AN UNSUALLY CALM ENOSHIMA BAY FORCES FLEETS OFF THE RACE TRACK ON DAY 1

An unsettled first start to the women’s race 1 on the Sagami course area went to a general recall, before getting off clean with Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Hannah Mills setting the pace alongside crew Eilidh McIntyre (GBR). But in the light wind it was impossible for the fleet to get to mark 1 by the 20 minute time limit, forcing the Race Committee to stop the race.

Ultimately the wind never returned and around 1520 hours the Race Committee made the wise decision to call off racing for the day.

Racing resumes on Monday 5 August at 1300 hours local time with 3 races scheduled for the Men and Women fleets.

This fleet of world class teams would of course rather race, but were more than happy with the early Race Committee call to abandon racing for the day, as France’s Camille Lecointre said, “Today the forecast was for light winds. The Race Committee manged to start the race in these light conditions but unfortunately we were over the time limit at the top mark, so we had to abandon. Then racing was stopped for the day, it was the right decision.”

Camille Lecointre and her crew Aloïse Retornaz combine that perfect mix of experience and youth, hold a world #6 ranking and are reigning 470 European and North American winners. Veteran racer Lecointre counts 2012 and 2016 Olympic appearances and one bronze medal from Rio, as well as the complete colour range of 470 World Championship medals; one gold, one silver and one bronze. Nine years younger than Lecointre, Retornaz picked up a 420 Worlds bronze medal in 2011 and back to back victories at the 2013 and 2014 470 Junior Worlds with her former helm. Their sixteen month partnership has so far proven formidable.

“Our goal here is to win a medal. It is our main objective of the year, so we want to have a proper race all days of the week,” commented Retornaz. “It will be a long week, so we have to stay focused until the end.”

A well-known face in the boat park, and London 2012 Olympic silver medallist, is Great Britain’s Luke Patience who was celebrating his 33rd birthday today. Remaining relaxed despite the lack of racing Patience laughingly said, “Being my birthday today, I am going to have an extra cold slush puppie just to cool down! I am 30% of the way to being 100 years old, so I am feeling old these days.”

On a more serious note, he spoke about his and Chris Grube’s plans for the Championship.

“The end game is to be World Champions. You know, we have been in the class a while and I have been runner-up a few times and am here to really put down our best performance. It is an interesting time because we have the test event right after this, so it is a real marathon. Keeping fresh every day and trying to keep the intensity will be a challenge and one that we are looking forward to.”

Grube added, “Obviously it is pretty hot here, so we are trying to keep cool all the time. For us as a regatta, like Luke said ‘we are here to win’, and we are going to attack each day as it comes. It will be light winds to begin with and we have been working hard on light wind speed and generally we are quite good across the board.”

Patience continued, “We had an eight month sprint to Rio and here we’ve got a bit more time in our hands. You know Twiggy and I have known each other a long time now so we are very familiar with each other. We are very different people which is a real strength of ours and so yeh we have got the band back together and we are charging on.”

No racing gave no let-up to the media’s expectations of Japan’s star sailors, who found themselves facing a forty strong Japanese press pack in the mixed zone, with defending 470 World Champions Ai Kondo Yoshida/Miho Yoshioka up first.

“It is a little bit disappointing not to have a race today due to no wind,” said Kondo, “but the event continues so we must focus onto the next races.

“Tomorrow will be another light wind day, so we have to concentrate one race at a time. I would like to be on the podium by the end of the event, so I will do my best.”

Japan fields five men’s teams inside the world ’s top twenty ranked teams and up there at #11 is the partnership of Tetsuya Isozaki/Akira Takayanagi. After winning gold in the 470 Class at the 2018 Asian Games, the pair has a taste for victory and are focused on being selected to fly Japan’s flag next year.

“Because of the strong Japanese fleet and being a qualification for Tokyo 2020, of course I have been watching the other teams,” commented Isozaki. “But we have to do our own sailing, and my goal is to be on the podium.”

From the experienced to the debutantes, in the form of one of the youngest competing teams Emma Cowles/Carmen Cowles of the USA. Just over one year ago they took the World Sailing Youth Worlds crown in the 420 Class, and, just nine months after competing at their first 470 event, the sisters are now taking on the best in the world. First though they, and the three other USA teams in the women’s fleet, must secure Olympic qualification for their nation.

Here in Japan their mission is to learn, but also to make sure they are stepping up to be in the mix for Olympic selection. If the USA does not qualify here at the 470 Worlds, their next opportunity is at the North American and Caribbean Continental Olympic Qualifier at the Hempel Sailing World Cup Miami, 19-26 January 2020.

Emma explained, “This is part of the qualifier for the Olympics in 2020, so it is a qualifier but a big part of it is to continue to learn. We are very young compared to other sailors, who are older with much more experience. This is a learning curve, just keep learning.”

The pair are still in the familiarization stages, as Carmen said, “A lot of the beginning of learning the 470 was just trying to incorporate what we learned in the 420 and transition it to the 470. We are loving it. We are quite light for the boat so it is getting time in the gym and learning the physicality of the boat.”

The pair can’t help but be impressed by their boat park colleagues, as Emma reflected, “Walking around the boat park and being around all these World Champions and Olympians is very inspiring and there is a lot we can learn from them, especially watching them on the water. It is basically like having a video session just sitting next to you on the downwind!”

HOW TO FOLLOW
Live blog, tracking, results, race reports, videos and photos will be available throughout the 470 World Championship on 2019worlds.470.org as well as updates on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The official hashtags for the Championship are: #470Worlds #470Sailing #470Life #Sail470

Find out more about the full package of media services.

ABOUT THE 2019 470 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Enoshima, the venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Sailing Competition, is playing host to the 2019 470 World Championships and Olympic Qualification event from 2-9 August 2019. 182 athletes representing 29 nations are competing for Men and Women Worlds podium places and for many teams the Championship serves as a round of their national selection process for Tokyo 2020. For those nations not yet qualified for Tokyo 2020, the pressure is on to make the cut and claim one of the few remaining nation slots with 4 in the Men and 6 in the Women.