IBM Sydney Harbour Regatta

IBM Sydney Harbour Regatta - Day 3

by Peter Campbell 20 Sep 1999 13:07 BST

IBM SYDNEY HARBOUR REGATTA 1999

Day three summary, class by class:

Open Three Person Keelboat (Soling): SWEDES LEAD AFTER THE SECOND DAY

RACE 5

Sailing offshore from Sydney Heads on a grey day with rolling swells, the Solings took on the 12 to 15 knot southerly breeze and revelled in the conditions. The German boat, skippered by Atlanta Gold Medalist Jochen SCHUEMANN, ably assisted by crewmen Ingo BORKOWSKI and Gunnar BAHR, led from start to finish. The Australians, Cameron MILES, Andrew PALFREY and James MAYO, were coming third until the middle of the race, when they closed the gap to make a thrilling finish, runners up by only a few seconds. Spain also made up time throughout the race, starting 5th and finishing third, about half a minute behind Australia. Their crew skipper Luis DORESTE was more than pleased with the result..

Sweden, leading by a point after race 4, came 4th in this race, with USA (running 3rd after yesterday) 5th and Finland 6th. The Germans, who were placed 2nd overall yesterday, were delighted with their result which put them at the top of the overall point score.

RACE 6

Swedish crew Hans WALLEN, Johan BARNE, and Magnus AUGUSTSSON, who lead the fleet after Day 2 of racing, were in front from start to finish in race 6. DORESTE from Spain started 4th to come in 2nd and the Netherlands crew made excellent time to come from 13th at the start to finish 3rd. After their good showing in race 5, the Germans slipped to 12th in this race.

USA today scored a 5th in race 5 and a 9th in race 6, disappointing after their 3rd overall at the end of Sunday's racing.

OVERALL

Today was the last day of racing for the whole fleet. With a rest day tomorrow, the round robin competition starts on Wednesday 22 September. Finland and New Zealand have finished their racing for this regatta, leaving the other twelve to start match racing the day after tomorrow. Overall points went to Sweden's WALLEN, with 9 net points after discarding the first race. Germany is coming 2nd at 14 net points, with SCHUEMANN happy to discard the 6th race. USA's Jeff MADRIGALI stayed in contention with net points of 21, discarding race 3. Fourth overall is Spain with 23 net points, and Australia gaining a creditable 5th with 32 points.

Women's Double Handed Dinghy (470) NEW ZEALAND LEAD AFTER SECOND DAY

RACE 4 (Course Area E)

Today there was no such drama, with the New Zealand team of Melinda HENSHAW and Jennifer EGNOT starting the race in the lead and maintaining 1st position throughout the race ahead of Australia and the USA. Australians Jeni DANKS and Addy BUCEK experienced a "blinder" on the 3rd leg, coming from 12th position to 8th, continuing to recover ground throughout the race to finish in 2nd place, for the third time in this regatta. The USA sailors Tracey HAYLEY and Louise VAN VOORHIS, who won two races on the first day, held their starting position today to finish 3rd, briefly running in 2nd place only around the 3rd mark.

First day race leaders, Italian women Emanuela SOSSI and Frederica SALVA, had a disastrous start, rounding the 1st mark in last position. By the 3rd mark, they were running 6th and finished the race in this position, behind the Ukraine team in 4th and the Russians in 5th place.

Japanese SILVER MEDALISTS at Atlanta, Yumiko SHIGE and Alicia KINOSHITA again had a disappointing sail, although they made up six places during the race, improving from 14th at the first mark to finish in 8th position.

RACE 5 (Course Area E)

Argentina surprised with a win in race 5, coming from 6th at the start. Fernando SESTO and Paula REINOSO handled the offshore conditions well. The Ukrainians with Ruslana TARAN and Olena PAHOLCHYK led until the 6th mark, and came in 2nd by six seconds, giving spectators a thrilling finish. DANKS again put in a good showing, with a third, 22 seconds behind the Ukraine team.

OVERALL

At the end of their second day of racing, the USA, Italy and Ukraine hold the top three placings. Having discarded their worst race points, Tracy HAYLEY of the USA is on 9 points, Italy's SALVA on 12 and Ruslana TARAN from Ukraine on 18, followed very closely by Melinda HENSHAW from New Zealand on 19. Fifth place is held by DANKS from Australia on 22 points. With competition so close, racing should be fast and furious tomorrow when the women will be sailing inshore in more comfortable conditions.

RACE 5 -(Course Area C)

The start of the second race saw the American brothers Jonathan and Charlie MCKEE, who were lying fourth overall after Day 2, break the line early twice, having to round the ends twice. They then chose the right-hand side of the course which also proved to be costly.

At the first mark the Norwegians Christoffer SUNDBY and Vegard ARNHOFF were in the lead when they not only hit the mark and were also involved in an incident with another boat at the mark costing two 360 degree penalties. Remarkably they fought back to finish in second place.

Michael HESTBAEK and Jonatan PERSSON from Denmark took the lead very narrowly at the 2nd mark and then continued to pull away from the fleet winning comfortably by over a minute. The Norwegians finished 15 seconds ahead of the BRUNI brothers, Francesco and Gabriele who were leading the regatta after four races.

The Australian crew of Adam BEASHEL and Teague CZISLOWSKI after a slow start finished in fourth. The right-hand side of the course was less favoured, and unfortunately that was the side they chose.

Open High Performance Dinghy (49er) ITALIANS REMAIN IN THE LEAD

RACE 6 -(Course Area C)

The Danish team HESTBAEK and PERSSON won their second race of the day convincingly. In a comprehensive display they were narrowly second behind the BRUNI brothers at the first mark and then lead for the rest of the race winning again by over a minute. The Italians held on for second with the highly credentialled French crew of Marc AUDINEAU and Julien FARNARIER moving through the field from 8th at the first mark into third position at the finish.

The German crew of Marcus BAUR and Philip BARTH who were lying second after the first two days of racing failed to impress finishing 14th.

RACE 7- (Course Area C)

A strange race in which those who have been at the back end of the field in most races led for the first two marks. The South African team of Stephen GOLLIKER and Andrew HEATHCOTE had their first chance at stardom as did the British team of Alaster RICHARDSON and Peter GREENHALG, as well as the teams from Switzerland and Argentina.

Their moments were over though, by the third windward turning, only the Great Britain team remaining in a top three placing, by which stage the unstoppable Danish combination of Michael HESTBAEK and Jonatan PERSSON taken the lead, with GBR in 2nd place and Australia's Adam BEASHEL and Teague CZISLOWSKI in 3rd.

As they turned for the finish, it was still Denmark, when BEASHEL and CZISLOWSKI jibed to the other side of the course, their only chance of winning - it paid off in a nail biting finish, with Portugal's Afonso DOMINGOS and Diogo CAYOLLA coming down the middle of the course to pip HESTBAEK and PERSSON for 2nd place.

OVERALL

The BRUNI brothers, Francesco and Gabriele from Italy have maintained their first place by sailing consistently, whilst Adam BEASHEL and Teague CZISLOWSKI from Australia have crept into 2nd place after a win in the last race of the day. Michael HESTBAEK and Jonatan PERSSON from Denmark have lifted to 3rd after winning two races today and grabbing 3rd in the last race.

Open Multihull (Tornado) TWO FAVOURITES LEAD POINTS COMFORTABLY

RACE 6 - (Course D)

The Australian crew of Darren BUNDOCK and John FORBES continued to sail magnificently in the light conditions, winning their third race of the regatta. The fleet was very congested around the first two marks. At the third mark the Australians and the Americans, John LOVELL and Charlie OGLETREE, were 30 seconds clear of the rest of the fleet. 1998 World Champions BUNDOCK and FORBES then took control and went on to win by 1 minute and 20 seconds.

Mauricio Bahlense SANTA CRUZ and Henrique PELLICANO from Brazil had their first top five finish for the regatta finishing second 12 seconds clear of the ever consistent Austrians Roman HAGARA and Hans P STEINACHER. The Austrians who are the current World Champions have been the most consistent crew to so far.

RACE 7 - Course D

The tornado's again did not live up to their 'flying' reputation due to the light conditions. The New Zealand crew of Chris DICKSON and Jeremy STEPHENSON who were disappointing earlier in the day, got a great start and controlled the race from the front. BUNDOCK and FORBES (AUS) were one minute behind the leaders at the first mark. The Austrians were again challenging the leaders.

The Australians continued to work their way from third last at the first mark to the front of the fleet. At the final rounding they were fourth chasing the Austrian pair and the Swedish and Martin STRANDENBERG and Magnus LOVDEN from Sweden. The New Zealanders were 30 seconds clear.

Australia had a great sail to finish just one second behind their Kiwi rivals.

OVERALL

The Tornado class continues to be extremely exciting and competitive racing. The two favourites before the regatta began, the Australian and Austrian crews, are well clear in the overall results. After seven races the Australians lead their World Champion counterparts by 3 points. The Spanish pair of Fernardo LEON and Jose Luis BALLESTER are a further 15 points back.

Open Single Handed Dinghy (Laser) - PROVISIONAL OVERALL POINT SCORES

RACE 5 (Course Area B)

The Laser class, the biggest fleet at the Regatta, got away to a clear start in the first race of the day, Race 5 of their competition, with Great Britain's Ben AINSLIE, the current World Champion, the early leader on the first beat to windward. However, halfway up the leg he appeared to take a 720 degrees penalty turn, dropping back to 20th at the first mark. While AINSLIE, who had been overall leader after four races, fought back throughout the race, he was sailing in "dirty" wind all the way in the 39 boat fleet and could do no better than 13th.

No-one could catch New Zealand's Nik BURFOOT who led all the way to beat Atlanta Gold Medalist Robert SCHEIDT from Brazil by 27 seconds. A distant third was Finland's Roope SUOMALAINEN who had trailed BURFOOT until the halfway mark on the trapezoid course. This was the New Zealander's best result of the regatta and a lift to the Kiwi team.

Earlier, the Jury boat raised the warning flag against "pumping" against one of the boats in the bunch as the single-handed dinghies raced downwind - and then the action began! Firstly, Guam capsized, forcing the main bulk of the fleet to take avoiding action. The most dramatic incident came as the two tailenders tried to round the leeward mark. With Turkey just ahead, Antigua tried for inside buoy room within the two boat lengths. As he charged past to windward, the Turkish boat luffed up and crashed into the transom of the Antiguan boat. Neither suffered serious damage, with Antigua admitting his rules breach by executing a penalty turn.

RACE 6 (Course Area B)

Australia's Michael BLACKBURN, ranked number three in the world, bounced back into calculations in Race 6, winning by just three seconds from Brazil's SCHEIDT and New Zealand's BURFOOT. The winning margin was only 3 seconds, with BURFOOT a further 10 seconds behind. It was a less eventful race than race 5, which was a relief after the fun and games earlier.

OVERALL

The top eight places are only separated by 10 points as we go into Race 7. Overall point scores finished up today with Portugal in front by four points. LIMA is on 27 points [10-(22)-2-1-10-4], having discarded his poor showing in Race 2. AINSLIE from Britain [3-7-1-7-13-(14)] is on 31 points, closely followed by New Zealand's BURFOOT on 33 points [6-10-(20)-13-1-3], Italy's NEGRI on 35 points [(24)-14-4-5-5-7] and The Netherlands KATS on 36 points [9-1-5-(22)-4-17].

Open Double Handed Keelboat (Star): America and Brazil tied in the Stars

RACE ONE - Course D

Brazil's Atlanta Gold Medallist, Skipper Torben SCHMIDT GRAEL and Marcelo BASTOS FERREIRA, sailed into first place for race one of the Open Double Handed Keelboat followed by Great Britain's Ian WALKER and Mark COVELL. This was a major improvement from yesterday were Brazil finished last in the eight boat fleet. The Spanish crew of Jose Maria VAN DER PLOEG and Rafael TRUJILLO crossed the line in third place.

The start of the race looked like it was going to be a repeat of yesterday's duel between Australia and Brazil, with both leading the pack on the first mark. However, the wind picked up and all changed with Australia, the current world champions, dropping into sixth place at the top mark.

The secret of success in today's conditions was in knowing where to find the right part of the course, and despite having the local knowledge Australia did not find it. They finished in sixth position behind the USA and Germany.

RACE TWO - Course D

The highly rated American crew Mark REYNOLDS and Philip TRINTER won their first race today - just under two seconds ahead of the Australian's Colin BEASHEL and David GILES.

Great Britain lead the pack to begin, but all changed at the first mark positions with the USA gaining the upper hand. The USA and Australia dominated the rest of race, with the Australians beating the British crew by splits of a second.

The Brazilians proved nothing is a certainty in sailing, dropping to seventh position at the second marking and crossing the line last.

OVERALL

America and Brazil are tied at first place after the first four races in the Stars, with Australia just one point behind in third place. Great Britain and Spain are tied at fourth place followed by Germany, Italy and Sweden. The Stars are providing great close racing amongst the eight fleet boats with any six of the eight countries still in the running to win the Star class at the IBM Sydney Harbour International Regatta 1999.

Men's Single Handed Dinghy (Finn) - PROVISIONAL RESULTS

RACE 3 (Course Area C)

Racing got under way on schedule, with both the Finn class, and the 49er high performance dinghies, sailing inside the Harbour today on Course Area C, with a 8-10 knot southerly breeze blowing. There was early drama when the Czech sailor Michael MAIER and the Frenchman Xavier ROHART collided heavily, with the Czech pulling out with a torn sail. The Frenchman also retired later, a disappointing incident for him as he had been leading the Finn class at the end of yesterday's racing offshore.

Fredrik LOOF, who won the 1999 Finn Gold Cup world championship at the '99 Worlds in Melbourne, led virtually all the way to get the gun. He finished 1 minute 12 seconds ahead of Atlanta Gold Medallist Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ from Poland, with the New Zealander Ian BAKER coming in third.

RACE 4 (Course Area C)

New Zealand's Ian BAKER led all the way in the second race, with second and third places remaining virtually unchanged throughout, in a close, tactical race between the top seven boats. The Greek sailor Emilos PAPATHANASIOU finished 13 seconds astern, just one second ahead of Great Britain's Ian PERCY, with 14 seconds to KUSZNIEREWICZ (POL).

OVERALL

After four races, two offshore and two within the Harbour, the Finn class appears wide open with four different winners, although the overall leader, KUSZNIEREWICZ (POL) has not won a race so far in this regatta. But in regatta sailing, consistency is the name of the game with the Polish sailor's scorecard reading 6-3-2-4 for 15 points. Nor has the Atlanta Silver Medallist Sebastien GODEFROID from Belgium won a race and in fact, he was out of a place in today's two races. His scorecard reads 7-2-5-10 for 24 points. Just one point further back is Great Britain's Ian PERCY on 25 points from placings of 14-1-7-3. Ian BAKER (NZL) with his third and first today has lifted to 4th overall.

France Xavier ROHART who was leading overall after yesterday's racing has slumped to 11th overall after a disastrous day. He was involved in a collision with the Czech Republic boat which was forced to retire with a torn mainsail while ROHART also retired. In the second race, he ended back in 15th place.

Men's Double Handed Dinghy (470) - PROVISIONAL: PORTUGUESE LEAD

RACE 4 (Course Area E)

The 470s sailors got more than they expected when they ventured offshore today to sail for the first time on Course Area E (located to the north of Sydney Heads) - two Southern Right whales "frolicking" in the 1.5 metre swell as they headed south and the Navy frigate HMAS Newcastle heading north. However, the race started on time.

After a good start, Brazil's Alexandre DIAS PARADEDA and Andre OTTO DA FONSECA led until halfway around the course, holding second place until the second last rounding mark, when they were overtaken by the improving Japanese crew, Kan YAMADA and Takashi TOMODA, the Portuguese Alvaro MARINHO and Miguel NUNES, and by Swedes Johan MOLUND and Mattias RAHM. The Brazilians finished fourth.

The race was sailed in a southerly breeze of 12-15 knots. The swell made conditions interesting for this double-handed dinghy, which performed well in the conditions, setting the scene for challenging racing in next year's Olympic Games.

RACE 5 (Course Area E)

Conditions were much the same for the second race of the day, but this time it was the Portuguese crew of MARINHO and NUNES who bounced out of the blocks and led all the way, finishing 31 seconds ahead of the Swedish crew of MOLUND and RAHM. Third place went to the British crew of Nick ROGERS and Joe GLANFIELD. Previous race winners, Japan's YAMADA and TOMODA never looked in the running after a poor first windward leg, and finished 19th, while the Australians Tom KING and Mark TURNBULL had a second disappointing race, with placings of 12 and 18 for the day.

OVERALL

After five races in the 470 men, the Portuguese sailors [(13)-5-1-2-1, 9 points] have a strong points lead over the consistent French crew [4-(17)-4-6-2, 16 points] of Gildas PHILIPPE and Tanguy CARIOU, with the Japanese crew [3-15-6-1-(19), 25 points] third after dropping from their 19th place.

Women's Single Handed Dinghy (Europe) DUTCH WOMAN TAKES A COMMANDING LEAD

RACE 5 - Course Area B

There was no real surprises in the first race of the day, although the racing was very close. Margriet MATTHYSSE the current World Champion from the Netherlands narrowly defeated Denmark's Kristine ROUG the Atlanta 1996 Atlanta Gold Medalist, by five seconds. ROUG lead for the majority of the race with a maximum of 20 seconds separating the pair throughout. Great Britain's Shirley ROBERTSON who was third at this year's world championships in Melbourne, had a disappointing race yesterday, however she returned to form today, finishing third only 13 seconds behind MATTHYSSE.

Australia's Melanie DENNISON who was second after Day 2 of competition finished in sixth place.

RACE 6 - Course Area B

As the conditions became even more challenging MATTHYSSE once again showed her class dominating from the third mark and finishing ahead of ROUG by 39 seconds. Monika BRONICKA from Poland was a disappointing 14th in race 1, but after battling with MATTHYSSE for the majority of the race she held on to third. DENNISON who had a poor start improved throughout the race and finished 7th.

OVERALL

After six races the class of the Olympic Champion is very obvious. MATTHYSSE has a commanding lead of 19 points over the consistent Australian and Germans. It appears unlikely that Dutch woman will be beaten even at this early stage in the regatta.

Further information:
Peter Campbell, Press Information Specialist', Sailing
Email: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
RYA website: www.rya.org.uk
Complete results: www.olympics.org
See also: www.sailing.org/olympics/sydneyharbour/