Into Final Series at Sail for Gold

A lovely sunny day in Weymouth with good consistent breeze provided sailors with the opportunity to consolidate on their results after the turbulent conditions yesterday. There are some shake-ups in the overall standings as the first discard comes into effect.

Today's racing was the end of the qualifying series, and we now enter the final series, prior to the Medal Race on Saturday.
The Gold fleets are separated out tonight, and tomorrow we get down to the business end of the regatta.

470 Women
If you want to see some seriously intense competition, look no further than the Women’s 470 fleet. World Champions, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout overhauled the Japanese pair of Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata today – and they did it despite a black flag disqualification in the first race – going on to win the second. They say that champions are measured by their response to adversity, and if so, these two are real champions.

Westerhof said afterwards, “Everyone is sailing really up and down and the fleet isn’t very consistent, apart from the Japanese who are having a good series. Although we haven’t been consistent, we have managed to get to the top, but it doesn’t feel like it. We have had an OCS (over the start line early) and finished 18th in a race on the first day, so we need to work on that, but the result at the minute is great.”

Westerhof and Berkhout count two firsts and two seconds with that DSQ and 18th – but headline interest in this fleet goes further down the scoring list, and whilst the Dutch can win the event, they are on mission impossible to win the 2009/2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup standings. That kudos is likely to go to Ingrid Petitjean and Nadarge Douroux who sit in fifth overall in Weymouth and currently lead the ISAF World Cup standings, their team mates Emmanuelle Rol and Helene Defrance who are sixth overall in Weymouth and by one point in the the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings or to the every performing Danes.

Denmark's Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer are putting in another great race series and currenly sit in third. If they can hold this slot, the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta will yet again see this team score a top three place on the World Cup series and with it a podium place on the 2009/2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup standings.

Fortunately for those outside the leading pack, the discard which came into play today evens out the results a bit today in terms of net points and closes the points margin to the top three.

The 470 Women will continue to sail as one fleet in the final series, before splitting out to the top 10 who progress to the cut and thrust of the Medal Race on Saturday.

470 Men
In the Men’s 470, Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos scored a 12 and 2, and are now just two points ahead of Australian World Champions, Matt Belcher and Malcolm Page who with today’s performance, managed to whittle Leboucher and Garos' lead.  And it’s a hot Aussie breath on the back of French necks. “We're having a good regatta,” said Belcher, “we got two seconds today and things are going well. 

Obviously we've won the [ISAF Sailing] World Cup and the World Championships, so it’s been a great year and we never expected to be able to head into this event with the World Cup title wrapped up, so it’s a great position to be in.”

However, sitting between the French and the Aussies are Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell (GBR) who put in their best performance so far in the series on day one with a bullet in the opening race. From there the pair have scored top 10 results all the way. This top three are in a points league of their own, with the next best carrying significantly more points. But it's all about consistency and there are some big names chasing hard. The gold fleet will see the top 30 battle it out for Medal Race qualification on Saturday which will see the top 10 compete for podium glory.

The highlight of the Australian Men’s 470 squad’s day came in the first race. Sam Kivell and Will Ryan, Belcher/Page’s training partners, led throughout the race. Despite Belcher/Page’s efforts to pass them on the final run, Kivell/Ryan held on for the win. Kivell/Ryan now go into the Gold Fleet in the Finals in 17 and have every chance to continue their strong performance and claw their way into the top 10 for the Medal Race.

More Information:
Event Website
Tracking
Results

Image: © Princess Sofia Regatta
Source: www.belcherpage2012.com and Skandia Sail for Gold website