05 Apr 2014
Aussies Move on up in Palma
Day 4 of racing in at theTrofeo S.A.R. Princess Sofia MAPFRE saw the Australian teams of Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page and Elise Rechichi/Belinda Stowell both move to the front of their respective fleets at the in Palma. A perfectly timed move on up, to consolidate places ahead of Friday's last day of racing before the medal race.
470 Men
After winning the 2011 ISAF Worlds and the Rolex Miami OCR, Mat Belcher/Malcom Page (AUS) are now leading the score in the 470 men event as the only team to count top 10 race scores throughout.
“These conditions have been hard, we usually prefer to race in windier conditions,” explained Malcolm Page who also admits having aged by many years with the light and nerve raking conditions! “We don't often have the chance to race in such light winds so these are good practice for us, especially with all the strong teams here!” added Mat Belcher.
One point behind are the Israelis Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela, with Lucas Calabrese/Juan De la Fuente (ARG) in third.
Results Overall - After 8 Races
| Pos | SailNo | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
| 1 | AUS - 11 | Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page | 1 | 6 | 7 | (10) | 2 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 33 |
| 2 | ARG - 7 | Lucas Calabrese/Juan de la Fuente | 12 | (17) | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 40 |
| 3 | AUS - 13 | Sam Kivell/Will Ryan | 1 | 10 | 6 | (22) | 1 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 42 |
| 4 | ISR - 7 | Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela | 9 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 14 | (DSQ) | 4 | 44 |
| 5 | FRA - 44 | Pierre Leboucher/Vincent Garos | 5 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 6 | 12 | (29) | 49 |
| 6 | FIN - 7 | Joonas Lindgren/Niklas Lindgren | 4 | 3 | 4 | (17) | 11 | 12 | 16 | 5 | 55 |
| 7 | FRA - 7 | Nicolas Charbonnier/Jeremie Mion | 3 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 11 | (18) | 59 |
| 8 | GRE - 165 | Panagiotis Kampouridis/Efstathios Papadopoulos | 6 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 30 | (BFD) | 6 | 3 | 60 |
| 9 | CRO - 83 | Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic | 24 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | (25) | 23 | 62 |
| 10 | POR - 1 | Alvaro Marinho/Miguel Nunes | 2 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 31 | 6 | (27) | 10 | 63 |
470 Women
The Olympic Gold medal team of Elisa Rechichi/Belinda Stowell (AUS) are making fast improvement in the 470 women. The newly formed pair – who started sailing together five months ago – are leading the strong 470 women fleet in Palma, after placing 9th at the ISAF Worlds in Perth. Today they collected a disqualification at the start of race 7 along with 15 other teams but managed to pass the French team of Rol/Defrance by a single point in the overall rankings. “It is disappointing to have collected a Black flag, but we were able to fight back with a second in the next race.” said Rechichi. “We are still learning as a team and each of us bring different skills. It's great if we have a good result here but our main objective is to progress as a team.” adds Stowell. The Sydney Gold medallist is bringing her strong wind sailing skills to Rechichi who proved with a Gold medal in Beijing that she can master Palma light winds!
The battle for Olympic selection between the two Brazilian teams intensifies as Fernanda de Oliveira/Ana Luiza Barbachan drop out of the top 10 to #13 overall after today's racing, and Martine Grael/Isabel Swan go for a black flag and 30th race finish and slip down the leaderboard to 19th overall. There are 23 points separating the teams - so still room for manoeuvere.
Results Overall - After 8 Races
| Pos | SailNo | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
| 1 | AUS - 1 | Elise Rechichi/Belinda Stowell | 4 | 19 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 9 | (BFD) | 2 | 53 |
| 2 | FRA - 12 | Emmanuelle Rol/Hélène Defrance | 2 | 5 | 1 | 21 | 5 | 2 | (BFD) | 18 | 54 |
| 3 | JPN - 1 | Ai Kondo/Wakako Tabata | (30) | 10 | 4 | 22 | 2 | 18 | 1 | 4 | 61 |
| 4 | GER - 21 | Kathrin Kadelbach/Friederike Belcher | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 7 | (BFD) | 5 | 62 |
| 5 | ITA - 23 | Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol | 6 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 23 | (BFD) | 6 | 68 |
| 6 | POL - 11 | Agnieszka Skrzypulec/Jolanta Ogar | 11 | 1 | 13 | 3 | (19) | 13 | 19 | 9 | 69 |
| 7 | GBR - 838 | Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth | 3 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 6 | (34) | 15 | 28 | 73 |
| 8 | ISR - 311 | Gil Cohen/Vered Bouskila | 5 | (24) | 6 | 12 | 21 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 78 |
| 9 | GER - 72 | Annika Bochmann/Elisabeth Panuschka | (32) | 8 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 27 | 7 | 21 | 86 |
| 10 | AUT - 431 | Lara Vadlau/Eva-Maria Schimak | 16 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 10 | 14 | (28) | 23 | 87 |
More Information:
Event Website
Princess Sofia News
470 Facebook Photos by Thom Touw
Source: Princess Sofia Media
Image: Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela © Thom Touw
