Happy ending for ISAF Sailing World Cup sailors at 127th Kieler Woche

Medal Race Day

by Hermann Hell

For the ISAF sailing World Cup sailors the 127th Kieler Woche ended Wednesday with thrilling medal races in perfect conditions with 10 to 15 knots of wind and lots of sun. Racing started on Saturday but with two days of very light winds the beautiful conditions of the past two helped bring Kieler Wocher back on schedule and made a happy ending for the fist part of the 127thKieler Woche. Tomorrow the International Classes will enter the sail area in Kiel to continue the event till Sunday. The X-35 Worlds, the X-41 Europeans and the SAP Europeans of the 505 started this afternoon.
The Medal Races were scheduled to take place on two race areas and the short courses made for plenty of excitement as the medals were decided. First up on the North course were the men’s 470 with the Finn on the South course whilst the final four women’s match race teams completed their semi-final. Two sailors were awarded the overall Kieler Woche trophy, Moana Delle (GER), RS:X Women and Paul Goodison (GBR), Laser, both finished every race in first place to win the award.

470 Men
There were four British teams doing battle in the Men’s 470 Medal Race but it was Jonny McGovern and Christian Birrell who shone today, taking the race win and with it the silver medal overall. Also collecting 19 ISAF Sailing World Cup points, McGovern and Birrell finally have points on the board from this their third World Cup event. Fourth in the medal race, the 2008 World Champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis join McGovern and Birrell on the podium with the bonze medal.

Third place in the Medal Race was enough give Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) the Kieler Woche victory. Standings leaders, Stuart McNay and William McBride (USA) did not make the Medal Race but finishing eleventh gives them 10 more points to add to their total and extend their lead at the top of the Standings.

Finn
Rafael Szukiel (POL) stormed home to win the Medal Race and with it the gold medal. Tied on 20 points at the top of the leaderboard at the start of the race were Denniss Karpak (EST) and Ivan Kljankovic (CRO) but sixth place for Karpak and fourth for the Croatian were not good enough to see off the Polish sailor. The silver medal goes to Kljankovic and the bronze to Karpak. World Cup Standings leader, Ed Wright (GBR) finished seventh in the Medal Race and finishes sixth overall here in Kiel. Adding a further 15 points to his Standings total he will now be impossible to beat at the final event in Weymouth. Kljankovic Gaspic moves up to second place in the standings but just four points ahead of Rafael Trujillo (ESP).

Laser
It was a classic start to finish victory for the gold medallist from China Paul Goodison (GBR) who won the Medal Race in the Laser class and the 127th Kieler Woche over all. Leading round every mark Goodison took the bullet ahead of Daniel Milhelic (CRO) in second and Andreas Geritzer (AUT) in third. Fourth place for Mike Bullot was good enough to secure a place on the podium, his third silver medal of this World Cup series. One step below him is Daniel Milhelic (CRO) who took the bronze medal and moves two places up the World Cup Standings to second place.

Goodison’s third successive win takes him to fourth on the Standings but he will not be able to challenge fellow Brit Nick Thompson who adds a further 16 points to his score after finishing fifth here in Kiel.

Laser Radial
The American battle for Laser Radial supremacy continued at Kieler Woche. This time it was Paige Railey who sailed the most consistent regatta counting only first and second place finishes. The Medal Race was no exception and the win gives her the gold medal and lifts her into a podium position on the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings. Tunnicliffe finished the Medal Race in fourth to take the bronze medal and consolidate her position at the top of the Standings.

Evi van Acker (BEL) has sailed another excellent regatta and her second place finish in the Medal Race is also second overall. Tina Mehelic (CRO) finished fifth overall in Kiel but maintains her position behind Tunnicliffe on the Standings, these are the only two sailors to have completed all six World Cup events.

Star
In second place going into today's Medal Race, the main rival for Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube (USA) was British gold medal winning team of Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson who lead by just two points. Mendleblatt and Strube finished second behind Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk (NZL) but this was enough to give them the gold medal. The American team pick up 20 points to leap four six places up the World Cup Standings to fourth overall. Percy and Simpson finished eighth in the Medal Race with equal points to Pepper and Monk but the Kiwis race win gives them the silver medal and the Brits the bronze.

470 Women
At their ISAF Sailing World Cup debut, Lisa WESTERHOF and Lobke BERKHOUT (NED) won the gold medal. They were rarely troubled in through this Kieler Woche and although they didn't win the Medal Race their overall win was by a whopping 11 points from the silver medal winning team from Denmark, Henriette KOCH and Lene SOMMER . The Medal Race winners were the young Australian sailors Stacey OMAY and Chelsea HALL and they finish fourth overall. The podium in Kiel was completed by defending champions Ai KONDO and Wakako TABATA from Japan. The silver medal for Koch and Sommer extends their lead in the World Cup Standings from three points to 22 points, a healthy cushion before the season finale in Weymouth.

49er
Maybe it was the boat which brought the luck to Lennart Briesenick-Pudenz and Morten Massmann (GER) to win the 127th Kieler Woche. The two young students sailing the 2008 Olympic bronze medal winning boat of the Peckolt brothers sailed a consistent series to wear the yellow leader bib today. But in the Medal Race it was the World Cup Standings leaders Paul Campbell-James and Mark Asquith (GBR) who put in an emphatic performance to take the race win. After a good start the British duo lead the fleet to the first mark and did not fall out of the top three throughout the race. Finishing second were Briesenick-Pudenz and Massman who secure their first ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta win. The race win gives Campbell-James and Asquith the bronze medal behind Yann Rocherieux and Morgan Lavgraviere (FRA) in the silver medal position.

RS:X Men
Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL) finished as he began, with a race win, to take the gold medal with an outstanding 11 point lead from his nearest rival. Second in the Medal Race was Christian Freimüller (GER) with Byunggun Lee (KOR) third but Toni Wilhelm (GER) hangs onto the silver medal after finishing fifth.

The top of the Standings are not affected by the results from Kieler Woche as most of the RS:X fleet did not sail here so as the final event in Weymouth approaches, João Rodrigues (POR) leads by two points from Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED).

RS:X Women
Moana DELLE (GER) did not look troubled throughout this Kieler Woche and the Medal Race was no exception today. With a clean sweep of race wins Delle put in another excellent performance to win the event and another 20 World Cup points. Delle's 20 Standings points move her up to fourth overall and in contention for an overall podium finish when the ISAF Sailing World Cup finishes in Weymouth in September.
Anna Galecka finished the Medal Race in second place to take the silver medal while Tuuli Petaja (FIN) finishes third overall. Third in the Medal Race was Nikola Girke (CAN) and she finishes in sixth place overall to move up the Standings to eighth. Blanca MANCHON (ESP) is unbeatable at the top of the World Cup Standings but the challenge will be on for the final two podium positions in Weymouth.

Women’s Match Racing
First up this morning were the Semi-Finals and winner after the previous stage, Katie Spithill (AUS) elected to race Julie Bossard and her French team. Spithill made short work of Bossard, with three straight wins taking her direct to the final. The other Semi-Final between Nicky Souter (AUS) and Renee Goeneveld (NED) took a little longer with Souter taking first blood. Groeneveld fought back to draw the score at one all but the next two went to Souter to set up an all Australian final.

And it was quite a Final as these closely matched teams took it down to the wire. Souter took the first two wins and it looked like it might be all over but Spithill fought back to win three in a row and take the title.

In the petit-final, Julie Bossard beat Goeneveld with back to back wins to claim the bronze medal for France. Spithill, Souter and Bossard are all new to the ISAF Sailing World Cup which is lead by Lucy MacGregor and her British team, the only one to have sailed at all three events to host match racing.

2.4 mR
There was no Medal Race sailed by the 2.4mR class, which were open for disabled and non-disabled sailors in Kiel. In the fleet race it was again German gold medallist from Sydney Heiko Kroeger (GER) who had nerves of steel. With a second and third in the last races of the Olympic Classes part of the 127th Kieler Woche Kroeger left Thierry Schmitter (NED) and Jens Als Andersen (DEN) behind him. With 11 races completed, Kroeger wins the gold by five points from Schmitter while early fleet leader Als Andersen completes the podium to win the bronze.

Kieler Woche 2009