Skandia Sail for Gold : Fresh to Frightening

470 weather! Image copyright onEdition.

by Nicky Moore

The forecasters didn’t get the third day of Skandia Sail for Gold wrong, as Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour were battered by unseasonably strong winds. The Skud and 2.4m didn’t make it off the dock, but the other 11 Olympic and Paralympic classes did, and took on conditions that were definitely ‘top end’. The average wind speed on the breakwater read 25 knots throughout the day, with gusts up to 29 knots. There was damage to boats, broken masts and capsizes, stuff that you rarely see from the top Olympic sailors in the world. And it was the Brits who most relished the conditions, leading five of the 13 fleets as the sun began to set on a still windswept Weymouth Bay.

The only Paralympic class to race was the Sonar, and both contests were won by Skandia Team GBR’s John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas, giving them the overall lead. The Dutch trio, Udo Hessels, Marcel Van Veen and Mischa Rossen stayed in second and the French team of Bruno Jourdren, Eric Flageul and Nicolas Vimont Vicary moved up one place into third.

The Match Racing schedule was badly disrupted, initially by boat damage and then by the close-to 30 knots gusts howling across the harbour. The gold fleet just managed to sail a handful of races, and it was Australia’s Nicky Souter, Jessica Eastwell and Lucinda Witty, along with Sally Barkow, Elizabeth Kratizig-Burnham and Alana O'Reilly from the USA that kept a clean sheet. Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vendemoer and Debbie Capozzi (USA) and Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor (GBR) are level on one win and one loss each, while both the Netherlands’ Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen and France’s Anne-claire Le Berre, Alice Ponsar and Myrtille Ponge are still looking for their first win.

It was the final day of heats for the 49ers, 470s, RS:X and Laser classes before they are spilt into gold and silver fleets. The 49ers waited till very late in the day in an attempt to equalise the number of races that the two flights had sailed but ultimately failed, leaving some of them with six race results and others with seven. The rules state that they go back to the last time they had an even number of races. And that left Italy’s Sibello Brothers top of the heap, chased by Britain’s John Pink and Rick Peacock, and then Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes.

The RS:X Men also sailed this morning, and got two races in before heading home for an early finish. It was Britain’s Nick Dempsey that cleaned up with a phenomenal two wins, pushing him up from fifth to the top of the leaderboard. New Zealand’s Jp Tobin could only manage a second and a fifth and slipped to second, with yesterday’s star performer, Dutchman Dorian van Rijsselberge holding his third place.

By the afternoon the breeze was reaching its maximum and the RS:X Women had some spectacular sailing. It was Israel’s Lee Korzits that had the best day with a first and a second, moving up from fourth to take the overall lead. Spain’s Marina Alabau was displaced into second, with Poland’s Zofia Klepacka moving up above Alabau’s compatriot, Blanca Machon, and pushing the World Champion down into fourth.

Out on the 470 course they also enjoyed testing but exhilarating conditions. In the Men’s fleet it was the 2010 World Champions, Australians Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page that had a stunning day in the breeze, scoring two bullets and driving straight to the top of the scoreboard. Overnight leaders, Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos (FRA) managed one win and a seventh and dropped to third, also passed by Anton Dahlberg and Sebastian Ostlin (SWE), up to second.

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) stayed at the top of the 470 women’s leaderboard with a steady performance, scoring a fifth and sixth place. They have a ten point lead over Israel’s Gil Cohen and Vered Bouskila. The pairing from Israel relished the strong winds picking up just four points with a third and first place. New Zealand’s Jo Alep and Olivia Powrie climb up to third.

The Laser Men sailed two races early, and it was Netherland’s Rutger van Schaardenburg with a first and second, and Britain’s Nick Thompson with a first and third that dominated the racing today – the former moved up from third to second, but Thompson leap-frogged the Dutchman to go from fourth to the overall lead. The current world champion, Tom Slingsby is now in second.

The Laser Radials were out later than most but not as late as they are used to, sailing two races in tough conditions. It was a virtuoso performance from Ireland’s Annalise Murphy, with straight bullets to take the overall lead. ISAF Sailing World Cup leader, the Netherland’s Marit Bouwmeester was her ever-consistent-self in the breeze, adding another second and third (she got the same results yesterday) to her scoreline to hold second place. Overnight leader, Belgium’s Evi van Acker slipped to third.

Star and Finn were again sent out to course foxtrot – over five miles offshore – where there wasn’t just the wind to contend with but a difficult sea state. The result was damage for some, including four of the Stars breaking their masts. None of the leading contenders suffered that fate, Freddy Loof and Max Salminen (SWE) relished the conditions with a 2,1 scoreline and moved up into second place behind double gold and silver Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt and his Brazilian partner Bruno Prada. Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki hold third. The race committee decided not to go for a third race due to the amount of kit breakages in the fleet.

Ben Ainslie (GBR) dominated in the Finn again winning both races on the outer race course. With five races now sailed Ainslie has discarded his seventh place, and is counting three firsts and a second. It is becoming a battle of the Brits for the top place in the Finn, as Giles Scott climbed up to second place with a strong performance in the breeze. Scott is now nine points adrift of Ainslie. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) lies third on equal points to Scott and first day leader Dan Slater (NZL) falls to fourth. The Finns were also sent in after completing just two of their planned three races, due to the strength of the winds and height of the waves.

Racing continues at Skandia Sail for Gold until Saturday.


Women's match racing. Image copyright onEdition.

Quotes of the Day

Pietro Sibello (ITA) - 49er
Overall Leader
So far so good for us. The 49er fleet is really competitive. The English team is really strong, they have five different teams who are sailing at a really high level and are pushing the rest of the fleet a lot. I think the Australian guys (Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen) are the other ones to look out for – they are the ones to beat. I am really looking forward to battling it out with them the rest of this week!

We are looking to spend as much time in Weymouth as possible; we will be here throughout the summer. It is important because the conditions change a lot here and the more time I spend here the stronger position I feel I will be in when it comes to our selection.

Malcolm Page (AUS) – 470
Olympic Champion and Overall Leader
The last few regatta’s we competed in we seemed to make a habit of going for it full blow and going into the finals in first place, and then stuffing it up! We are improving everyday here but we just need to keep our form.

The real racing starts tomorrow, I am looking forward to the challenge of the gold fleet, there is nothing like competing against your biggest competitors and not watching them in the other fleets. I think it will make a big difference to the score card.

Blanca Manchon (ESP) - RS:X Women
World Champion
It was really windy in the first race today, almost 30 knots, and for me it wasn’t very good. I had a bad second lap and lost a lot of places so that was disappointing but the last race was better. There was less wind and I finished fourth so I am happy with that. Tomorrow the fleets get divided into gold and silver and of course it is going to be difficult racing – we will just have to wait and see!
This is a really competitive fleet and there are about five girls who are really good and are all able to win here. The Israeli girl (Lee Korzits) is great in the strong winds, so if the conditions continue like this she would be really tough to beat.

Ben Ainslie (GBR) – Finn
Overall Leader and reigning Olympic Champion
It was hard work out there again today with very strong wind conditions on a tricky race course. I come back in from a day like today and my body is aching, but it’s all about testing yourself so it is satisfying to get two good results. I’m definitely better trained compared to last year’s Skandia Sail for Gold, where I’d literally just got back into Finn sailing. We have worked hard technically on the boat and physically on my fitness so it’s good to see that hard work paying off. I am happy with how things have gone so far but there is still a long way to go this week and hopefully the wind dies down a bit so it will be a little bit easier for us all.

Freddy Loof (SWE) - Star
Second overall
Today we had a good start and sailed well and consistently. It’s rough, tricky and challenging sailing out there but it’s good, I like it. We got it working really well and were fast downwind whereas yesterday we were not so good. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow; Weymouth is an awesome sailing venue to sail at and I prefer it to China, plus it’s much closer to home!

Hannah Stodel (GBR) – Sonar
Overall Leader
What a day! It’s been a long day but we are really pleased, we got two firsts which have put us out in front. We’ve had some great racing with two really windy days, there’s been some pretty close racing a few crashes here and there but it’s been good. The aim for the week is to just keep sailing well and put everything we have been training over the winter into practice.

Nick Dempsey (GBR) – RS:X
Overall Leader
It’s been pretty nice conditions, sunny and windy and we had two cracking races this morning. I won them both which is really nice especially after a frustrating day yesterday. The first day was good but yesterday I made three major errors. I want to keep sailing well and get the points back I lost. The conditions have been gorgeous, you couldn’t race in a better place and everyone’s enjoying it and racing really hard. JP Tobin [NZL] and Dorian [NED] have both been sailing really well this week so it will be a close battle but a good one. But, I’m sailing faster than I’ve ever sailed before and I’m feeling really good so I will just keep trying my best.


Laser Radial start. Image copyright onEdition.

Annalise Murphy (IRE) - Laser Radial
Overall Leader
This event is being used as the Irish selection trails; being the only Irish Laser Radial sailor it’s not quite as important for me as it is the other girls so it takes a lot of pressure off me. It’s really important to get used to the venue, being here you get a real idea of what it’s going to be like. It’s pretty scary that it’s happening so soon but hopefully I can just be as prepared as possible for it. I’m just looking forward to going out racing each day and seeing what happens.

Nick Thompson (GBR) – Laser
Overall Leader
The first two days were pretty tough, getting in at 7.30 or 8 o’clock every day so it’s a bit nicer to go out there and get the job done a lot quicker and get in a bit sooner. We had good breeze, the same as yesterday, some really good breeze, and it’s going well so far.

I’m not looking too much at the overall results at the moment, I’m just trying to take each race as it comes, but it’s a good start which is what I need really.
I feel reasonably good – everyone’s struggling a bit as it’s been really, really tough conditions for the last three days. I’m feeling OK but it’s about going and getting maximum recovery now and make sure I am ready for tomorrow, and hopefully if it’s breezy again I should be in good shape.

Pretty much everyone that’s here racing is taking this event incredibly seriously – the game is raised quite a bit here and you can tell that people are feeling the pressure. For myself it’s about trying to not let that get to me and just trying to focus on each race as it comes and go from there.

Provisional Results Day 3: Wednesday 8th June

49er After 6 Races
1. ITA 3- SIBELLO Pietro / SIBELLO Gianfranco (10pts)
2. GBR 8- PINK John / PEACOCK Richard (15pts)
3. GBR 7-MORRISON Stevie / RHODES Ben (19pts)

470 WOMEN After 6 Races
1. GBR 847- MILLS Hannah / CLARK Saskia (19pts)
2. ISR 311- COHEN Gill / BOUSKILA Vered (29pts)
3. NZL 75- ALEH Jo / POWRIE Olivia (31pts)

470 MEN After 6 Races
1. AUS 11- BELCHER Matthews / PAGE Malcolm (12pts)
2. SWE 346- DAHLBERG Anton / OSTLING Sebastian (16pts)
3. FRA 44- LEBOUCHER Pierre / GAROS Vincent (18pts)

FINN After 5 races
1. GBR 3- AINSLIE Ben (5pts)
2. GBR 41- SCOTT Giles (14pts)
3. CRO 524- KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan (14pts)

LASER After 6 Races
1.. GBR 198211- THOMPSON Nick (13pts)
2.. NED 192625- VAN SCHAARDENBURG Rutger (13pts)
3. AUS 197541- SLINGSBY Tom (14pts)

LASER RADIAL After 6 Races
1. IRL 199417- MURPHY Annalise (9pts)
2. NED 200444- BOUWMEESTER Marit (12pts)
3. BEL 197514 VAN ACKER Evi (13pts)

STAR After 5 Races
1. BRA 8255- SCHEIDT Robert / PRADA Bruno (8pts)
2. SWE 8450- LOOF Fredrik / SALMINEN Max (14pts)
3. POL 8417- KUSZNIEREWICZ Mateusz / ZYCKI Dominik (15pts)

SKUD 18 After 3 Races
1. AUS 47- FITZGIBBON Daniel / TESCH Liesl (5pts)
2. GBR 45- RICKMAN Alexandra / BIRRELL Niki (7pts)
3. AUS 52- DUNROSS Jamie / COX Rachael (9pts)

SONAR After 5 Races
1. GBR 748- ROBERTSON John / STODEL Hannah / THOMAS Steve (5pts)
2. NED 688- HESSELS Udo / VAN VEEN Marcel/ ROSSEB Mischa (9pts)
3. FRA 840- JOURDREN Bruno / FLAGEUL Eric (14pts)

2.4 After 4 Races
1. NED 12- SCHMITTER Thierry (10pts)
2. FRA 13- SEGUIN Damien (10pts)
3. NED 11- RADEMAKER Andre (16pts)

RS:X MEN After 6 Races
1. GBR 1- DEMPSEY Nick (11pts)
2. NZL 151- TOBIN JP (11pts)
3. NED 8- VAN RIJSSELBERGE Dorian (12pts)

RS:X WOMEN After 6 Races
1. ISR 111- KORZITS Lee (9pts)
2. ESP 5- ALBAU Marina (12pts)
3. POL 8- KLEPACKA Zofia (15pts)

MATCH RACING
Gold Group Round Robin
USABarkow / Kratizig-Burnham / O’Reilly 2-0
AUS Souter / Curtis / Price 2-0
GBR Macgregor / Lush / Macgregor 1-1
USA Tunnicliffe / Vandemoer / Capozzi 1-1
FRA Le Berre / Ponsar / Ponge 0-2
NED Mulder / Bes / Witteveen 0-2

Skandia Sail for Gold

Audi Winter Series : Decent dose of winter fires up Audi Winter Series crews

It's marital bliss for the Blairs on Sportsbar. Image copyright www.sailpix.com.au

by Lisa Ratcliff

For those lucky or unlucky enough to have wangled their way out of the family camping trip this long weekend, the Audi Winter Series brought a decent dose of winter and the most puff seen in six weeks of the pointscore series.

“It was a bit exciting out there with the race committee’s radios and telephones all going berserk simultaneously,” said principal race officer Robyn Morton this afternoon.

Given Sydney’s atrocious conditions and the fact it’s a holiday weekend, numbers were respectable at a smidge over the 100 mark. Said ill-fated camping trips and the official opening of a promising ski season possibly lured some away, leaving a fleet of 103 starters and riders to line up on a damp Sydney Harbour.

“If you are going to be wet and miserable, you may as well be skiing,” reckons Morton who took advantage of her dry spot aboard Offshore as the day’s dramas unfolded.

With the north cardinal mark inexplicably missing in action, three entrants hit the Sow and Pigs reef and Geoff Morgan’s Division A1 You’re Hired came to a sudden halt on the bricks at Steele Point off Nielsen Park. The CYCA’s red duck provided assistance and Tony Kirby’s Patrice Six stood by while the crew of the modified Davidson 55 refloated the boat and headed for home under their own steam without scoring a result.


Patrice Six assists You're Hired off the rocks at Steel Point. Image copyright www.SailPix.com.au

Even with today’s DNF, You’re Hired is still the division A1 pointscore leader but has Bob Steel’s Quest and Garry Linacre and David Fuller’s Corby 49 Vamp on equal points and breathing down its neck.

Those brave souls who shrugged off today’s winter blast might have been soaked through but they were happy to get around the track and back to the warm clubhouse in reasonable time, in contrast to the drifters and resulting shortened courses of previous weeks. The breeze started out at 14 knots out of the south and by mid afternoon was gusting up to 25 knots from the SSE with crews firing up for their first serious work out of the season.

Now past the half way mark in the 10 race series, the pointscore is starting to simmer with five points the most that separates first and second amongst the 12 divisions racing.

Division A1 is all tied up and Division F is also crowded at the top with Kevin O’Shea’s S & S Stormy Petrel narrowly leading on equal points with seasoned Audi Winter Series campaigner George Waldhausen and Superfine.

Today’s race 6 division F winner was Neville and Jo Blair’s Jeanneau 36i Sports Bar. “It was good to have a stiff breeze for a change,” commented Neville post-win. One rain squall mid-race reduced the visibility to pea soup and saturated crews, but with “enough work to keep everyone busy and reasonably warm, no one minded too much,” added Blair.

While some couples deliberately opt to race on separate boats, the Blairs have worked out a formula for marital bliss. “Jo’s small and light so she’s on the foredeck....that way she doesn’t have to listen to me,” Blair wisecracked.

Sally Warneford’s Sydney 38 Thirlmere went from second last in last week’s race 5 to first across the line today. Warneford wasn’t on board for the triumph, leaving the driving in the capable hands of well known offshore and champion Laser sailor Vanessa Dudley who was ably backed up by a top crew including Hobart veterans Larry Jamieson (mainsheet) and Phil Eadie (navigator).

“There was lots of pressure up and down but it was gusty so you had to look for the breeze lanes and keep a close eye on the others,” said Dudley. “We got the jump from the start and led all the way but it was close, particularly with Calibre.”

Other winners today were Vamp (Garry Linacre & David Fuller) division A1; Equinox II (Anthony Dunn) division A2; Nocturne (Gerard Kesby) division B; Holy Cow (John & Kim Clinton) division C; Soundtrack (John Amos) division D; Youngstar (Greg Cameron) division E; Gondwana (Peter Edwards) division G; Clewless ? (Lachlan Irwin) division H; Viva (Ken Hudson) division J; MRX (J Short and M Bastick) division K.

As a divisional winner, Commodore Garry Linacre (Vamp) was chosen to be the lucky driver of the Audi A5 Sportback 2.0T multitronic for the week.

Audi Winter Series

Superb Images by Christophe Launay from Hydroptère.fr Isle of Wight Speed Record Attempt

Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay


Image copyright Christophe Launay/www.sealaunay.com @SeaLaunay

by Lia Ditton @LiaArtistSailor

In early June last year, the 'Hydroptère.fr' (as it is now known so as to distinguish the foiling trimaran from the 'Hydroptère.ch' - the prototype lake cat of the same name) rocked up in Cowes, Isle of Wight, England. The Hydroptère team's ambition was to take on the Round-the-Isle-of-Wight speed record set by the late Steve Fossett's 110ft maxi-cat 'Playstation' in a time of 2h 33m 55s in November 2001.

Last year Paul Larson, project manager and pilot of rival WSSR-seeking campaign Vestas SailRocket 2 and I followed the indomitable Hydroptère around the Isle of Wight with the aim of capturing a record breaking moment on stills and video. Alas there was not quite enough wind, nor from quite the right direction (NW being ideal to create the minimum of wind shadow on the backside of the island). When the breeze picked up a notch a second attempt was mounted - again to no avail. The margin was close, but no record is no record.

This year, Alain Thébault and his team returned. A crack-of-sparrows start saw the boat off the dock at 4.30am and clock a laptime of 3h 30m. Round two unfortunately had to be aborted at the idea stage, as the morning gave way to windless-ness... Once again, the 50nm course seems to have alluded Hydroptère and so 'Playstation' with her average run of 19.53kts remains the holder-of-record. In the PR schedule, the H.fr have until June 14th to have another stab at the IoW record and we shall keep you posted between now and then.

SeaLaunay's photoshelter has more images of the Hydroptère.fr record attempt

SeaLaunay
Hydroptère

Skandia Sail for Gold : Two guns for Tobin on day two

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in action © OnEdition

by Jodie Bakewell-White

Weymouth, UK provided for a full schedule of racing on day two of 2011 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta where the NZL Sailing Team is currently competing. Overall it was a solid day for much of the team.

RS:X Men: Of the kiwis the star of the day was Jon-Paul Tobin who came away with two bullets in racing overnight to move to the top of the RS:X Men’s leader board. On 10 points, Tobin is three clear of Taehoon Lee (KOR) in second place with Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) also scoring two race wins overnight, in third position.

Tom Ashley placed 8th and 8th in last night’s two races to lie 6th overall.

Four races have now been sailed with a total of eleven possible.

Finn: Dan Slater opened the series with a win on day one, and last night he backed that up with another gun in race two of the series. A 10th in the second race of the day sees him slip from the top of the Finn leader board, and into 3rd overall.

Ben Ainslie (GBR) moves to the top of the board on equal points with Ivan Gaspic Kljkoviv (CRO) while Slater is just two points adrift.

Star: Also lying top five in their fleet is the NZL Sailing Team Star crew of Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk. Adding two races overnight the 41-strong Star fleet have now sailed three in total with the kiwis in 5th place at the end of day two with a card that reads 14, 3, 10.

Brazil’s Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada are out in front with a five point gap to second place.

Laser: Three races were sailed overnight in both the Laser and Radial fleets effectively mixing things up in the standings.

Andrew Murdoch overtakes Andy Maloney as the best placed of the six strong kiwi contingent in the Laser class with a 3rd, a win and a 4th on the water last night. With this performance he rockets from 25th up to 6th on the board.

Maloney was 9th, 5th and 19th in his three races and now sits in 11th position. Further back Mike Bullot is in 18th, Josh Junior in 21st (with a 2nd in race three of the day), and Sam Meech is in 33rd.

Women’s 470: Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie sailed well on day two at Sail for Gold placing 2nd and 7th in their two races however after suffering a DSQ in race two from day one the pair are lying in 10th overall. Consistency and no further hiccups are required from here for the kiwi girls improve further.

49er: Peter Burling and Blair Tuke should be content with their 10th, 2nd and 6th, which sees them move from 33rd up into the top ten of the 49er fleet.

The Sibello brothers of Italy continue to reign at the top of the fleet, but with three races possible a day in the quick fire 49er and another four days of competition there is plenty of race track remaining.

Radial: Sara Winther is in 12th place in the Laser Radial coming home 8th, 10th and 10th in her three races on day two.

Elsewhere
On the Men’s 470 course Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders improve from 33rd up to 24th in the standings. Natalia Kosinska remains the best of the kiwis in the Women’s RS:X lying 16th. Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel are in 7th place in the SKUD18 Paralympic class.

2011 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta
New Zealand’s provisional standings after day two

470 Women (45 entries)
10th Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie

470 Men (77 entries)
24th Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders

49er (63 entries)
10th Peter Burling and Blair Tuke

Finn
3rd Dan Slater
18th Matt Coutts
45th Bradley Douglas

Laser (123 entries)
6th Andrew Murdoch
11th Andy Maloney
18th Mike Bullot
21st Josh Junior
33rd Sam Meech
104th Spencer Loxton

Radial
12th Sara Winther
40th Miranda Powrie

Women’s Match Racing
Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt (Group C – 1 win/6 losses)

RS:X Men (86 entries)
1st JP Tobin
6th Tom Ashley
80th Carl Evans

RS:X Women (59 entries)
16th Natalia Kosinska
30th Stephanie Williams
40th Justina Sellers
44th Jazmine Lynch

Star (41 entries)
5th Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk

2.4 metre (34 entries)
21st Joshua McKenzie-Brown

SKUD18 (17 entries)
7th Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel

About this regatta:

Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta is the sixth event in the 2010-11 ISAF Sailing World Cup series and given this is the venue for the 2012 Olympic Games Sailing Regatta the entry list is long and star-studded. Everyone is doing their homework on Weymouth!

Here are the numbers:
752 Entries
62 Nations
1067 Athletes
314 Coaches

Yachting New Zealand
Skandia Sail for Gold

America's Cup : Coutts on the edge in ORACLE Racing AC45 in San Francisco

ORACLE Racing
America's Cup

Extreme 40 : Leigh McMillan Steps in to Helm The Wave, Muscat

Leigh McMillan at the helm of ECOVER in the 2010 Extreme Sailing Series, with Will Howden (now on Red Bull Extreme Sailing). Image copyright Anne Hinton - all rights reserved.

by Nicky Moore

British two time Olympian Leigh McMillan will step into the fray as the skipper of Oman Sail’s Extreme 40, The Wave Muscat for the remainder of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series.

The switch follows the announcement that the young Australian skipper Torvar Mirsky will be stepping down from the position to take up the exciting new role as helmsman of the Italian America’s Cup team, Venezia Challenge. He will now concentrate on the teams AC45 programme and compete in the America’s Cup World Series.

Torvar Mirsky joined Oman Sail at the beginning of 2011 as the new young gun from the world of match racing. He has shown incredible determination and skill as skipper of The Wave, Muscat and has provided some of the most exciting racing during this year’s Extreme Sailing Series, including a spectacular capsize in Qingdao, China, earlier this year.

Leigh McMillan helmed Ecover to a third place finish at the 2010 Extreme Sailing Series and will now take on the role as the new skipper of The Wave, Muscat. Leigh has represented Great Britain at two Olympic Games in the Tornado and is a multihull expert. Leigh has been coaching The Wave, Muscat throughout the 2011 season.

Leigh is no stranger to sailing under the Omani flag – in 2009 he took the helm on Oman Sail Masirah in the 2009 Extreme Sailing Series Asia, winning the Series. He will take his place aboard The Wave, Muscat in Boston, USA for Act 4, which takes place from the 30 June-4 July.

He is a disciplined and dedicated sailor who has risen through the ranks of the sport and emerged as one of the most exciting multi-hull sailors on the circuit, posting an impressive 7 podium places in 2010 Extreme Sailing Series.

Leigh has a great sense of calm and a natural ability to keep a level head during the high-speed thrills of racing on-board an Extreme 40. In fact, he is no stranger to sailing under the Omani flag – in 2009 he took the helm on Oman Red in the 2009 Extreme Sailing Series Asia and won the series!

Date of Birth: 24/10/1980
Position: Skipper
Nationality: British
Hometown: Newport, Isle of Wight

Extreme40 Racing
2006 Rio De Jenero EX40 2nd
2006 Portsmouth EX40 2nd
2006 Rotterdam EX40 1st
2006 Overall Extreme 40 Circuit 2nd
2009 Hong Kong Extreme Asia series 1st
2009 Singapore Extreme Asia series 1st
2010 Oman Extreme Asia series 1st
2009-10 Overall Extreme series 1st
2010 “Sete” Extreme sailing series 4nd
2010 “Cowes” Extreme sailing series 2nd
2010 “Kiel” Extreme sailing series 2rd
2010 “Trapani” Extreme sailing series 3rd
2010 “Almeria” Extreme sailing series 3rd
2010 Overall Extreme Sailing Series 3rd

Oman Sail have enjoyed working with Torvar who has shown himself as such a bright star in the sport and wish him good luck in what is a great opportunity with the Venezia Challenge Team.

2011 Extreme Sailing Series Calendar & Host Venues:
Act 1: 20-24 February, Muscat, Oman
Act 2: 13-17 April, China
Act 3: 25-29 May, Istanbul, Turkey
Act 4: 30 June – 4 July, Boston, USA
Act 5: 6-12 August, Cowes, UK
Act 6: 16-18 September, Trapani, Italy
Act 7: 30 September – 2 October, Nice, France
Act 8: 12-16 October, Almeria, Spain
Act 9: 9-11 December, Singapore

Extreme Sailing Series standings after three Acts
1 - Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) - 29 points
2 - Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) - 28 points
3 - Artemis Racing (SWE) - 27 points
4 - Luna Rossa (ITA) - 25 points
5 - Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT) - 23 points
6 - The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Torvar Mirsky / Kyle Langford / Nick Hutton / Khamis Al Anbouri - 18 points
7 - Alinghi (SUI) - 18 points
8 - Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet / Kinley Fowler / David Carr / Nasser Al Mashari - 11 points
9th Team Extreme (EUR) - 8 points
10th Niceforyou (ITA) - 6 points
11th Team GAC Pindar (GBR) - 5 points

Oman Sail
Extreme Sailing Series

Skandia Sail for Gold : Day 2 - Toughing it out in the Trenches

Great Laser sailing conditions. Image copyright onEdition.

by Nicky Moore

It’s Day Two of Skandia Sail for Gold and it was a tough day in the trenches for everyone, as race officers took the opportunity to catch up with the schedule. These are the hard yards, long days in tough conditions, and diametrically opposed to the glory moments of the medal race. If yesterday was all about the subtleties of light air racing, today was all about fitness and technique in the building breeze and waves. Weymouth turned it on with sunshine and an afternoon breeze that topped out in excess of 25 knots on the outer courses.

Racing on the outer race course in the Finn was the current Olympic Champion Ben Ainslie (GBR). Ainslie answered some of those who doubted that he could win here in the breeze. Only Ivan Kliakovic Gaspic (CRO) ended up accumulating fewer points than Ainslie. Kliakovic Gaspic’s second and fifth place pulled him up to second overall and onto equal points with Britain’s triple Olympic gold medallist.

Ainslie will probably be disappointed with his seventh place in the day’s opening race, but as the breeze built though the afternoon to 20 knots, he will be much happier with a win in the second and final race of the day. Overnight leader Dan Slater (NZL) added another bullet and a tenth place to his scoreline, dropping him down to third. Giles Scott (GBR) pulled up two places to fourth, eight points off the leading duo.

Sharing the outer course with the Finns was the Star fleet. Four-time Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt – an old Laser rival of Ainslie’s - is now sailing Stars with his Brazilian team-mate Bruno Prada. They also prospered in the breeze, adding two second places to their bullet from yesterday. Five points behind are two-time Olympic medallist, Mateusz Kusznierewicz sailing with Domini Zycki (POL). Another two-time Olympic medallist Fredrik Lööf (SWE), sailing with Max Salminen are 14 points behind the Brazilians in third. In a class that is stacked with medallists, current Olympic champion Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson started their climb up the leaderboard. A fourth and 11th place leaves them 12th overall after three races have been completed.

On the harbour course for the Paralympic teams, it was the 2.4mR’s turn to race in the morning, so they got a milder roughing up from the weather. It was the Netherlands Thierry Schmitter that took the day with two bullets to pull up to the top of the leaderboard, passing France’s Damien Seguin – Schmitter’s countryman, Rademaker remains in third. But it is Schmitter that is the current ISAF World Cup leader, and he was clearly loving the conditions, saying afterwards, ‘Sometimes it almost feels like you are in a washing machine. It makes you feel alive.’

Once the 2.4mRs were finished on the Paralympic course, the SKUDs and Sonars took over, but not for long in the case of the former, only managing one race before being sent ashore in the freshening conditions. The race was won by Skandia Team GBR’s Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell to creep one point closer to the overnight leaders, Beijing silver medallists, Australians Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch. The other Australian pair of Jamie Dunross and Rachael Cox dropped to third.

The Sonars had a better day of it, completing two races. The overnight tie between Australia’s Colin Harrison and Russell Boaden and America’s Rick Doerr and Brad Kendell was broken in favour of the latter. But both teams suffered a dramatic slide down the leaderboard to fifth and sixth respectively. The new leaders are Britain’s John Robertson and Hannah Stodel, who tied the day with Udo Hessels and Marcel van Veen – both pairs had a first and a second.

There was a surprise pairing at the top of the 470 women’s leaderboard. Saskia Clark thought her Olympic aspirations could be over for 2012 when her former partner, double gold medallist Sarah Ayton, retired from Olympic sailing in February. But after carefully assessing her options, she paired up with Hannah Mills. Mills is a talented young sailor who had excelled at youth level, but not found the right partner at senior level. The pairing started to shine in Hyeres in April, finishing third in the World Cup Event. They now lead the fleet at Skandia Sail for Gold, having won two out of their four races sailed. Danish pairing Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer are seven points adrift in second after four races sailed, with Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol one point adrift in third.

The 470 men are split into two fleets, Pierre Lebouche and Vincent Garos (FRA) won in Hyeres, the last World Cup event they competed in, and with a consistent 6, 1, 4, 6 scoreline, are leading again in Weymouth. Sweden’s Anton Dahlberg and Sebastian Tling lie second with Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) one point behind in third.


470 fleet downwind. Image copyright onEdition.

The RS:X Women’s Fleet had a fantastic day’s racing in winds up to 20 knots. It belonged to Korzits Lee who placed two firsts. However Lee was closely followed in both races by Alabau Marina and her two seconds bumped her up to the overall lead after day two. The Men’s RS:X fleet were also out late, and New Zealand’s Jp Tobin and the Netherlands Dorian van Rijsselberge’s dominated their flights with two wins each. But a better performance yesterday puts Tobin ahead, with Taehoon splitting the two men after getting a couple of second places.

With Anna Tunncliffe (USA) now competing in the Match Racing, there is no reigning Olympic champion campaigning in the Laser Radial class. Finland’s Sari Multala has been crowned Laser Radial World Champion for the past two years, but now it’s all about dominating at the 2012 Olympic venue. She currently lies third after four races completed, but only three points adrift of Evi Van Acker (BEL) and one point adrift of Marit Bouwmeester (NED).

It was the Laser Men who were out late this evening, as the race officers worked their way through the sub-fleets that have to race on this course. They all sailed three races to try to catch up their schedule, and the overnight leaders all slid down the leaderboard. It’s now Austria’s Andreas Geritzer in front, chased by World Champion, Australian Tom Slingsby. The overnight leader, Netherland’s Rutger van Schaardenburg was back to third.

The 49ers were catching air at times in Portland Harbour today, and it was the Italian pairing Pietro Sibello and Gianfranco Sibello that flew highest and fastest. They have finished first and second at the two World Cup events they have competed in this year and they are currently top of the 49er leadeboard from Britain’s John Pink and Rick Peacock. The Britain’s are engaged in their own internecine battle, with Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes in third.

The Match Racing completed the first group stage, giving us the Gold Group (Quarter Final) qualifiers. From Group A it was the Netherlands’ Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen topping the group with six points equal to - but winning the tie-break with - second placed Sally Barkow, Elizabeth Kratizig-Burnham and Alana O'Reilly from the USA.

In Group B, Anne-claire Le Berre, Alice Ponsar and Myrtille Ponge (FRA) went through on six points, one win clear of Australia’s Nicky Souter, Jessica Eastwell and Lucinda Witty, qualifying in second. And from Group C it was Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vendemoer and Debbie Capozzi (USA) going through with a clean sheet, and Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor (GBR) joining them with five wins.

Racing continues at Skandia Sail for Gold until Saturday.

Quotes of the Day

Tom Slingsby (AUS) - Laser
World Champion
It seems every time I train in Weymouth its very light winds but every time I do a regatta it is very strong! I am happy just to get every type of condition thrown at me and for me it is about just trying to prepare for next year, if I qualify.
The goal is to never be beaten on these waters, I'm not sure how that will go this week, but I am working hard at that. I remember Paul (Goodison) did that in Beijing - he was undefeated there and everyone knew he was going to be hard to beat so that's the sort of thing I want to happen looking to next year. I want to show I am a contender here.


470 weather! Image copyright onEdition.

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) – 470 Women
Class leaders
I think we are a bit unexpected to be leading at the moment. It’s only two days into the regatta so we have a long way to go. We have been sailing together for three months now and we are still on a huge learning curve. As long as we keep on learning and keep sailing well it will hopefully all come together for the end of the week. Our number one goal is to do as best as we can in the regatta and at the moment that’s medalling. The next few days are going to be tough and hard physically, I think the forecast is pretty big especially for tomorrow but hopefully we can just keep sailing well together.

Sari Maltala (FIN) - Laser Radial
World Champion and currently lying third overall
We have only done four races so we have a long way to go during this event but I am glad I have been able to keep the scores quite low. We did three races today which is more than we normally do so it was a pretty big day for us. You have to keep strong and just keep fighting, that’s what everyone is doing.

It wasn’t too windy for us today and the conditions were very sailable. There were a few capsizes but it felt it was pretty good conditions out there and it made for some great racing.

This is the venue we have to perform at. I have been doing a lot of training here at Weymouth and regatta’s such as Skandia Sail for Gold are the best way to test yourself at a venue. This is going to be a great venue for the Games.

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) – Laser Radial
Second overall
It went all right today. There was not a lot of wind during the first two races. It was very tricky under the Portland Bill hill. So I was happy with the result – two firsts. But I was not too happy with the third race when the wind increased. I did not get enough out of that race. I did not manage to get my boat going fast over the waves. The Brits have obviously trained a lot here. Young did well. She also knew where to go. Tomorrow another day, looking forward to it.

Thierry Schmitter (NED) – 2.4mR
2.4M World Champion and currently leading
I am on equal points with Damien (Seguin) I believe. It is very close and very exciting again. He is a formidable opponent, especially in the windy conditions. I am glad he is here to compete against, but I think I am a bit faster in these conditions.

I really like the windy conditions. Lots of cold water in your face, you have to work really hard. Sometimes it almost feels like you are in a washing machine. It makes you feel alive. But I have also trained a lot in the lighter stuff. As you need to be really all-round if you want to win in Weymouth. One never knows what to expect here.

Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) - Women’s Match Racing
Gold Group Qualifier, Laser Radial Gold Medal in 2008
We had a great day again today. We had three races and came away with three wins to win our Group C round. Our last race was against the Brits (Lucy Macgregor). They controlled us for the first minute or so of the pre-start, but then we managed to get control of them after that. We led them into the start a few seconds late, and matched their tack off the line. We had great speed and were able to pin them to the layline.

Downwind, they closed the gap at the leeward mark, but we pulled ahead again up the next beat and held our lead to the finish. The conditions were windy so boat control and speed were important. Now we advance to the Gold Round. The team did a great job in the bigger breeze making great calls all around the course. The conditions in Weymouth are great. It’s chilly when the wind blows, but the wind is fantastic. The facilities are great and make training and racing very good.

Matthew Belcher (AUS) - 470
Current 470 Olympic Champion sailing with Malcolm Page currently lying sixth
The racing is pretty difficult here. We are a long way out of the harbour- I think the furthest out we race from of all the World Cup events so it is a different kind of racing. It’s a tough fleet and we are just going out there and trying our best.

All of the World Cup events are selection events for us, so we have come to Weymouth straight from the Delta Lloyd Regatta. All the events are important but I think mentally this one has a bit more significance as it is the Olympic venue.

The conditions are completely different out there to yesterday but we have come to expect that from Weymouth – the racing here for the Olympics is going to be a lot better than Qingdao that’s for sure! You have to be an all round sailor and be able to cope with different conditions, the focus is always on getting the boat to go as fast as you can, no matter what the conditions are.

Ben Ainslie (GBR) Finn
Current Finn Olympic Champion and leading the class
The first race was a bit strange, on the first beat I thought the right side of the course had the best conditions but I didn’t read it very well and ended up well behind the leaders. I started to catch up from there and finished strong to get seventh place. In the second race the wind came up a bit more which made it difficult to read the best side of the course to take. Luckily I took the best side and at the first mark I was third and I then I slowly pulled through to win the race.

Today was hard work physically. The winds strong, the waves choppy and the races long, you’re out there for six hours and racing for three so it’s all about saving yourself for the right moment and getting the crucial decisions right.

The GB sailors are all doing well with five of us currently in the top ten, Giles (Giles Scott), Mark (Mark Andrews) and Millsey (Andrew Mills) are all sailing well and I’m sure Ed Wright is going to start showing form this week as these are his sort of conditions. Overall I’m happy with my form so far but there’s always room for improvement.

Provisional Results
Day 2: Tuesday 7h June

49er Sailed: 5
1st ITA 3 SIBELLO Pietro / SIBELLO Gianfranco 18pts
2nd GBR 8 PINK John / PEACOCK Richard 23pts
3rd GBR 7 MORRISON Stevie / RHODES Ben 52pts

470 WOMEN Sailed: 4
1st GBR 847 MILLS Hannah / CLARKE Saskia 28pts
2nd DEN 143 KOCH Henniette / SOMMER Lene 35pts
3rd ITA 23 CONTI Giulia / MICOL Giovanna 36pts

470 MEN Sailed: 4
1st FRA 44 PIERRE Leboucher / VINCENT Garos 17pts
2nd SWE 346 DAHLBERG Anton / OSTLING Sebastian 20pts
3rd CRO 83 FANTELA Sime / MARENIC Igor 21pts

FINN Sailed: 3
1st GBR 3 AINSLIE Ben 10pts
2nd CRO 524 KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan 10pts
3rd NZL 1 SLATER Dan 12pts

LASER Sailed: 4
1st AUT 189537 GERITZER Andreas 15pt
2nd AUS 197541 SLINGSBY Tom 15pts
3rd NED 192625 VAN SCHAARDENBURG Rutger 15pts

LASER RADIAL Sailed: 4
1st BEL 197514 VAN ACKER Evi 12pts
2nd NED 200444 BOUWMEESTER Marit 14pts
3rd FIN 199059 MULTALA Sari 15pts


Stars on day 2. Image copyright onEdition.

STAR Sailed: 3
1st BRA 8255 SCHEIDT Robert / PRADA Bruno 5pts
2nd POL 8417 KUSZNIEREWICZ Mateusz / ZYCKI Dominik 10pts
3rd SWE 8450 LOOF Fredrik / SALMINEN Max 19pts

SKUD 18 Sailed: 3
1st AUS 47 FITZGIBBON Daniel / TESCH Liesl 5pts
2nd GBR 45 RICKMAN Alexandra / BIRRELL Niki 7pts
3rd AUS 52 DUNROSS Jamie / COX Rachael 9pts

SONAR Sailed: 3
1st GBR 748 ROBERTSON John / STODEL Hannah / THOMAS Steve 7pts
2nd NED 688 HESSELS Udo / VAN VEEN Marcel/ ROSSEB Mischa 12pts
3rd NOR 1 WANG-HANSEN Aleksander / KRISTIANSEN Per Eugen / SOLBERG Marie 12pts

2.4mR Sailed: 4
1st NED 12 SCHMITTER Thierry 10pts
2nd FRA 13 SEGUIN Damien 10pts
3rd NED 11 RADEMAKER Andre 16pts

RS:X MEN Sailed: 2
1st NZL 151 TOBIN JP 10pts
2nd KOR 71 LEE Taehoon 13pts
3rd NED 8 VAN RIJSSELBERGE Dorian 14pts

RS:X WOMEN Sailed: 4
1st ESP 5 ALBAU Marina 8pts
2nd ESP 1 MANCHON Blanca 13pts
2rd FRA 4 CHARLINE Picon 15pts

MATCH RACE - Gold Group Qualifiers
Group A
Mulder / Bes / Witteveen NED 6-1
Barkow / Kratizig-Burnham / O’Reilly USA 6-1

Group B
Le Berre / Ponsar / Ponge FRA 6-1
Souter / Curtis / Price AUS 5-2

Group C
Tunnicliffe / Vandemoer / Capozzi USA 7-0
Macgregor / Lush / Macgregor GBR 5-2

Skandia Sail for Gold