35th HRH Princess Sofia Trophy Overall

Ben Ainslie wins again at the 35th HRH Princess Sofia Trophy © www.nicomartinez.com

Two gold medals for Team GBR in Palma

After five days of racing in a variety of conditions RYA Team GBR have won two gold medals in the Finn and 470 men's class at the 35th HRH Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta.

In the men’s 470 class, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield went into the last day in tenth place overall and put in a fantastic performance in the final four races, in the 8-18 knots of wind, to win the regatta by two points from Johan Molund and Martin Andersson of Sweden.

RYA Development Squad sailors Nick Asher and Elliot Willis also put in a great performance to finish in sixth place overall with Graham Vials and Bevis Field tenth.

Rogers commented, “We went into the final day tenth and knew we had to sail really well to get a good position in this regatta. We managed to raise our game and many of our foreign counterparts fell to pieces, enabling us to win the regatta.

I think we were a bit too conservative at the beginning but Joe and I are really happy with everything at the moment. We were competing in our Games boat and we now look forward to competing at our next event in Hyeres, although this will be with our other boat.”

In the women’s 470 fleet, fellow team GBR sailors Christina Bassadone and Katherine Hopson finished eighth overall. World champions Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa of Greece won the class from Vladlena Ilienko and Natalie Gaponovick of Russia.

Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie put in a great series, winning a total of seven out of ten races, to win the event with a race to spare from Marin Misura of Croatia, with the 1996 Olympic champion Mateusz Kusznierewicz of Poland finishing third.

Fellow Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson, sailing with Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb, just missed out on the medals to finish in fourth place in the Yngling class. Dutch sailors Annelies Thies, Annemieke Bes and Petronella de Jong won the class by six points from Alesha Thorpe, Karen Lambert and Michelle Vinsen of New Zealand.

Team GBR Tornado sailors Leigh McMillan and Mark Bulkeley went into the final day of racing in third place. Unfortunately in the first race of the day their jib track broke and they were forced to pull out of the final two races. This saw them drop to ninth place overall, but as the event was a warm up prior to their world championships, they were relieved it happened now and not next week. John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree of America put in a consistent performance to win the week from Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz of Spain.

Many of the British sailing team members will compete next at Hyeres Olympic Classes Week at the end of April, whilst the Tornado, 49er and Mistral classes have their world championships commencing next week.

Overall Results:

470 Women – 36 boats
1, Sofia Bekatorou/Emilia Tsoulfa, GRE (5,4,12,4,5,(BFD),(17),4,2,5,3,3) 47 pts
2, Vladlena Ilienko/Natalie Gaponovick, RUS (3,(18),15,2,10,3,8,17,4,(OCS),8,2) 72 pts
3, Natalia Via-Dufresne/Sandra Azon, ESP (15,(OCS),7,1,1,9,15,2,8,6,12,(18)) 76 pts
GBR
8, Christina Bassadone/Katherine Hopson (7,7,16,15,3,10,14,16,(OCS),(27),5,10) 103 pts
33, Libby Greenhalgh/Rachel Larmen ((34),17,30,(OCS),9,24,28,19,28,26,30,21) 232 pts

470 Men – 71 boats
1, Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield, GBR (15,(22),10,6,13,3,15,5,3,3,(22),1,3) 77 pts
2, Johan Molund/Martin Andersson, SWE (10,7,12,4,5,(13),11,7,(18),6,4,2,11) 79 pts
3, Javier Conte/Juan de la Fuente, ARG (1,1,6,4,1,12,14,13,1,9,20,21,(BFD)) 82 pts
GBR
6, Nick Asher/Elliot Willis (11,2,5,3,10,12,9,5,(29),18,9,3,(19)) 87 pts
10, Graham Vials/Bevis Field, GBR (9,23,6,3,2,6,13,2,(31),8,13,10,(BFD)) 95 pts

Europe Women – 126 boats
1, Siren Sundby, NOR (1,(20),1,2,1,1,(20),3,4,1,12,4) 30 pts
2, Sarah Blanck, AUS (20,7,1,5,5,10,1,10,2,5,6,(30)) 52 pts
3, Meg Gaillard, USA (7,13,5,1,1,6,3,4,1,(18),(21),17) 58 pts
GBR
19, Laura Baldwin (11,12,2,5,11,10,16,1,(33),31,(36),21) 120 pts
40, Andrea Brewster (7,15,22,25,33,(28),7,26,(51),(OCS),17,48) 228 pts
43, Lizzie Vickers (26,33,13,34,19,41,34,2,(43),22,(54),28) 252 pts
104, Natalie Lloyd (55,(62),52,52,50,45,44,46,29,25,15,(BFD)) 413 pts
121, Katie Mapplebeck (52,51,57,60,(63),54,63,(DNC),51,56,52,46) 542 pts

Finn – 53 boats
1, Ben Ainslie, GBR (1,1,1,1,1,1,3,14,1,(DNC)) 24 pts
2, Marin Misura, CRO (3,(18),2,2,10,5,1,2,2,3) 30 pts
3, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, POL (5,(27),4,4,8,4,20,6,3,7) 61 pts
Other GBR
30, Matt Howard (14,26,25,19,35,31,40,23,25,(OCS)) 238 pts

Tornado – 53 boats
1, John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree, USA (7,1,1,9,6,(11),3,6,2,2) 37 pts
2, Fernano Echavarri/Anton Paz, ESP (5,8,9,(18),4,2,10,5,1,5) 49 pts
3, Yann Guichard/Christophe Espagnon, FRA (14,18,(DNC),4,1,18,7,12,10,1) 85 pts
GBR
9, Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley (4,12,21,15,2,6,18,7,(DNC),DNC) 140 pts
37, Andrew Walsh/Ed Barney (19,44,39,(49),35,40,33,22,20,24) 276 pts
40, Jonathan Hutchcroft/Marcus Lynch (37,36,34,38,27,38,29,(OCS),25,22) 286 pts
45, Leo Farrow/Tristan Lamb (41,43,45,(48),32,42,39,24,29,26) 321 pts

Yngling – 30 boats
1, Annelies Thies/Annemieke Bes/Petronella de Jong, NED (1,4,12,2,(15),(13),5,3,3,1,2,12,10) 55 pts
2, Alesha Thorpe/Karen Lambert/Michelle Vinsen, NZL (3,(23),6,9,9,8,2,4,(16),8,7,1,4) 61 pts
3, Kristin Wagner/Anna Hoell/Veronika Lochbrunner, GER (14,3,3,5,3,2,(15),5,(25),3,17,9,7) 69 pts
GBR
4, Shirley Robertson/Sarah Webb/Sarah Ayton (12,8,17,(26),1,1,8,14,10,9,(DNC),6,1) 87 pts
27, Dominica Lindsey/Annie Lush/Victoria Symmers (21,25,27,(28),(30),25,19,8,23,24,22,4,26) 224 pts

For further information and full results, log onto the event website www.trofeoprincesasofia.org.

RYA Team GBR thank their sponsors and suppliers for their support: UK Sport Lottery Funding - Henri-Lloyd - Concept 2 - Hill Hire - Activator – Marlow - McAlpine Business Services