Light airs test crews at Volvo ISAF Youth Worlds

by Event Media on 19 Jul 2007
Weak and confused gradient winds were the order of the day on Lake Ontario as the fleet racing in the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship got back out on the water for day four of the regatta after having a well-earned day off yesterday.

The windsurfer fleet returned to the dock for an hour in the absence of breeze, but, by mid afternoon, the breeze was up to 11 knots from the west south-west making for some good racing by all fleets and giving the lighter crews a chance to display their light airs technique and get back in contention.

With the regatta now past the mid-way point, attention is turning towards the nation’s cup event, where, for the ninth time the stunning Waterford Crystal Volvo Trophy will be presented to the top nation’s overall score at the end of the event on Friday, in addition to gold, silver and bronze medals for the top three crews in each fleet. Australia is top of the Volvo Trophy table followed five points behind by Denmark and New Zealand.

It’s always a struggle for the ISAF grant-aided sailors who are here on the APP (Athlete Participation Programme) under the guidance of Jim Saltonstall, the ISAF Youth Trust coach. 'The APP sailors don’t get exposed to this type of competition very much which is a shame,' reports Jim. 'They have to make the best of it while they are here and they are absorbing a huge amount of information. Prior experience in this event makes a big difference,' he says.

29er Boys: Consistency is key

Today’s race winners came in the form of Mikko Kotamis/Robert Haapanen (Finland) in race one (6th overall), Shun Mutaguchi/Tomohiro Muta (JPN) in race two (17th overall) and Raphael Gabella/Kaspar Keller (SUI) race three (15th overall). In spite of each crew now winning a race, their scores overall have not been consistent enough to bring them into medal contention.

Instead, Denmark (Henrik Sagaard/Soren Kristensen) and New Zealand (Paul Snow Hansen/Blair Tuke) are still first and second.

29er Girls: Game plan pays off for USA

Emily Dellenbaugh and Briana Provancha (USA) are back at the top with a huge lead over the British crew of Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth and Hannah Nattrass/Michelle Muller (AUS) both on 17 points.


'It was really tough today but we had good starts and were very consistent,' explained Emily Dellenbaugh. 'Today our game plan worked and we were really fortunate that it paid off. We had some lucky breaks,' added Briana Provancha.

Now that 11 races have been sailed both the 29er fleets are able to discard their worst two scores.


Laser Radial Girls: King is king

Australia’s Gabrielle King now has a clear lead of 18 points ahead of Finland’s Tuula Tenkanen, who won the second race today. Anne Haeger from the USA was second in race two which was good enough to propel her up the leaderboard to third place from fifth overnight.

'In the first race I didn’t have it all sorted out, but I got there in the end. In the second race I worked my way up through the fleet. I think everything is really tight and anyone could come through,' said King after racing today.

Canada’s Isabella Bertold led almost to the finish of race one only to suffer the disappointment of being rolled by the Israeli athlete, Sufa Benhorim to finish second, her best result of the championship so far. A win in the third race of the day put a smile back on her face.

Other disappointments came for the seemingly invincible Victoria Chan (SIN) who was over the line at the start of race one causing her to discard a very expensive 35 points and Malaysia’s Anuar Nural Elia, now in ninth place, who suffered the same fate.

Laser Boys: Right side pays off

Unusually for Lake Ontario, the right hand side of the first leg to windward paid off for Nik Nik Ashraf (MAS) who went on to win race one. Josh Junior for New Zealand displayed his excellent light wind boat speed to claw his way up through the fleet to finish fourth, while overnight leader Pavlos Kontides (CYP) was completely buried, forcing him to throw out an expensive 24th place finish. His second place in race two and then a bullet in race three was good enough to keep him at the top of the table and to extend his lead over Josh Junior to 14 points.

'This was my first bad race [of the series]. I said to myself ‘I have to concentrate as this is my chance’. I finished first and second,' said Kontides.

Philipp Buhl had an expensive discard of 39 points for an OCS (on course side) infringement but he is still in third place, three points ahead of Pierre Colurra (FIN) in fourth who won the middle race of the day.

Windsurfer Boys: Win win

France’s Pierre le Coq continues to dominate the boys windsurfer class as he pumped his way around the course today to post two wins. Guido Carli from Italy was second in both races, but hasn’t had consistent enough results to bring him to medal contention. Dimitris Vlachakis is now a safe 14 points behind in second, while Israel’s Ron Asulin is back in bronze position a further five points behind.

Windsurfer Girls: Italy versus Germany

Italy’s Laura Linares and Germany’s Moana Delle are locked in battle for the gold medal position in a day which saw the windsurfers return briefly to the marina due to lack of wind. Once the wind filled in, two races were completed, Linares and Delle taking one apiece, finishing second and third respectively in the other races. Five points now separate them as Delle closes the gap to Linares by another point. Poland’s Nina Szyhczyk moves up to third place from fourth, while Alisha Kawalla (AUS) drops down to sixth after two 12th place finishes today.

Multihull Open: Opening the gap

In a difficult first race today in shifty conditions, the British Glover brothers were playing safe. 'We’re just trying to stay in the ball park and score some points we can use,' explained helmsman Richard Glover. 'We have to go into tomorrow confident, believing we can do it. We know we can,' he added.

The two brothers have extended their lead by a point and are now ahead of the Danish crew, Emil Landry/Jacob Dannefer by two points. Both crews threw away a seventh score today in the second of the two discards that are now allowed.

Jason Waterhouse and Michael McCormick are clinging on to third place, but seven points behind the leaders. 'It was not easy sailing. We made good judgment on the last leg of second race today and picked up 10 places. We really need heavy airs though,' said Michael McCormick.

Racing continues tomorrow.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS



VOLVO TROPHY

1st AUSTRALIA 225 points overall

2nd DENMARK 220 points overall

3rd NEW ZEALAND 213 points overall

4th GERMANY 185 points overall

5th FRANCE 181 points overall

6th GREAT BRITAIN 173 points overall



29ER BOYS

1st Henrik Sagaard/Soren Kristensen DEN 24 points overall
2nd Paul Snow-Hansen/Blair Tuke 31 NZL points overall
3rd James Ellis/Robert Partridge 57 GBR points overall

29ER GIRLS

1st Emily Dellenbaugh/Briana Provancha USA18 points overall
2nd Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth GBR 24 points overall
3rd Hannah Nattrass/Michelle Muller AUS 35 points overall

LASER RADIAL: GIRLS

1st Gabrielle King AUS 15 points overall
2nd Tuula Tenkanen FIN 33 points overall
3rd Anne Haeger USA 34 points overall

LASER BOYS:

1st Pavlos Kontides (CYP) 14 points overall
2nd Josh Junior (NZL) 28 points overall
3rd Philipp Buhl (GER) 34 points overall

WINDSURFER BOYS:

1st Pierre Le Coq (FRA) 16 points overall
2nd Dimitris Vlachakis (GRE) 30 points overall
3rd Ron Asulin (ISR) 35 points overall

WINDSURFER GIRLS:

1st Laura Linares (ITA) 12 points overall
2nd Moana Dell (GER) 17 points overall
3rd Nina Szyhczyk (POL) 28 points overall

MULTIHULL OPEN

1st Richard/Andrew Glover (GBR) 16 points overall
2nd Emil Landry/Jacob Dannefer (DEN) 18 points overall