Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships - Day 5
by Richard Palfreyman 7 Dec 2011 13:56 GMT
3-18 December 2011
Predominantly blue skies, sunshine and light to moderate winds greeted sailors on Day 5 of the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships with competitors in four classes putting aside the disappointment of Tuesday’s postponements by asserting themselves in the fleet racing on Wednesday.
Men’s 470
Clean sweeps to Great Britain’s Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell in the blue fleet and Australia’s Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page in the yellow saw Great Britain and Australia both on equal points at the top of the board in the Men’s 470 event.
With racing cancelled on Tuesday due to electrical storms, Wednesday’s competition became crunch time for gold and silver fleet allocations.
World No. 1 Belcher (AUS) said he and Page couldn’t complain about their result after racing in near perfect sea breeze conditions. “We are really looking forward to the finals,” he said.
The scheduled showdown between the 2011 and 2010 European champions in the blue fleet didn’t disappoint.
It was a constant battle between 2011 champions Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) and 2010 champs Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis (GRE), with the Croatians finishing the day in third overall and the Greek duo now fourth.
The men’s 470 races are scheduled to begin at 1400 Perth time on the Success course on Thursday.
Finn
Finn world number two Giles Scott (GBR) continued his impressive form on the water, moving from fourth to second overall in the rankings with two wins and a second on Wednesday.
Racing in the Yellow fleet, Scott was followed closely for most of the day in the 18-20 knots sea breeze by Pieter-Jan Potsma (NED), who managed to edge him in race 5.
After discarding his worst result, Postma took the overall lead by one point ahead of Scott (GBR), with Ben Ainslie a further point behind.
Ainslie has dropped from first to third in the overall rankings after collecting nine points for the day.
Disqualifications dominated the first Blue fleet race of the day, with 11 contestants receiving Black Flag Disqualifications. They included world number one Ed Wright (GBR), day-one winner Rafael Trujillo (ESP), and Olympic silver medallist Zach Railey (USA).
Four sailors in the Yellow fleet’s third race were also disqualified for the same reason.
The mass disqualifications gave Jonathan Lobert (FRA) his only win so far in the competition. Trujillo also put his earlier penalty behind him, placing well for the rest of the day.
Finals Series racing in the Finn class is scheduled to begin at 1400 local time Thursday on the Leighton course.
Women’s RS:X
Conditions proved challenging in the women’s RS:X event with athletes tested by 15 knot winds following days of light winds.
However after three races in both fleets, Israel’s Lee Korzits held the lead from Bryony Shaw (GBR) and Marina Alabau (ESP).
World number one Blanca Manchon is languishing in thirteenth place overall while windsurfing veterans Alessandra Sensini (ITA) and Jessica Crisp (AUS) are in 15th and 16 places respectively.
The women’s RS:X Finals Series racing is scheduled to begin on the Centre course at 1200 Perth time on Thursday.
Laser Radial
Sailors on the water for Day 5 of the Laser Radial competition enjoyed perfect conditions but encountered dramatic changes in fortunes..
Race 3 started in 11-15 knots which picked up to a 20 knot sea breeze by Race 5, with swell and chop to contend with.
In the first race of the Yellow fleet, the winner of the last two world championships, Sari Multala (FIN) was back to winning ways in race 3 for the Yellow fleet. Alison Young (GBR) worked her way up from fifth place to second while Ashley Stoddart (AUS) finished a creditable third, after rounding the first leg in tenth place.
Sari Multala also won the second race of the day. “In the first two races I had a really good start,” she said.
“I could do what I wanted to do. There were some speed differences in the winds which helped,” Multala said.
Evi van Acker (BEL) and Paige Railey (USA) were back on form finishing second and third.
Alison Young (GBR) saved her best for last to win race 5 in the Yellow fleet.
“The first two races weren’t too great. Today I had three good races and I am happy with it,” she said.
In the Blue fleet, Charlotte Dobson (GBR) put her first day’s 34th behind her and posted her first win of the series. Annalise Murphy (IRL) and Veronika Fenclova (CZE) came from outside the top eight to finish second and third respectively in race 3.
World number one, Marit Bouwmeester (NED), did not have a good start and chose the wrong side of the course.
However, she managed to claw her way back into race to take tenth place after rounding mark one in 33rd position.
“I tried to forget about it and sail how I normally do,” Bouwmeester said about her comeback.
In race 4, world number thirteen, Annalise Murphy (IRL) won her second race of the series.
“I was leading from start to finish and pulled out quite a lot and it was a good feeling to get so far ahead,” Murphy said.
World champion Marit Bouwmeester (NED) came second with Charlotte Dobson (GBR) third.
It took Marit Bouwmeester five races to score her first win in Perth 2011, race 5 for the blue fleet. Claire Blom (NED) and Hannah Snellgrove (GBR) took the minor places.
Annalise Murphy’s win saw her skyrocket from 26nd to second in the overall standings. Marit Bouwmeester (NED) remains in third place.
Finals Series racing for Laser Radial is scheduled to begin on the Parmelia course at 1200 local time on Thursday.
Women’s Match Racing
Fleeting appearances from the elusive ‘Fremantle Doctor’ sea breeze set the pace in the Women’s Match Racing on Wednesday with winds of 13 to 18 knots proving a challenge for some of the crews in Group B, despite earlier wind shifts that enabled the first four flights to engage in tactical racing.
Throughout flights 34 to 43, some crews struggled to clear and fill their spinnaker while others used the windward marks to make strategic advances in the final downwind run.
Morning racing was highlighted by the tense match between defending world champion Claire Leroy (FRA) and Spain’s Silvia Roca. Leroy was unable to ward off a well-executive jibe from Roca, forcing the French crew to sail in ESP-2’s backwind. Despite the loss, Leroy’s crew share equal first place the Women’s Match Racing round robin with seven wins and a single loss.
During the afternoon flights, teams began sailing at higher angles to keep their sails in full motion as the wind decreased in Fremantle’s Inner Harbour.
Australian sailors seemed to have more success, with AUS-2, led by Olivia Price, out sailing SWE-1 and NED-2 respectively to post a tally of seven wins and three losses to join Leroy’s French team in equal first overall in the round robin stage.
Spain’s two boats, skippered by Tamara Echegoyen (ESP-1) and Silvia Roca (ESP-2) share third place overall.
Women’s Match Racing is scheduled to continue at 1000 Perth time on Thursday on the Harbour course.
Day 5 Highlights Video:
www.Perth2011.com
Annalise Murphy in Second Place Overall (from Rachel Solon, Irish Sailing Association)
Day 3 at the World Sailing Championships in Perth was a fantastic day on the water for Ireland’s Laser Radial sailor, Annalise Murphy. In 18 knots of wind and a choppy sea Annalise finished 2nd, 1st and 4th in the three races. With the discard applied, Annalise is now lying in 2nd place overall from a fleet of 102 competitors in the event which is an Olympic qualifier.
ISA Performance Director, James O’Callaghan stated after today’s performance “Annalise showed her real potential today but there is a long way to go yet”.
Racing continues until the medal race on Sunday 11 December.
In other classes Ger Owens and Scott Flanigan are lying in 31st position in a fleet of 80 in the 470 class and Ross Hamilton in the Finn is in 63rd position.
Meanwhile Irish sailors in the other three classes who do not start racing until 11/12 December are undergoing pre-race preparation including measurement, fitness and applying the tricolour to their sails.
US Olympic Team Selection daily report (from Dana Paxton, US Sailing)
“Team GETSailing” -- Genny Tulloch (Houston, Texas/Sausalito, Calif.), Alice Manard Leonard (New Orleans, La./East Haven, Conn.) and Jenn Chamberlin (Washington, D.C.) – had a full day of Women’s Match Racing and added more wins and one more loss to their score line to bring the team’s overall score, to date, to 6 wins and 2 losses. The team will take Thursday off while Group A returns to the Fremantle Harbour to complete the round robin.
Stu McNay (Boston, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) had a very strong day and collected a 8-5-5 to bring them into 5th overall. They’ll make the gold fleet split as will their USSTAG team mates Adam Roberts and Nick Martin (both San Diego, Calif.).
“We are generally pretty happy with the way we sailed,” said Biehl after racing. “A couple times we had to sail our way back through the fleet, especially in last race. We got caught doing a penalty turn before the start. We were near last and sail our way through the whole fleet, and luckily there were three legs and we had more time to make up the time. We came 5th there and we’re extremely pleased with that.”
With racing abandoned on Tuesday, the fleet came back to race three races and make up for lost time.
“The day off always makes you more anxious especially when they decide to do three races,” continued Biehl. Every race was a black flag start because I think everyone was anxious and there were general recalls. We are going to keep fighting and doing our best.”
Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) turned in a 10-3-3 in the Laser Radial class, but will discard the 10th place to stand in 5th overall. In the Finn class, Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) received a black flag penalty in race 3, then went on to score a 7-6. The discard is in effect in the Finn class and Railey will drop the black flag penalty. The 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist is currently in 5th place overall.
Racing in the Men’s 470, Laser Radial, Finn and Women’s RS:X classes continues on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The Star, along with Men’s RS:X, Laser, Women’s 470 and 49er, race during the second week of this event.