Weymouth UK;  - Day 3

Leaders falter in the light
 

Nacra 17: Tightening up at the Top

A light and tricky final day of fleet racing has mixed up the Nacra 17 leaderboard and made it an out and out battle for the top spots going into the medal race. Only 12 points separate the top 6 boats meaning anyone of them could come away with the win, but equally come away missing the podium altogether.

An incredible late surge from Ben Saxton and Nicola Boniface (GBR), clearly loving the lighter winds at the tail end of this week’s competition, have brought them into contention for the medals having been hanging outside all week. They scored a 1,2 today winning the day and putting leapfrogging themselves into second, only 4 points behind the leaders Ruggero Tita and Catarina Banti (ITA), who struggled a little today in the really light conditions scoring a 23, 11 but still doing enough to stay at the top.

Further down the pack with a brilliant final day of a 4,5 and just scraping into the medal race in 10th is Olympic gold and silver medallist Nathan Outteridge, sailing with his sister Haylee Outteridge (AUS). Fairly new to the Nacra 17 fleet but clearly getting to grips with the boat quickly - we wouldn’t expect anything less from this pair. But they’ll need to start ramping things up quickly with a tough battle on their hands to qualify themselves for Tokyo 2020 as their rival, Australian teammates and Rio Olympic silver medallists, Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin - not here this week due to an injury for Jason - have managed to win the last 3 Nacra regattas they’ve sailed in, showing incredible form and consistency.

With the points so tight at the top, it’s going to be a nail-biting medal race for the top 10 in the Nacra fleet. With Olympic Test Event spots up for grabs, a European title on the line and many teams wanting to stamp their authority on the fleet as we begin to look towards the final year to the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Tomorrow’s medal race will surely be a key indicator as to which of the 6 top teams can keep their nerve and perform under huge pressure when it really matters.

49erFX: Scandinavians deliver while leaders falter

On the penultimate day of gold fleet racing, after a brief postponement, the 49erFX gold were up first in the harbour course, to battle in the light winds for positioning going into the medal race. It was a day for the Scandinavians to shine, with the Danes having led from the left to round in 1st and 3rd at the top mark and the Swedes in 2nd and 4th. The young Swedes dropped back to third by the finish, while the Poles moved through the fleet to second, and the Danish team of Schütt/Nielsby were able to stay on top and take the win. The top five from the overall leaderboard in the morning were all super-deep in the race, with most sailing their throwout in the first race.

Race 2 say the other Danes learn from their teammates and their own fourth position in Race 1, to replicate the pin end and left side favour to round at the top mark in first and run away with the win. The young Swedes Bobeck/Tengstrom were again in the fight, finishing third while the Finnish climbed through the race up to 2nd place. Again many of the top boats were deep in the fleet, which allowed the Swedes to jump up from 6th in the morning to third overall heading into the medal race.

Regatta leaders, the Brazilians Grael and Kunze, followed their 11th in race one with a 21st in race two, but still lead overall by 19 points. Behind them, the Dutch Bekkering/Duetz also had their worst day with a 23, 11 but still sit second overall. For them, it is all to play for tomorrow to stay top 3 overall, which they need to do if they’re to win the Olympic spot for the Netherlands qualification system, since their NED competitors are now out of the running for the medal race. The young Swedes, Bobeck and Tengström, have really proven they are a force to be reckoned with and rising stars in the fleet, nailing the light airs today as well as the breeze earlier this week to sit only 6 points back in third overall, but tied with the Norwegians on points. The Kiwis had a difficult day to drop to 5th, but still in the hunt for the medals along with Denmark’s Nielsen/Olsen, who won the day with their 4,1.

It was a huge day of shuffling on the scoreboard, and Sunday will be a contentious battle among all the fleets, particularly for the crowning of the ‘European’ Champions. Make sure in the 49erFX to keep an eye on NED’s Bekkering/Duetz battle for their Olympic spot, and on the rising young gun Swedes for whether they can perform when the pressure is really on.

 
49ers: Kiwis are mortal, but still hard to beat

The legendary New Zealanders, Pete Burling and Blair Tuke, displayed some chink of mortality in the last race of the day by finishing 19th. However, their other scores of 3,6 put them in a strong position going into the final day of 49er European Championship on Sunday. The reigning Olympic Champions hold a 17-point advantage with just one more gold fleet race scheduled on Sunday morning before the 10-boat medal race.

The south-westerly breeze was very light out in Weymouth Bay, with the sailors bending their knees for the first time this week, in what has been a predominantly windy regatta. Diego Botin and Iago Lopez Marra have been chasing the Kiwis hard all week, but looked out of sorts today. After a solid start to Saturday with a 6th place, the smiling Spaniards could only manage 15th and 16th in the next two heats. Dylan Fletcher and Stu Bithell had a somewhat lacklustre outing with 7,12,14, yet the British team have moved ahead of the Spanish to hold second place overall by a single point.

Another British crew, James Peter and Fynn Sterritt, were able to close the gap on the top three thanks in particular to a runaway victory in the second race of the afternoon. The Rio Olympic bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel must have dreamed of being able to move into podium contention after winning the first race of the day but could only follow up with two scores in the 20s, which leaves them in 6th overall, just one point behind their teammates and training partners, Justus Schmidt and Max Boeme.

Best performers of the day were Will and Sam Phillips who might have surprised even themselves with such a strong scoreline of 11,3,1. The Aussie brothers absolutely owned the final race as they sailed away to a victory of more than 200 metres. While they’ve always been strong in the strong winds, including some storming performances earlier this week out in the big waves, today the Southern Cross siblings proved they’re no one-trick ponies and are world-class contenders in the lighter breezes too.

Nacra 17 Top 5 - Full Results
1            ITA          Ruggero Tita, Caterina Banti                   55
2            GBR        Ben Saxton, Nicola Boniface                   59
3            GBR        John Gimson, Anna Burnett                     61
4            DEN        Lin Cenholt, CP Lubeck                           63
5           ARG         Mateo Majdalani, Eugenia Bosco            64

49erFX Top 5 - Full Results
1            BRA       Martine Grael, Kahena Kunze                   56
2            NED       Annemiek Bekkering, Annette Duetz        75
3            SWE       Vilma Bobeck, Malin Tengstrom                81
4            NOR       Helene Næss, Marie Rønningen              81
5            NZL        Alex Maloney, Molly Meech                      84

49er Top 5 - Full Results
1            NZL       Peter Burling, Blair Tuke                             63
2            GBR       Dylan Fletcher, Stu Bithell                         80
3            ESP        Diego Botin, Iago Marra                             81
4            GBR       James Peters, Fynn Sterritt                       89
5            GER       Justus Schmidt, Max Boeme                     112