Rio 2016 sailing comes alive on 'Brutal Thursday'
by Mark Jardine, Managing Editor on 12 Aug 2016
Stu McNay and Dave Hughes (USA) on day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition Sailing Energy/World Sailing
In what has become known as 'Brutal Thursday', the Finns and 470s raced on the Copacabana and Niterói ocean course areas, outside of Guanabara Bay in huge waves. Is was deemed that the Nacra 17s would have found the conditions too difficult to sail in so they were moved to the Ponte course near the bridge across the Bay.
USA Women's 470 crew Briana Provancha said of the day, 'We did our best in 25-knot massive-wave sailing. It was a very full-on day, and it was awesome. It was what 470's are supposed to be raced in.'
Some epic battles are now developing; Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS) are on equal points with Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves (GBR) in the Nacra 17, Dorian van Rijsselberghe (NED) is turning the tables on Nick Dempsey (GBR), Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) are 3 points clear of reigning Olympic Champions Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) and Giles Scott is... well he's just doing what Giles Scott does!
Caleb Paine (USA) crossed the finish line today in his two races in 14th and 2nd positions, which would have put him in 4th place overall. However, a protest against Paine in Race 6 resulted in a disqualification for the American, which dropped him from 4th to 15th overall.
Bora Gulari and Louisa Chafee experienced equipment problems that forced their retirement in two of the days' four races. 'Bora's trapeze harness kept snapping where it attached to the mast,' said Chafee. 'It's not something you can quickly fix and go right back into the racing. You're done for the race.' Despite the setback, Gulari and Chafee mentally regrouped, and submitted a 12th in Race 4, and an impressive 4th in Race 6.
Unfortunately the TV feeds are concentrating on the Sugarloaf course - while this certainly provides place changes, we're sadly not seeing any video of the excitement on the big waves...
Read Gladwell's line on the challenges of Guanabara Bay at www.sail-world.com/147268
Read the full round-up of day 4 at www.sail-world.com/147278 and find all the latest news from the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition at www.sail-world.com/USA/rio2016
Meanwhile, enjoy some of the epic photos coming out of Rio... loads more on www.sail-world.com
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