NZL Sailing Team - Winther a creditable sixth in ISAF SWC Qingdao

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 20 Sep 2015 NZL Sailing Team member Sara Winther has finished a creditable sixth place overall in the ISAF Sailing World Cup being sailed in Qingdao China.

Sailing in the Womens Singlehander (Laser Radial) Winther placed fifth in the double scoring Medal Race, sailed in a 6kt SE breeze, and dropping one place in the overall standings. Winther was sailing her first regatta after injuring her wrist at the ISAF World Sailing Cup in Palma, Spain in April, forcing her to miss the 2015 Pre-Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She only resumed sailing two weeks before leaving for Qingdao.

The Qingdao regatta doubled as an Asian Regional Qualifier for the 2016 Olympics and attracted a strong fleet of 28 boats mostly from Asia.

Dongshuang Zhang (CHN) won the regatta from Isabella-Anna Bertold (CAN) with Min Gu (CHN) winning the Bronze medal. The Medal Race was won by Maite Cartier (BEL) which was sufficient to lift her above Winther in the Final standings.

Several top competitors finished behind Winther, including Britain's Alison Young, who placed fifth in the Womens Singlehander at the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth.

Winther scored a (RET) retired in Race 3 of the regatta, which she was able to discard, but forced her to count a 17th place in her final score.

Conditions were generally light for the regatta, sailed at the 2008 Olympic Regatta venue - which is notorious for light winds and tricky currents. The merging of the grey sky with a grey coloured sea at the horizon is particularly dis-orienting, making consistency very difficult for competitors not used to sailing in these conditions.

Winther was the only New Zealander to make the top-ten cut to qualify for Medal racing on the final day. In other events, Andrew Mckenzie (NZL) finished 22nd in a 37 boat fleet with Michael Bullot placing 30th overall, they both only finished in the top 10 in one race each.

Development team members Sam Barnett and Zak Merton (NZL) finished 25th in a 26 boat fleet in the Mens Two-hander (470) event.

Next Event is the ISAF World Cup Final in Dubai which is only open to invited competitors.

The first round of the 2016 ISAF World Cup gets underway on December 10 in Melbourne.