Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mapfre - Three Aussie crews top the leader board

by Craig Heydon on 6 Apr 2012 After day four of racing at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta, Australian crews sit at the top of the leader board in three classes.

The 470 women’s crew of Elise Rechichi and Belinda Stowell, 470 men’s pair Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page, and Laser sailor Tom Burton are all currently in first position, while in the Women’s Match Racing competition Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty have qualified for the semi-finals.

Rechichi and Stowell started the day in third before being one of 14 crews to be black flagged at the start of the opening race. The pair bounced back well to finish second in race two, giving them a one point lead over the second placed French crew of Emmanuelle Rol and Helene Defrance.

'It’s pretty unusual to get a black flag and then come home at the end of the day leading the regatta,' said Stowell. 'The black flag was a bit disappointing but we regrouped well, got back on our game and picked up a second.

'Four out of the top five crews were black flagged and excluded at the start of the opening race so I think what it did was make the points really close and bunch everybody up,' she said. 'We’ve got a one point lead with two more fleet races and the medal race to go so there is still plenty of work to do.'

In the 470 men’s Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page sailed consistently well on Thursday to move from their overnight second to first following an eighth and a sixth.

'It was a bit like groundhog day again, five to seven knots and choppy,' said Page. 'My legs are certainly getting stronger from crouching down in the boat all day! We did it a little tough at times today but managed to hang in and ground it out when it mattered.

'It’s a great school here racing in these conditions which aren’t natural for us,' he said. 'We’re hoping for a bit more breeze tomorrow, maybe up to 10 to 15 knots so I’ll get to finally stretch the legs out.'

The reigning World Champions and current world number ones have a seven point lead over second with fellow Australians Sam Kivell and Will Ryan two points further back in third.

Under the watchful eye of coach Victor Kovalenko the two crews have sailed exceptionally well in the light and tricky conditions with Kivell and Ryan finishing with a 10th and a second to move up from sixth overall.

'We were actually second in the first race but found ourselves a little out of phase which cost us in the end,' said Ryan. 'We had some more super tricky conditions and the racing is tough in the gold fleet with plenty of boats keen to take your spot but we managed to do a better job of it in the second race and are very happy to be doing well overall.

'I guess now there is a bit of pressure to focus on the medal race but so far in this event it’s shown that anything can happen and there have been some real mixed results,' he said. 'But tomorrow’s just another day with two more races and hopefully we'll keep doing what we've been doing, it's been reassuring though to come back to racing after a little while and see that our training efforts have paid off.'

Tom Burton has maintained his first position in the Laser fleet, the Sydney based sailor has a two point gap to British pair Paul Goodison and Nick Thompson.

Burton opened the day with a 21st before fighting back with a third, with fellow Australian Tom Slingsby sixth following a 15th and a 12th.

Jared West is 38th, ahead of Ashley Brunning in 41st and Ryan Palk in 42nd.

Australia’s Women’s Match Racers, Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty, have won their way through to a semifinal showdown with current World Champion, American Anna Tunnicliffe.

'We started the day with the two final gold round robin races which we lost, leaving us sixth overall going into the quarterfinals,' said Curtis. 'We were paired up against the third placed Dutch crew, skippered by Mandy Mulder, and we managed to beat them three wins to one.

'We had much better speed today in the choppy conditions and managed to take the lessons that we learnt from the gold fleet racing and put our improvements into practice this afternoon,' she said. 'Tomorrow we’re racing Anna Tunnicliffe in the semifinal and with more wind forecast we’re excited for some high quality racing.'

The Australian trio has now made it back-to-back ISAF Sailing World Cup semifinal appearances after winning Silver in Miami in January.

Krystal Weir continues to work her way up the Laser Radial standings, ending day four sixth overall. Weir had a tough opening race, finishing 30th, but quickly put that result behind her, winning race two to leave her 16 points off the podium with plenty of racing still to come, while fellow Laser Radial sailor Caitlin Elks is in 40th.

Brendan Casey is 21st in the Finn fleet after being black flagged and excluded from race one, before crossing the line 39th in race two.

Racing continues in Palma on Friday with the regatta set to conclude on Saturday with the final medal races.

Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mapfre website