Jon-Paul Tobin in the Men's RS:X Worlds. Image copyright Vincenzio Baglione.
by Jodie Bakewell-White
Olympic class World Championships racing continued overnight in both Kerteminde, Denmark for the RS:X Men and Women, and at Hayling Island for the Lasers.
New Zealand has four sailors currently place within the top four and despite Ashley and Bullot slipping from the top spot in their respective events they are both well in touch with the leaders as are Jon-Paul Tobin and Josh Junior.
RS:X
Reigning Olympic champ Tom Ashley described it as a tough day: “Very shifty on the water with big variations in wind strength. I had a mixed day - 18th in the first race and 2nd in the second.”
With a total of six races completed all sailors can now discard their poorest score from their points total and this helps to keep Ashley among the leaders on equal points with Poitr Myszka of Poland, with only Dorian Van Rijsselberge ahead.
Jon-Paul Tobin had a similar day but started with a good race finishing 2nd going on to a 17th in the subsequent race. He is now in fourth position overall just two points adrift of Ashley and Myszka.
Ashley describes the day: “My poor performance in the first race was totally my own fault- I was too cautious at the start and didn't get off the line well (I was also at what turned out to be the wrong end of the start line), then dropped my rig in the water (!) when I was trying to get clear. Amateur hour.”
“Struggled to get clear air on the first upwind and missed passing opportunities throughout the race. Only got back to 18th after being around 35 or 40 at the top mark.”
“The second race went much better. I learned my lessons from the first race and got a great start. Three of us got a huge jump on the rest of the fleet and fought it out between ourselves. I led on the second upwind but the Spanish guy got around me just before the top mark and then disappeared downwind in a big gust, never to be seen again. I had to settle for second after a bit of a scrap with the Greek sailor on the final downwind.”
“Consolation from today is that plenty of top guys had at least one bad race, so I possibly didn't end up paying for my bad sailing as much as I deserved to,” says Ashley.
Now three days in, the RS:X fleets in Denmark will enjoy a rest day tomorrow before cracking into two days of finals racing to determine the top ten for the medal race on the final day, September 4th.
“Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) is leading with 10 points, but will have to be on his best behaviour during the finals as he is currently discarding a DSQ, which means that he will automatically carry any bad races he has from now on,” explains Ashley. “I'm also discarding a big one, though, so I will also have to sail very well during finals to avoid any big scores.”
2010 RS:X World Championships, 29th August – 4th September
New Zealand’s provisional standings after day three
Men’s Championship (111 sailors)
2nd =Tom Ashley (1, 5, 3, 5, 18, 2)
4th Jon-Paul Tobin (6, 6, 1, 2, 2, 17)
73rd Antonio Cozzolino (41, 39, 21, 24, 41, 58)
Women’s Championship (66 sailors)
New Zealand’s provisional standings after day two
36th Kate Ellingham (11, 14, 16, 18, 20)
37th Stefanie Williams (14, 13, 14, 29, 18)
43rd Natalia Kosinska (28, 22, 27, 15, 9)
48th Alice Monk (18, 20, 22, 26, 25)
Laser
There’s been a shake up in the standings after day two at Hayling Island where the 2010 Laser World Championships are currently being staged. A discard comes into play and the kiwi sailors mostly come out on the right side of this.
Young Wellingtonian, Josh Junior is the big winner, having had a superb day on the water with a win and a 2nd he drops his one poor score from day one and rockets up the board into second place overall.
Luka Redelic (CRO) has climbed into the lead but is now under pressure to return top results all the way as he discards a 42nd which he returned in the first race overnight. Josh Junior’s discard is also a big one which means he will be looking for consistency for the rest of the series.
Aucklander, Mike Bullot, who had the early lead is still mixing it at the top, but slips to third overall sharing equal points with Paul Goodison (GBR). In last night’s racing Bullot placed 5th and 13th.
Andrew Murdoch remains in the top ten holding onto ninth place overall after an 11th and a 2nd on day two, and Andy Maloney takes a giant leap up the board into 12th place sailing solidly last night with a 4th and a 10th.
As racing resumes tomorrow the Championship will hit the halfway mark. The last day of competition is September 5th.
2010 Laser World Championships, 30th August – 5th September
New Zealand’s provisional standings after day two (Total feet: 159)
2nd Josh Junior (3, 22, 1, 2)
3rd Mike Bullot (1, 2, 5, 13)
9th Andrew Murdoch (6, 4, 11, 2)
12th Andy Maloney (2, 22, 4, 10)
21st James Sandall (42, 7, 6, 14)
27th Sam Meech (10, 46, 5, 14)
42nd Max Andrews (12, 41, 19, 7)
Yachting New Zealand
