Silver and Bronze for NZL at Holland Regatta

by Sail-World NZL + RYA+ YNZ on 29 May 2006 Yachting NZ’s 2006 Olympic Squad members, Hamish Pepper and Jo Aleh won silver and bronze medals at Holland Regatta.

Sailing in the Star class with Australian David Chiles, Pepper finished third in the medal race to hold onto his second place going into the final day. Jo Aleh performed well on the final day, taking second place in the medal race, and finished just two points behind the silver medallist from GBR.

In the other Medal races, Dan Slater finished sixth after being in contact early in the piece, to remain in seventh place overall. In the laser class Andrew Murdoch finished second to improve to fifth in the final standings.

The Olympic class action in Medemblik, Netherlands concluded overnight on Sunday, New Zealand time with a final medal race for the top ten qualifiers in each class. Pepper and Aleh made it to the podium while Andrew Murdoch placed 5th in the Laser and Dan Slater finished 7th in the Finn.

Hamish Pepper sailing with David Giles as crew, had five top three finishes in the seven Star class races during Holland Regatta. Pepper launched his campaign in the highly competitive Star class at the outset of this European season and has finished in the top ten in all three ISAF graded events he has attended this year, and was named in the YNZ Olympic Squad last month.

This second place is his best result in the Star to date beating Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada of Brazil by a one point margin. Scheidt has also made the switch into the Star from the Laser in which he and Pepper both competed in Athens, the Brazilian winning Olympic Gold.

'We started the regatta well with a win and were always amongst the top 6 boats in all races,' says Pepper. 'We seemed to have pretty good speed upwind but still had to work hard on our downwind performance to match Rohart and others.'

'Today was also another chance to race under the new regatta format. ISAF have introduced a medal race that counts for double points. This final 20-30 minute race is extremely stressful, as all your good work during the regatta could come down to a race that is run close to the shore in extremely shifty conditions dedicated to the press. Today worked out well for us and we held on for 2nd, but it could have easily worked against us in the shifty conditions. It certainly keeps ones chances alive.'

Rohart and Rambeau of France took the top spot in the Star at Holland Regatta with a total fleet of 17 boats from 11 countries.

The bronze medal is a solid result for YNZ Olympic Squad sailor Aleh who by her own admission, still has room for improvement. Early on in the regatta she had two race wins and went into the final double-points medal race in 4th place.

'I had some very up and down results over the past two days, ranging from 2 to 32. The 32 was just terrible. I would look behind me and be like… where did all the boats go?' said Aleh just prior to the final race. 'Although this regatta has been pretty up and down for everyone… Everyone’s scores are really high. It shows just how random this regatta has been.'

With a second place in the medal race where points are doubled Aleh claimed a podium spot and concluded the regatta a narrow two points behind silver medalist Penny Clark (GBR). Evi van Avker (BEL) won the Laser Radial class which had 59 competitors.

Andrew Murdoch in the Laser is also back up in the top five after a 4th at the recent ISAF Grade 1 in Hyeres, France and last night’s 5th at Holland Regatta 2006. Australian sailor Tom Slingsby continued his winning form taking out the Laser class in both Hyeres and again in Holland. 117 Laser sailors where competing in Medemblik.

The next combined Olympic class regatta of the European season is Kiel Week in Germany which starts on 17 June. Before that both the Laser Radial and the RS:X sailors have their European Championship regattas in Italy and Turkey respectively.

New Zealand’s Final Results

Star
Hamish Pepper & David Giles– 2nd

Laser Radial
Jo Aleh – 3rd
Sara Winther – 24th

Laser
Andrew Murdoch – 5th
David Weaver – 20th
Mathew Blakey – 32nd
Michael Bullot – 33rd

Finn
Dan Slater – 7th

470 Men
Stephen Keen & Philip Keen – 13th
Geoffrey Woolley & Mark Overington – 19th

Yngling
Sharon Ferris, Raynor Smeal & Ashley Holtum – 14th

Women’s RS:X
Steffanie Williams – 26th

49er
Peter Graham & Rory Godman – 29th

Report from Skamdia GBR Olympic Team:

Great Britain scooped the overall prize for the best nation's performance in Medemblik, with a Gold medal for board sailer, Nick Dempsey. As well as the Gold medal, the Skandia GBR Olympic team won four silvers and two bronzes from the eleven contested Olympic classesGreat Britain scooped the overall prize for the best nation's performance in Medemblik, with a Gold medal for board sailer, Nick Dempsey gold as well as four silvers and two bronzes from the eleven contested Olympic classes

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 agai