Semaine Olympique Française at La Rochelle - Day 2
by Aurélia Filho 8 Oct 2015 08:11 AEDT
5-10 October 2015
This Wednesday, for day two of the Semaine Olympique Française at La Rochelle, the sailors were met with a wind of 15-18knots, slightly unstable, with the same swells as yesterday. The set of the 8 Olympic classes where able to position themselves on their designated sailing areas where the races where played out at a lightning speed, stepping the intensity up a notch.
RS:X Men / RS:X Women
The men raced 3 rounds shaking around the provisional ranking. France is still leading the pack with Igor de L'Hermite performing a solid day with 6th-3rd-3rd. The Dutch Matthijs Van Hoff is settling in 2nd place of the provisional ranking after winning the 2 first rounds. Third place goes to the French Trevor Caraes currently.
In the women's class, the top places go to the tricolours with a temporary 100% French podium. Delphine Jariel steers in in front of Eugénie Ricard in second position and Hélène Noesmoen in 3rd.
Eugénie Ricard: "It went well for me on my only day of the regatta. We are all preparing for the World Championship in Oman, so the idea for this SOF is to put ourselves in regatta condition, and to really prep our starts. We did 3 today, so it was a good, usual for this aim! I'm pulling out of the competition tonight, as I am going back home tomorrow in Marseille, before flying to Oman. I am feeling good physically, and I will have a whole week on-site to take possession of the sailing area and get used to the place!"
Nacra 17
The only mixed class entered the competition today with 4 rounds in a sustained wind. The triple World Champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou justified their status as hot favourites, taking the lead with two victories. Behind then another French duo Moana Vaireux and Manon Audinet achieved a very nice first day (5th - 1st - 2nd - 3rd). Lastly, the Greeks Sofia Bekatorou an Trigkonis Konstantinos complete the podium.
In the facts of this day, let's point out the very nice entry in this series of two-time Olympic medallist Iker Martinez, with his compatriot Julia Rita, who won the first race of the day. They are actually on the 5th position of the temporary ranking.
Moana Vaireaux, with Manon Audinet (FRA): "Today's conditions where fantastic, we had a nice squall at the beginning, then the weather was good again. The wind wasn't as unstable as expected, with an average of 13 knots. We could play on the sailing zone as we wished, and we could concentrate on our line of work. We ran four successful rounds. We were worried about the announced swells but the sea was just choppy; ideal conditions for us, we were able to have fun and sail fast."
Finn
In the Finn class the Italian Poggi Giorgio stands down to second place, for the Swedish Max Salminen scored a perfect day, winning the 3 rounds. Italian competitor Voltoni Enrico keeps his 3rd temporary position.
Max Salminen (SWE): "Today was a perfect scenario for me, I won the 3 races. I was in a good position yesterday but with today's win I'm now in lead position. For me, the aim is always to win when I take part in a competition, especially as I am fully in preparation for our World Championship in New Zealand next month. Sailing here is actually a good way for me to prepare as we might have the same wind conditions there."
Laser / Laser Radial
In the Laser Standard class, there is no change in the ranking with Jean-Baptiste Bernaz still in first position with excellent scores during the day (3rd – 1st – 1st). The Russian Sergey Kommissarov occupies 2nd place followed by the Italian Alessio Spadoni.
In the Laser Radial series, and after 3 rounds today, the Danish Anne-Marie Rindom holds the top of the ranking, winning the last two rounds. On the second place of the podium, local Mathilde De Kerangat enters the top of the ranking by winning the first race of this day. And in third place, the finish Tuule Tenkanen closes the podium.
Anne-Marie Rindom (DAN): "It was a great day, I finished 2nd on the first round, and winning the two next ones! I really like the conditions here. We are 2000km south of Denmark, so obviously it's so much warmer here and the conditions are far more cosy. Yesterday was quite challenging for me with the very strong conditions we had. Today was calmer, but the wind was perfect with big waves still, but I was feeling good. It's my first time on these sailing grounds and I have to say it's a fantastic place to train for our World Championship coming up beginning of November in Oman. It's a very important deadline for us, as the level between us girls in Denmark is high and this is one of the last meetings for the Olympic selection."
49er / 49er FX
The 49ers & 49ers FX were the last classes to run their rounds today. They managed 4 races under the sun which finally showed up. On the Men's side, the French Team shot off with the duo Julie d'Ortoli – celebrating his 32nd birthday today – and Noé Delpech, who took the first place today (1st – 2nd – 9th – 2nd). The French Emmanuel Dyen and Stéphane Christidis, 4th on the last Test Event of Rio this summer, are in 2nd place. The Italians, Ruggero Tita and Pietro Zuchetti, end the podium for today.
Julien d'Ortoli (FRA): "It was great, it was my birthday, and we are on top this evening! That's a great birthday gift. We had perfect conditions with this 12 to 15 knots wind. We really enjoyed ourselves sailing today. We are to train, in sight of the World's Championship end of November in Buenos Aires, but we really are committed to give the best performance here."
Longtze program for tomorrow
This year, the Semaine Olympique Française welcomes for the first time a invited class with the Longtze World Event, from October 8 till October 11. The teams will have their training run tomorrow before starting their competition Friday.
All results are available at sof.ffvoile.com/sof2015gbr