Aquece Rio Int’l Regatta - Finn favourite Scott fights back

by RYA on 20 Aug 2015 Giles Scott put his ‘trying start’ to the Olympic Test Event behind him with two solid scores on Wednesday (19 August) setting him just six points behind the Finn series leader with three more days of racing to go.

Wind delays were once again prevalent across the course areas on the fifth day of the Aquece Rio International Regatta, with the outermost courses enjoying the best of the breeze late in the afternoon.

With just three races on the scoresheet instead of the scheduled six by this stage of the competition, the Finn fleet was especially keen to see some action – none more so than World Champion Giles Scott, who’s endured a tough start to their event.

“I’ve had a bit of a trying start to the regatta with a bit of a monumental error on my behalf, thinking I saw a pumping flag when it wasn’t actually flying, which resulted in me being disqualified from a race,” explained Scott, who was crowned champion at this same regatta a year ago.

“Today it was very necessary for me to get out there and put two very good scores on the scoreboard and fortunately I was able to do that,” continued Scott, who posted a race win and a third to elevate him to fourth place overall after five races.

“We’re now halfway through the opening series so there’s still an awful lot more sailing to be done in what look to be some pretty tricky conditions, so it’s still certainly all to play for.”

Just one race was possible for the 470 men’s and women’s fleets, but both saw gains for the British crews. Olympic silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark posted in third in their race to see them into second overall, two points from the American leaders, while Luke Patience and Elliot Willis are up to fourth in the men’s double-handed class.

They picked up a seventh in their only race of the day, and are just seven points from the top spot with a potential five more fleet races and a medal race to go.

“I actually jinxed it a couple of days ago when I said ‘wow this is so slick’. We’d go out and race at 1pm each day and come in and it was grand. Sure enough then two days of waiting came,” said Patience of the wind delays.

“We finally got to race today. It was an interesting day actually. We towed out through absolutely no wind and when we finally got to our race course there was breeze there. This venue’s still proving to be a challenge and you never quite know what you’ve got until you actually get on your race course. But we had good winds and a good race and all was fair.

“We have five races left and then a medal race - that’s a huge amount of points in a regatta in the grand scheme of things – if we get them. It’s really tight – as ever in the 470 fleet everyone yo-yos in the top position, no-one is dominant so it’s feeling like a real scrap so far this week, in a good way. No race has been over until the last dying moments. I think the whole regatta will be like that as well.”

On the penultimate day of competition for the RS:X men’s and women’s windsurfing fleets, they managed just one of their planned four races apiece in the fickle winds across the Guanabara Bay courses.

Bryony Shaw posted a seventh to book her place in the 10-boat women’s finale on Thursday, but Nick Dempsey’s 19th wasn’t enough to make the cut into the men’s medal race and he’ll end this Olympic Test Event in 13th place.

“I think this week’s been pretty tough – certainly tougher than I thought it was going to be,” said the disappointed double Olympic medallist.

“Rio’s a pretty difficult place to sail. I’ve been here for a month now and am slowly getting my head around it. I haven’t sailed brilliantly this week, I’ve made mistakes and I’m not on the pace.

Dempsey continued: “There’s eleven months to make a few changes, step it up a little bit and I’ll come back in 11 months’ time in the right place.”

Alison Young posted a fifth in the sole race for the Laser Radial fleet to keep in touch of the top three spots, while Nick Thompson is poised sixth in the closely-fought Laser class with a tenth on the water today.

Elsewhere, the Nacra 17 crews faced a three hour wait between their two races, with John Gimson and Hannah Diamond picking up 11,7 to see them into seventh overall while the twilight racing for the 49erFX was worth the wait for Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth. They finished second and are in ninth place overall.

The 49er class was the only one to see no racing at all on Wednesday.

Racing will be brought forward to 1200 local on Thursday (20 August) in a bid to catch up with the schedule.

Schedule for Thursday 20 August:

• RS:X Men P. Acucar Medal Race 1200
• RS:X Women P. Acucar Medal Race 1245
• Laser Niteroi 3 Races 1230
• Laser Radial Niteroi 3 Races 1240
• Finn Pai 3 Races 1230
• 470 Men Copacabana 3 Races 1240
• 470 Women Copacabana 3 Races 1230
• 49er Escola Naval 4 Races 1200
• 49erFX P. Acucar 4 Races 1330
• Nacra 17 Ponte 4 Races 1200

Competition at the Aquece Rio International Regatta continues from 1200 on Thursday (20 August), with final medal races scheduled for the RS:X windsurfing events on Thursday (20 August); Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 on Friday (21 August); Finn, 470 Men and 470 Women on Saturday (22 August).