changing sea state making for challenging conditions.
World #1 Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) as well as Nacra 17 World #1 Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) both dropped down the ranks and will go into the final day ranked sixth and fifth respectively.
While Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin had a rather unlucky day, Nathan Outteridge was sailing with a pectoral injury limiting his strength and movements.
Three more races plus the top-ten Medal Race are scheduled in the 49er/FX fleets on Sunday, while the Nacra 17 will head straight into their Medal Race.
49er
In the 49er and 49erFX it was the first day of Finals racing on Saturday with three more races scheduled for Sunday before the Medal Race in the afternoon.
Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen had a challenging day posting an average series of 13, 11, 14 to drop into overall sixth. Nathan Outteridge sailed with a pectoral muscle injury, which will require further assessment before the last day's racing.
"We had pretty nice sailing conditions, 14knots, touching 18 at times, but mostly between 14-16, big waves and it was flicking around a bit, which made it quite tricky out there. We were struggling for a little bit of pace and not really doing good boat handling. I have a bit of an injury to the right pec at the moment. I'm not really sure what caused it, but it was pretty sore after sailing yesterday," Nathan Outteridge explained.
"Today's conditions with those massive waves made life difficult. But we soldiered on. You can always get an injury, also at the Olympics, and you just have to deal with it. We pushed through and got some ok results, but obviously not really what we were looking for. We'll check tonight, see how it looks and make our decisions after that. We'll just have to be smart about this."
Australian Sailing Squad's David Gilmour (WA) and Lewis Brake (QLD) continued their strong run posting a consistent 6-6-7 series to move into 15th and keeping their hope alive to qualify for a spot in the top ten Medal Race.
Queenslanders Joel Turner (QLD) and Tom Siganto (QLD) as well as Harry Price (NSW) and Harry Morton (NSW) continued racing in the Silver fleet, which only got one race in.
Nacra 17
The fifth and penultimate day of these World Championships saw World #1 Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) drop from second into fifth after one of their worst days and posting a 34-17-17 series in the three races of the day.
"It was obviously a really tough day for Lisa and I. We had big waves and breeze that built all day. We were fifth in the first race when we capsized, which dropped us to last. That became our drop so we are carrying a 22 from earlier in the week. In the second race we were sixth around the top mark and then had a penalty. We had a pretty bad overlay on my part, which dropped us back to mid-teens. And in the last race we hooked some weed, so it was one of those days, one of the worst days in sailing of this year. But we'll just call it a character builder," Jason Waterhouse said.
"Tomorrow we only have the top ten Medal Race and due to our results today we'll just have to go out there, try to win the race and see how the cards fall on the deck", Jason added about the task at hand.
After the 15-race series defending World Champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou from France have an unassailable lead going into the final day with the rest of the medals yet to be decided.
49erFX
All three Australian Sailing crews qualified for Gold fleet racing with Australian Sailing Squad's Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA) continuing to hold the top spot amongst the Australian boats after three Gold fleet races on Saturday.
The pair moved up into 14th after posting an 11-8-17 series.
"We had a bit more breeze than yesterday and racing in Gold Fleet is at a much higher level and much tighter than the previous days. We managed to have a pretty consistent day, apart from the last race," Tess Lloyd said.
"The first race was a bit of a speed race before it started to get shiftier and you could play the shifts and make some gains. All the points are quite close and we want to try and make it into the Medal Race."
Also aiming for Medal Race are Olivia Price (NSW) and Eliza Solly (VIC), who won the first Gold Fleet race, followed by a 15th and 16th. They are ranked 16th going into the final day of racing with only three points separating them from Tess Lloyd and Caitlin Elks.
Haylee Outteridge (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) sit a couple places further down the ranks in 20th after posting a 20-22-9 series.