Gold in GBR seven-medal haul at Holland Regatta

by RYA/Lindsey Bell on 29 May 2006 Olympic windsurfing bronze medallist Nick Dempsey delivered gold for Great Britain at the Holland Regatta (24-28 May), rounding off Skandia Team GBR's seven-medal haul from this ISAF Grade 1 event.

Great Britain also scooped the overall prize for the best nation's performance in Medemblik, with the help of Dempsey's gold as well as four silvers and two bronzes from the eleven contested Olympic classes.

The 25-year-old Weymouth windsurfer picked his way through the RS:X fleet during the course of the week, and was lying in second heading into today's final medal race on the Ijsselmeer. With wind speeds in excess of 20 knots, Dempsey pulled out all the stops today, winning the medal race by several hundred metres to clinch the gold ahead of Brazilian Ricardo Santos, and local sailor Joeri van Dijk.

Dempsey has now had a podium finish at all of the Olympic classes regattas he's competed in this year, with golds also in Miami and Palma, and a silver at the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres.

'It was important for me to win here,' said Dempsey. 'We've got the RS:X Europeans coming up in just over a week, so to win here has been good psychological preparation.

'To get two firsts and a second in the three major European regattas of the season can't be bad!'

Dempsey's partner, Athens gold medallist Sarah Ayton, steered her way to silver in the Yngling class with fellow Olympic gold medallist Sarah Webb, and Emma Rawlinson, who's standing in on the bow for sister Victoria while she prepares for her medical exams.

Finn sailor Ed Wright was on the podium for his second consecutive regatta, adding a silver to the gold he won in Hyeres, while Paul Goodison made the podium for the third time this year in an Olympic classes regatta, thanks to a silver in the Laser class.

The Holland Regatta also saw podium places for the first time for development squad sailor Penny Clark in the Laser Radial class, and the new 49er combination of Paul Campbell James and Mark Asquith.

Clark, from Lee-on-Solent, was overjoyed at her silver medal - her best ever regatta result - and attributed part of her Holland success to some early sailing experiences.

'I grew up sailing on a lake - admittedly the Ijsselmeer is a pretty big lake! - but I think that certainly helped, and I just read the shifts really well during the week,' she explained.

'It was a high scoring regatta, so I tried not to get too stressed when things didn't go my way and it ultimately paid off. I can't believe it!'

Campbell James and Asquith sailed to a third in today's 49er medal race, which gained them bronze overall - but not before a less than ideal start to the final day.

'We had a bit of a nightmare trying to get out there for the start,' Asquith explained. 'We were caught by a huge gust, the bow went down and both me and Paul went in over the forestay! We thought we'd broken the tiller extension and the mast just before the race, but luckily not!'

Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark took bronze for the Brits in the 470 women's class, squeezed out by Swedes Therese Torgesson and Vendela Zachrisson in the final run of the medal race.

'It's great to be the top nation again at the Holland Regatta - in particular to see Nick continue his domination of the RS:X windsurf class, and also Penny having her best ever Laser Radial result,' said RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park.

'However, it's notable that some nations - particularly France and the Netherlands - also performed exceptionally well at this regatta, and we now need to focus on converting some of those silver and bronze medals into golds.'Results

Final leading results:

RS:X Men
1 Nick Dempsey (GBR) 19pts
2 Ricardo Santos (BRA) 25pts
3 Joeri van Dijk (NED) 27pts
Other GBR
11 Leo McCallin, 73pts
23 Hugh Sims Williams, 102pts

RS:X Women
1 Faustine Merret (FRA) 18pts
2 Shun Li Mei (CHN) 28pts
3 Liu Wei Ning (CHN) 42pts
Other GBR
12 Christine Johnston, 79pts
22 Lucy Horwood, 117pts

Laser
1 Tom Slingsby (AUS)
2 Paul Goodison (GBR)
3 Matias del Solar (CHI)

Finn
1 Emilios Papathanansiou (GRE) 18pts
2 Ed Wright (GBR) 25pts
3 Rafael Trujillo (ESP) 32pts

Other GBR
33 Mark Andrews, 133pts
34 Peter Davidson 134pts
37 Matt Howard

Laser Radial
1 Evi van Acker (BEL) 41pts
2 Penny Clark (GBR) 96pts
3 Jo Aleh (NZL) 98pts
Other GBR
7 Lizzie Vickers, 148pts
13 Alison Young, 170pts
16 Andrea Brewster 173pts
25 Harriette Trumble 260pts
27 Charlotte Dobson, 272pts

Yngling
1 Anna Basalkina-Galina Louchachova-Ekaterina Maxsimova (RUS) 41pts
2 Sarah Ayton-Sarah Webb-Emma Rawlinson (GBR) 48pts
3 Mandy Mulder-Marije Faber-Petronella de Jong (NED) 59pts
Other GBR
16 Gemma Farrell-Rachel Larman-Rachel Howe, 116pts

470 Women
1 Marcelien de Koning-Lobke Berkhout (NED) 33pts
2 Therese Torgesson-Vendela Zachrisson (SWE) 49pts
3 Christina Bassadone-Saskia Clark (GBR) 51pts
Other GBR
12 Pippa Wilson-Sheena Craig, 100pts
20 Lucy Macgregor-Mary Rook, 162pts

470 Men
1 Gabrio Zandona-Andrea Trani (ITA) 38pts
2 Lucas Zellmer-Heiko Seelig (GER) 55pts
3 Mathew Belcher-Nich Behrens (AUS) 64pts
GBR
34 Jonny McGovern-Tom Mapplebeck, 106pts

49er
1 Morgan Larson-Pete Spaulding (USA) 42pts
2 Pietro Sibello-Gianfranco Sibello (ITA) 49pts
3 Paul Campbell James-Mark Asquith (GBR) 52pts

Tornado
1 Xavier Revil-Christophe Espagnon (FRA) 54pts
2 Darren Bundock-Glenn Ashby (AUS)
3 Guichard Yann-Guyader Alexandre (FRA)
GBR
6 Rob Wilson-Mark Bulkeley, 80pts
10 Leigh McMillan-Will Howden, 105pts
17 Andy Walsh-Ed Barney, 137pts
26 Chris Rashley-Marcus Lynch, 189pts

Star
1 Xavier Rohart-Pascal Rambeau (FRA) 16pts
2 Hamish Pepper-David Giles (NZL) 19pts
3 Robert Scheidt-Bruno Prada (BRA) 20pts