Rio 2016 - Kiwi women sailors jump to escape Olympic Selectors' axe

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 18 Mar 2016 Two New Zealand sailors will head overseas on self-funded campaigns to gain selection in the New Zealand Olympic team in what is expected to be the final round of announcements.

Despite having qualified New Zealand in the first round of Olympic qualification in 2014 at the ISAF World Championships in Santander, Spain they were not named in the first round of nominations by NZ Olympic Committee last Monday.

The two are the 10th and 11th ranked sailors/countries in terms of the ISAF Qualification criteria for the 2016 Olympics, in the Laser Radial and Women's RS:X classes.

Women's single-handed sailor in the Laser Radial class, Sara Winther headed overseas Friday bound for Palma in Spain and the former Sailing World Cup event, the Princess Sofia Trophy. There she will come up against nine of the sailors who finished ahead of her in the Olympic Qualification where she finished 11th overall but 10th country in Olympic terms.

Of those who finished ahead of Winther, five have already been confirmed as Olympic nominations by their respective National Olympic Committees.

She will use the Princess Sofia regatta starting on March 25 as a warm-up for the Laser Radial Worlds in Mexico from April 12-20.

Winther will be hoping that her run of injures and bad luck which has marked her 2012 and 2016 Olympic campaigns will be at an end.

In the lead-up to the London Olympics, her coach Mark Orams suffered what proved to be a serious injury two months before the Olympics in a cycling accident, and Winther lost her momentum. At Palma, a year ago she tore a wrist cartilage throwing a lifejacket into her boat after a race. The injury took longer than expected to recover, and she was not selected for the 2015 Pre-Olympic regatta in Rio de Janeiro.

But even so in September 2015, Winther was ranked 7th in the ISAF rankings before sliding back to her current, still credible in the circumstances, 14th placing.

She started her comeback at the Laser Radial Worlds in Oman in November 2015, placing 22nd in the 100 boat final and showing flashes of form with two third placings – one in the Qualifying Round and the other in the Finals of the World Championship.

This Olympic campaign she has been without a dedicated coach, sometimes working with a Yachting NZ appointed coach/support boat at regattas. At at other regattas she has worked in with other better-resourced teams as sailing partners and for support.

She continues to work closely with former Laser Radial Masters World Champions, Mark Orams and Scott Leith in a mentoring capacity.

To fund this last leg of her 2016 Olympic campaign, Winther has been forced to sell her New Zealand boat and gear.

RS:X Sailor partners with Brazil
Polish-born RS:X sailor Natalia Kosinska will be taking a different tack in the final phase of her campaign to avoid being rebuffed by the Kiwi Olympic selectors for a second time.

She will team up with 2016 Brazilian Olympic nomination in the RS:X Patricia Freitas, for a training program in New Zealand before heading for the Sailing World Cup in Hyeres on April 18, for the regatta which begins on April 25, finishing on May 1 - just ahead of the expected May announcement from the NZ Olympic Committee on the recommendation of the Yachting NZ Olympic selectors.

The fleet at the Sailing World Cup Hyeres will be 40 strong and will contain 11 of the top 14 competitors/nations from the first round of Olympic qualification at Santander in 2014 - where Kosinska qualified New Zealand in 11th place (Brazil having a guaranteed place as host nation).

Of the top 14 countries in the Olympic entry list, 12 of their Olympic nominations will be racing in Hyeres - and it will be a quality Olympic preview. Only two countries in the top 14 have not nominated competitors for Brazil in the Women's RS:X being New Zealand and China. Only one other country has not nominated the competitor who qualified in 2014 in Santander - being Poland, who have nominated Malgorzata Bialeka in the place of Zofia Klepacka, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist.

Kosinski finished 5th in the 2013 European Championships, qualified NZ in the first round of Olympic qualification at Santander. But was not allowed by Yachting New Zealand to compete in the Olympic Test Event in August 2015. She placed 18th in the 2015 World Championships in Oman but was 11th country on the leaderboard. With minimal funding support from Yachting New Zealand, she placed 16th in the 2016 World Championships in Israel, and 13th country.

However that placing must be seen in the context that she was one overall place behind 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist, Blanca Manchon (ESP) and both were scored BFD in the third race of the Final Series, making a significant impact on their chances of a top ten finish in the 58 strong fleet, where only one discard race was allowed.

JP Tobin joins the coaching ranks
In a third New Zealand Olympic qualified event, Men's RS:X Windsurfer, JP Tobin has chosen the path of self-exile out of frustration dealing with Yachting New Zealand. Tobin placed seventh in the 2012 Olympic Regatta, displacing 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Tom Ashley for the Kiwi nomination.

Tobin placed 16th in the 2014 ISAF Worlds and Olympic Qualification in Santander and was 10th country of the 18 countries who qualified at the first Olympic Qualifier.

Yachting New Zealand only sent entries in seven of the ten events at the Olympic Test Regatta in 2015, in Rio de Janeiro, despite being entitled to enter one competitor in each class, regardless of Olympic Qualification status. Both Great Britain and France, the other two countries to qualify in ten events sent full teams, but not New Zealand. The team that was sent contained the five crews named on Monday, plus Josh Junior in the Finn and Andy Maloney in the Men's Laser.

Now JP Tobin has joined the New Zealand coaching exodus and will be coaching Brazilian Women's windsurfer, Patricia Freitas. 'Torben Grael is now my boss', he told Sail-World on Friday. The winner of five Olympic medals is now Director of the Brazilian sailing team - his daughter Martine will represent Brazil in the Women's 49er FX skiff.

Tobin will join 2000 Bronze medalist Aaron MacIntosh (NZL) who is coaching the 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist in the RS:X, Dorian van Rijsselberghe (NED), 2008 Gold Medalist Tom Ashley is coaching Aichen Wang (CHN) who finished one place behind Tobin in the 2014 World Championships and won the 2015 Olympic Test event in Rio de Janeiro less than a year later. Double Olympic representative, Dan Slater (NZL) is back working with the Dutch team, having coached both the 2014 World Champions to wins at the Olympic Qualifier in Santander.

From April 2, Natalia Kosinska will be training partner for Patricia Freitas (Brazil) and will be working up off Takapuna Beach under the keen eye of 2016 Olympic contender, now coach, JP Tobin before heading for the Sailing World Cup, Hyeres later in April