Olympic Sailing: Day Three

New Zealand's Tom Ashley fights through the competition to a fourth place overall after the first day of racing in the Men's RS:X competition. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

SailRaceWin is grateful to Juerg Kaufmann and Go4Image for exclusive provision of images of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
by Jodie Bakewell-White

Day three of the Olympic Sailing Regatta is now complete with another full day of racing being run off the coast of Qingdao, China.

Windsurfers Tom Ashley and Barbara Kendall sailed two races apiece to open their series, as did Carl Evans and Peter Burling in the Men’s 470. Finn sailor Dan Slater completed races five and six and now has a rest day tomorrow.

Men’s RS:X Windsurfing

It was a solid start for Tom Ashley who opened with a 4th and a 7th on day one of competition sailed on course area A just off the spectator lined main break wall at the sailing venue. His results put him provisionally in 4th place overall in the fleet of 35 windsurfers.

In race one Ashley rounded mark one in 11th place and went on to make up ground as the race unfolded and cross in fourth place behind Zubari (ISR), Wang (CHN) and Oberemko (UKR).

The eight knot breeze shifted direction slightly and the sailors waited out a short delay while officials reset the course for race two. It was another solid race for Ashley who finished 7th to round out day one of the men’s RS:X racing. The Kiwi is just one point adrift of third place.

Bronze medallist at this year’s World Championships in Auckland, Shahar Zubari of Israel leads the fleet with a win and a 3rd in today’s racing giving him a total of four points. Hong Kong sailor King Yin Chan also opened well holding second overall on nine points, while local boy Aichen Wang (CHN) has third place on ten points.

Men’s RS:X
Provisional top five results after day one

1st ISR Shahar Zubari - 4 points (1, 3)
2nd HKG King Yin Chan - 9 points (5, 4)
3rd CHN Aichen Wang - 10 points (2, 8)
4th NZL Tom Ashley - 11 points (4, 7)
5th GRE Nikolas Kaklamanakis - 12 points (10, 2)

Women’s RS:X Windsurfing

Over in the Women’s fleet the local spectators watched as the Chinese sailor Jian Yin took two bullets on day one of competition, to hold the overall lead at this early stage in the event. Behind her the usual suspects line up in the top ten Barbara Kendall in the mix in eighth place overall at the end of day one.

The light and sometimes fluky wind off Qingdao makes for physically demanding sailing from the windsurfers and today exemplified that. In race one decisions early on in the race made all the difference with the first three around the top mark China, Australia and Spain holding their positions to the finish. Kendall finished 12th in that race.

In race two Kendall came home in 8th place giving her a points total of 20, and eighth place overall.

Both Kendall and Ashley are back on the water tomorrow with another two races on the schedule. Medal races for the RS:X are scheduled for Wednesday 20th.

Women’s RS:X
Provisional top eight results after day one

1st CHN Jian Yin - 2 points (1, 1)
2nd AUS Jessica Crisp - 6 points (2, 4)
3rd GBR Bryony Shaw - 7 points (4, 3)
4th ITA Alessandra Sensini - 8 points (6, 2)
5th ESP Marina Alabau - 8 points (3, 5)
6th UKR Olga Maslivets - 11 points (5, 6)
7th FRA Faustine Merret - 15 points (8, 7)
8th NZL Barbara Kendall - 20 points (12, 8)

Finn

Dan Slater continued to claw his way back up the Finn placings starting the day in 16th place the kiwi has lifted to 13th overall with a 9th in race five and a 7th in race six. He now discards his worst result of the series, his opening race and has a points total of 50.

Ben Ainslie of Great Britain has climbed into the lead overtaking Zach Railey of USA who has slipped to second place. The Finn fleet will enjoy a rest day tomorrow following which two races are planned for both Wednesday and Thursday. The Finn medal race for the top ten placed sailors will take place on Saturday.

Finn
Provisional top five results after day three

1st GBR Ben Ainslie 17 points ((10), 1, 4, 1, 1, 10)
2nd USA Zach Railey 18 points (2, 5, 2, 2, 7, (8))
3rd FRA Guillaume Florent - 26 points (5, 8, (20), 3, 4, 6)
4th CAN Christopher Cook - 33 points (8, 3, 7, 10, (23), 5)
5th SLO Gasper Vincec - 34 points (9, 11, 6, 5, 3 (13))

13th NZL Dan slater - 57 points ((21), 19, 18, 4, 9, 7)

Men’s 470

The first of the Olympic debutants amongst the Kiwi team, Carl Evans and Peter Burling sailed well on day one of competition in the men’s 470 class. It was a tricky day out on the 470 course which made for mixed results all round, with no one crew dominant on day one.

Evans and Burling were 7th in race one demonstrating that they know how to make the most of opportunities as they’re presented. 19th at mark one the young 17 year olds fought their way back up through the fleet and finished in 7th place.

In race two sailed in six knots of wind, they climbed through to lie fourth rounding the final mark only to slip back and record a 10th place finish. In the overall standings they lie in 7th place in the 29 boat fleet at this early stage in their regatta.

French pair Charbonnier and Bausset have the early lead with reigning world champs, Wilmot and Page of Australia lying 4th.

Men’s 470
Provisional top seven results after day one

1st FRA Nicolas Charbonnier & Olivier Bausset - 9 points (6, 3)
2nd ESP Barreiros Onan & Aaron Sarmiento - 10 points (8, 2)
3rd POR Álvaro Marinho & Miguel Nunes - 10 points (2, 8)
4th AUS Nathan Wilmot & Malcolm Page - 11 points (4, 7)
5th SLO Karlo Hmeljak & Mitja Nevecny - 14 points (3, 11)
6th ITA Gabrio Zandona & Andrea Trani - 14 points (10, 4)
7th NZL Carl Evans & Peter Burling - 17 points (7, 10)

from SailRaceWin

It is noticeable that many top sailors, including world ranked number one, Jonas Hoegh-Christensen from Denmark, and 2004 Olympic Gold medallist, Ben Ainslie, have had results in double figures in the Finns, due to the conditions in Qingdao. That infamous green algal weed is beginning to make a reappearance too... and the fishing fleet has been dispatched to tackle it once more.

Yachting New Zealand

ISAF Olympic website results Clicking on a race gives more information on weather, course and mark rounding positions.