London Olympics 2012 - Rockin’ and rollin’ Laser style
by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 31 Jul 2012
Tom Slingsby (AUS) racing on day 2 of the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, which took place in June of 2011.
onEdition
http://www.onEdition.com
Forty-nine Lasers answered their first official starting guns in the 2012 Olympics, racing on the Weymouth Bay South course. Conditions steadily built over the course of both races, topping out somewhere around 15 or 16 knots, testing sailor’s medium-air-and-small-wave skills.
The usual suspects were at the top of the fleet. Australian Tom Slingsby, the current (and five-time, total) Laser World Champion and the gold-medal favorite, saw a dramatic turn of fortunes compared to his first day of racing in the 2008 Games in Qingdao, China. Guatemalan Juan Ignacion Maegli Aguero took the first bullet fired in the Laser Class, followed 27 seconds later by Slingsby; France’s Jean Baptiste Bernaz completed the top three. Great Britain’s Paul 'Goody' Goodison—who took Gold in the 2008 Games—finished in tenth place.
Race Two saw Slingsby’s fortunes improve, as the confident Australian took the bullet, beating out Brazil’s Bruno Fontes and Uruguay’s Alejandro Foglia Costa, who finished second and third, respectively. Goodison posted a 23, dropping him down to 17th, overall, while Slingsby’s performance slingshot him to the pole position after Day One. 'A bit different to my start four years ago,' reported a happy Slingsby. 'I am really happy—I got away well and a great day.'
As for the conditions, the super-fast Australian was more than prepared. 'I have done five regattas here in similar conditions,' said Slingsby. 'I knew that my speed would be fine and I [thought] I knew what the wind was going to do a bit and I knew what the tide was doing so I knew there weren’t too many crazy variables out there. I knew if I started well and got in my own rhythm I would be fine and I had two good races using that technique.'
Interestingly, today marked a complete flip-flop from the 2008 Games, which proved to be golden for the Brit and disastrous for the man from Down Under. Four years later, it appears that this will be Slingsby’s Olympiad, at least based on Day One’s performance. When queried in the mixed-media zone (where sailors can talk to the media once their boats have been pulled out of the water) afterwards, Slingsby couldn’t remember ever not winning a regatta after posting a strong results on Day One. Oddly, Goodison was 'unavailable' to comment in the mixed zone.
For his part, Slingsby was sympathetic to his fellow competitor’s first-day woes. 'I was next to him in the first race and I see him there and I am always going to push pretty hard. I think I am always going 100% but maybe every now and then you [put out] that little one or two percent if you have got someone you really want to beat next to you. Goody is like everyone else. [He] had a tough day today but he generally has tough first days and he bounces back really well. He will be there and I have just to keep in my low scores, but I’m sure I will see him come the medal race.'
The Laser Class returns to the racecourse tomorrow, with their medal race taking place next Monday (August 6), so stay tuned for more, as it becomes known.
Laser - Men - Overall Results
Legend
|
( ) - Excluded Score
|
DPI - Discretionary penalty imposed
|
BFD - Black flag, disqualification under rule 30.3
|
DSQ - Disqualification
|
DGM - Disqualification under rule 69.1(b)(2); not excludable
|
OCS - On the course side of the starting line
|
DNC - Did not start; did not come to starting area
|
RAF - Retired after finishing
|
DNE - Disqualification (other than DGM) not excludable under rule 89.3(b)
|
RDG - Redress given
|
DNF - Did not finish
|
SCP - Took a scoring penalty under rule 44.3
|
DNS - Did not start (other than DNC and OCS)
|
ZFP - 20% penalty under rule 30.2
|
Updated: Monday 30 July 2012, 20:05:38 GMT
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/100348