2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta - Team GB Day Eight Review
by Lindsey Bell, RYA 16 Aug 2008 16:48 BST
9-21 August 2008
Sailors’ quest for gold on hold
Qingdao’s infamous light winds have frustrated Ben Ainslie’s quest for his third successive Olympic title this morning with the Finn class medal race abandoned after 30 minutes with Ainslie in gold medal position.
Ainslie and the Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa
Wilson, who were also supposed to sail for their medals today
(Saturday), will now go for gold tomorrow (Sunday) as the medal races
are rolled over a day.
After two postponements during the Finn class start sequence, racing
eventually got underway with Ainslie, who needs to finish no more than
five boats behind second-placed Zach Railey (USA) to win gold,
immediately going on the attack and doing exactly what he had promised
in "sticking to Zach like glue", forcing his American rival to the back
of the fleet and pinning him in 10th and last place in the 10-boat medal
race fleet.
But with 30 minutes of the race elapsed and with the boats taking part
in what had effectively become competitive floating race as the wind
just switched off, officials took the brave call to abandon the race at
1450 (local time).
There was an hour-and-a-half after the abandonment to try to sail the
race before the cut-off time, however despite staying out on the water
for another hour, the Finns eventually were towed back to shore and
racing was canned for the day.
“It was massively frustrating – I felt like I had one hand on the trophy
there,” Ainslie commented. “We hung around for quite a while and
eventually got one race going after a couple of aborted attempts.
“Halfway through the race I was in a very good position with the
American guy right at the back of the fleet so for the wind to die out
and the race to be abandoned was very frustrating.
“I’m going to have to come out fighting tomorrow and try to do it all
again.”
Asked about his tactics in forcing Railey to the back of the fleet,
Ainslie responded; “It probably looked a bit strange to viewers on the
TV being miles behind – but that was actually a good situation for me
with the way the points are and strategically. So that was my game plan
and it worked very well in that race.
“I guess the only problem is now the American knows what’s coming
tomorrow! But we’ll see what the conditions are like, keep focussed and
keep going.”
It appeared as though Ainslie and his rival were engrossed in
conversation during their duel, and the triple Olympic medallist
confirmed the pair had exchanged words.
“We had a little chat towards the middle of the race just before it got
abandoned,” Ainslie revealed. “He was just saying he wanted to hold on
to silver or bronze. I was telling him that’s the situation with the
Olympics – when it comes to the crunch you’ve got to make sure of it and
with the conditions like they were today you can’t leave anything to
chance.
“You’ve got to try and get in front of your opponent and try to nail
them down.”
The Yngling girls had an equally frustrating wait out on the water,
waiting to see if the Finn sailors, scheduled to race ahead of them,
would complete their medal race. Ayton, Webb and Wilson currently head
the Dutch trio of Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen by a
single-point simply meaning whoever finishes ahead in the double-points
medal race tomorrow will claim gold.
The Yngling and Finn medal races have now been rescheduled for Sunday
(17 August) with the Ynglings the first off at 1300, and the Finn fleet
due to start at 1400.
If either or both classes fail to complete their medal race tomorrow for
whatever reason, the, according to the Sailing Instructions, the medal
race can be rolled over one more day to Monday. If still no race has
taken place by close of play Monday, the gold medallists would be
determined by current standings with both British boats currently
heading their respective fleets.
Elsewhere on the racecourses, Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes finally got
some racing in the 49er class after two days of postponements. However,
after a frustrating and disappointing regatta for the Brits, they scored
8,11,15 in their three races this morning and qualify for tomorrow’s
scheduled medal race in ninth place, with a highest possible finishing
place of seventh overall.
In the 470 women’s event Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark also lie
ninth overall with a 15th and fifth today, and two more opening series
races scheduled to sail before Monday's medal race. Nick Rogers and Joe
Glanfield will fight for silver in the 470 men’s medal race after gold
was already secured by Australian duo Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page.
The fleet got three races under their belts today, with Rogers and
Glanfield picking up two extreme scores in the first two - OCS and
second - and then scoring a third in race 10 to be placed fourth overall
three points off the medal places.
With one Laser and Radial race sailed apiece, Penny Clark fared best in
the women's event picking up a third to move up from 10th overall to
sixth after five races, while Paul Goodison posted a race five ninth to
drop from the top of the Laser leaderboard to fourth, but just three
points shy of the top spot.
Both the Tornados and Stars contested two races today and their third of
the regatta. Tornado boys Will Howden and Leigh McMillan added an eighth
and 13th to their opening race sixth yesterday to be placed 10th
overall. Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the Star finished 13th in
their first race of this morning, following that up with a second, to
move to eighth overall.
The RS:Xs, who had been scheduled three races today, endured a fruitless
day with no racing to add to their overnight scores. Nick Dempsey
currently lies in bronze medal position in men's event and Bryony Shaw
fifth in the women's fleet.
Schedule of racing – Sunday 17 August (times are local)
Course A: 1300 hrs – Yngling medal race
Course A: 1400 hrs – Finn medal race
Course A: 1500 hrs – 49er medal race
Course B: 1200hrs – RS:X men and women (3 races)
Course C: 1200hrs – Laser and Laser Radial (3 races each)
Course E: 1200hrs – Star and Tornado (3 races each)
You can follow the racing online at www.rya.org.uk/beijing2008, where you will get updates from the dinghy park and the results as they come in, as well as the news from the Team GB camp. You can also leave
messages of support for the team and your comments on the racing and Team GB’s prospects.