Rechichi and Parkinson take lead at Kiel Week

by Sam Maffett on 25 Jun 2005 Day three of the Kiel Olympic Classes Regatta started with an optimistic forecast for a little more wind than came on Day 2 when several classes did not get on the water all day through lack of breeze.

Being held ashore until 11:00am, the Lasers, Finns, Tornados, Stars, Ynglings and 470´s were sent to the water with hopes rising for a good afternoon of light wind racing.

After the majority of boats were towed to their course areas, located several nautical miles away from the yacht club, the wind was unfortunately not as strong as it appeared and a frustrating wait commenced.

With the 3-6 knot breeze swinging and playing with sailors, it was both a difficult time for race management, and an exhausting time for sailors as they waited for the wind to build.

The decision was made at approximately 4:00pm on the Laser full rig, Finn, Star, Yngling and Tornado courses that the wait had been long enough and the wind just was not going to deliver and so the tow/sail home commenced.

With a light breeze of 6 knots at 60 degrees, racing on the 470 course got racing under way at 4:40pm after a long wait on the water, but only one race was completed.

Elise Rechichi/Tessa Parkinson, the leading Australian 470 Womens team, continued to show the fine form they had on Day 1 of the regatta, winning race five to shoot to the top of the leader board, having dropped their OCS scored in race two. They now have a handy nine point lead. The current benchmark for the class, Frenchwomen Ingrid Petitjean/Nadege Douroux are not at this event.

Fellow Australians, Lauren Jeffries/Rike Ziegelmayer, can also be very pleased with their performance after finishing fourth across the line, taking their over all placing to 11th. Sabine Walter/Antje Struckat (GER) and Marcelien de Koning/Lobke Berkhout (NED) hold down second and third places respectively

Australian Mens 470 team, Matthew Belcher/Niche Behrens had a great race to finish second in their gold group for second overall, to close the gap to one point on the series leaders, Matias Buhler/Marcos Lamas (ARG) who placed 16th in their silver group, but could dismiss this score as the first drop came into play. Michael Anderson-Mitterling/David Hughes (USA) former 420 champions, are third overall.

Only one race held in each 470 class today, bringing the total to five races after three days of sailing.

The Laser Radial class also managed to set a course in the light winds and at 4.10pm, sailors got under way with a 7-8 knot breeze at 60 degrees. Not listing light wind sailing as one of her strengths, Australian sailor Krystal Weir struggled to keep pace with the head of the fleet and came home 18th in her group.

This drops her overall placing to a still respectable 12th in the very early stages of her international career and the event heads into the final day’s racing and she is still in close contact with sixth to 11th places.

Paige Railey (USA) continues her strong lead of the class with a seven point lead over
Karin Söderström (SWE) and 11 points to third placed Natalia Ivanova (RUS). All other class results remain as yesterday.

With just one days racing to go in the ‘Greatest Sailing Event in the World’ and often most competitive ISAF Grade 1 regatta for Olympic Classes, everyone is left praying for the continuing sunshine and warm weather to be replaced by the moderate breezes and good sailing conditions normally prevalent at Kiel.

Racing continues Saturday local time.

Provisional top five results:


Mens 470 – 5 races – 1 drop

1 ARG Matias Buhler/Marcos Lamas 5

2 AUS Mathew Belcher/Nick Behrens 6

3 USA Michael Anderson-Mitterling/David Hughes 9

4 NED Bart Peeters/Olivier Bakker 14

5 RUS Dimitri Berezkin/Alexander Zibin 19


Womens 470 – 5 races – 1 drop

1 AUS Elise Rechichi/Tessa Parkinson 4

2 GER Sabine Walter/Antje Struckat 13

3 NED Marcelien de Koning/Lobke Berkhout 20

4 AUT Sylvia Vogl/Carolina Flatscher 20

5 USA Amanda Clark/ Sarah Mergenthaler 24


Womens Laser Radial – 7 races – 1 drop

1 USA Paige Railey 13

2 SWE Karin Söderström 20

3 RUS Natalia Ivanova 24

4 LIT Gintare Volungeviciute 27

5 IRL Ciara Peelo 29

12 AUS Krystal Weir 47


Full results: http://www.kieler-woche.de/