ISAF SWC Hyeres - Nacra Silver medal debutantes continue to improve

by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World team on 23 Apr 2014

Bundock and Curtis, Nacra 17 Thom Touw http://www.thomtouw.com

The debut event for the newest Olympic class boat, the mixed multihull Nacra 17 was the 2013 ISAF Sailing World Cup in Mallorca, when a 34 boat primarily European fleet sailed in the event.

72 boats in Mallorca 2014, now everyone who has any Rio aspirations is amongst the 77 boats here in Hyeres split into two fleets for qualifying rounds.

Darren Bundock - ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres 2014 © SW

Late into the Rio campaign have been two Australians with form - Dual Olympic Silver medallist and three times Olympian, Darren Bundock, who will be 45 years old come 2016, who has won an amazing 14 Worlds multihull championships going back to 1998, including seven Tornado World titles… alongside his crew, Nina Curtis, who was midboat in the 2012 Australian Women’s Match Racing Olympic Silver medal winning team.

The question is will experience count in this new class ahead of youth and strength.

Bundy thinks so... ‘the Nacra 17 is smaller than the previous Olympic multihull, the Tornado, and the loads are much lower so I can helm and that is where experience really counts. This is my fourth Olympic campaign and I know how to put it all together at the right moment, while a first Olympics for anyone is a huge learning curve, so we think we will be there when it counts.

The Nacra 17 debutantes Bundock with Curtis won their first up Nacra 17 regatta in Melbourne in December 2013 and then backed up in Miami with a sixth in a chartered boat, then followed that with a third in Palma and they have emerged from the five race qualifiers with a worst result fourth.

2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres - GBR Ben Saxton/Hanna Diamand ( Nacra 17) © Thom Touw http://www.thomtouw.com

Overall Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond (GBR) now lead the regatta with two bullets today and a drop of five.

Second is yesterday’s series leader Billy Besson and Marie Riou (FRA), who today sailed a 1.5 with a drop of 19 yesterday , while the Australian duo Bundock and Curtis with a 2,1 and a drop of 4 are just a two points off the lead.
This afternoon Bundy was as relaxed as ever.

‘In Palma we came through in the heavier conditions and the very light stuff. We struggled in medium conditions and that’s what we have been working on since we got here to Hyeres and I think we have ticked a few boxes and so far so good in the medium stuff like.

‘Yesterday we had a little short sharp chop, 12 knots in the first race, 17 knots in second.

‘We had good pace and the potential to nose dive was high but we came thru OK, it was nice to win the first race yesterday and the last race today.

'A very pleasing day for us on day two overall... The wind was out of the east today. Still quite choppy but it was a little bit flatter today.

Nina Curtis - ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres 2014 © SW

'We probably started in about 15 knots of breeze and the breeze slowly dropped out through the day. We probably finished in just under 12 knots. Great placing for us to start off with a three and a two in the second race and won the last race.

‘We continually improved. We are happy with our speed but we are still a little bit sloppy in manoeuvres. The old guy down the back is still struggling a little bit in the gybes and the tacks but besides that very pleasing.’

Nina, ‘I said to Bundy going into the day it would be cool if we could still be dropping our fourth at the end of the day and we managed to pull that off which is pretty cool

‘We are looking forward to tomorrow as the fleet divides up into Gold and Silver fleets so looking forward to some Gold fleet racing.’

Bundy concluded, ‘We saw in Palma by the end of the regatta everyone was really desperate for their drop races so if you can start the first half of the regatta without using your drop race I think you will be in good shape at the end.

‘Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond are going well and we are look forward to sailing against them every race now we are all in the Gold fleet and Billy and Marie are obviously sailing the boat really well at the moment.

‘You can see that they have put the time in and they won the World’s last year and I think since then it has given them more motivation and they have been training hard during the winter. Their crew work looks good and sailing the boat fast. Billy that have been around for years, he came onto the scene in 2001.’

Nacra 17, Billy Besson and Marie Riou - 2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres, Day 1 © Yvan Zedda http://www.zedda.com.

‘Billy has got the best of both worlds at the moment. He has got time on the boats and he has got experience with fleets and big regattas.

‘So for us, we just need more time in the boat and we seem to be making fair progress.'

‘Right now there is still plenty of time for us to make gains in the Nacra 17.

‘I started sailing Tornado in 1991 and sailing basically right through to 2008. Given that time in the boat, we knew it inside out, so there is still an enormous amount to learn with the Nacra 17.

‘So I am hoping that people with long experience in multihulls and big high pressure events should continue to make gains over the next two and a half years.’

Nacra 17 – Overall results

Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	Race						Points
Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Net
1	GBR	GBR60	Ben Saxton Hannah Diamond	1	4	2	(5)	1	1	14.00	9.00
2	FRA	FRA 1	Billy Besson Marie Riou	2	1	1	(19)	1	5	29.00	10.00
3	AUS	AUS64	Darren Bundock Nina Curtis	1	(4)	4	3	2	1	15.00	11.00
4	SUI	SUI41	Matías Bühler Nathalie Brugger	3	2	(10)	1	7	2	25.00	15.00
5	FRA	FRA65	Moana Vaireaux Manon Audinet	(7)	3	5	1	3	3	22.00	15.00
6	AUT	AUT35	Thomas Zajac Tanja Chiara Frank	4	5	1	6	(9)	2	27.00	18.00
7	GBR	GBR58	Pippa Wilson John Gimson	7	1	2	3	6	(16)	35.00	19.00
8	ITA	ITA200	Vittorio Bissaro Silvia Sicouri	5	(7)	7	2	3	6	30.00	23.00
9	GBR	GBR56	Lucy Macgregor Andrew Walsh	(14)	2	4	8	5	4	37.00	23.00
10	NED	NED213	Renee Groeneveld Steven Krol	4	6	6	(10)	4	4	34.00	24.00
11	FRA	FRA77	Franck Cammas Sophie de Turckheim	3	9	8	4	2	(28)	54.00	26.00
12	AUS	AUS158	Euan McNicol Lucinda Whitty	2	6	3	8	8	(15)	42.00	27.00
13	AUS	AUS133	Jason Waterhouse Lisa Darmanin	(13)	8	3	2	8	12	46.00	33.00
14	ARG	ARG226	Santiago Lange Cecilia Carranza Saroli	12	(14)	7	4	7	8	52.00	38.00
15	DEN	DEN17	Allan Norregaard Line Just Emsvang	9	3	(13)	12	10	5	52.00	39.00
16	NED	NED214	Mandy Mulder Coen de Koning	5	5	(40) DNF	5	4	20	79.00	39.00
17	USA	USA31	Sarah Newberry John Casey	10	10	9	6	(18)	10	63.00	45.00
18	FRA	FRA78	Flora Laugier Valentin Bellet	9	15	9	7	6	(21)	67.00	46.00
19	NZL	NZL222	Gemma Jones Jason Saunders	(14)	8	5	13	14	7	61.00	47.00
20	ITA	ITA219	Federica Salvà Francesco Bianchi	6	14	(19)	7	9	11	66.00	47.00
21	FRA	FRA199	Ingrid Petitjean Olivier Backes	6	7	(15)	12	13	10	63.00	48.00
22	DEN	DEN82	Lin Ea Cenholt Christiansen Anders Thomsen	11	10	13	10	(15)	6	65.00	50.00
23	ITA	ITA32	Vincenzo Sorrentino Giorgia Catarci	16	11	(18)	15	5	7	72.00	54.00
24	ITA	ITA87	Gabrio Zandonã Giulia Zappacosta	8	(21)	6	9	13	20	77.00	56.00
25	ARG	ARG149	Esteban Blando Eugenia Bosco	8	16	(19)	14	16	3	76.00	57.00
26	AUS	AUS67	Pip Pietromonaco James Wierzbowski	13	9	8	(20)	19	8	77.00	57.00
27	AUS	AUS217	Evan Walker Annalise Gilbert	10	22	12	(29)	12	9	94.00	65.00
28	ITA	ITA209	Lorenzo Bressani Giovanna Micol	15	15	14	13	11	(22)	90.00	68.00
29	FRA	FRA63	Audrey Ogereau Antoine Rucard	17	19	10	14	10	(40) DNF	110.00	70.00
30	ARU	ARU212	Nicole van der Velden Thijs Visser	19	12	11	11	(24)	19	96.00	72.00
31	GRE	GRE210	Sofia Bekatorou Konstantinos Trigonis	16	11	23	(34)	12	13	109.00	75.00
32	CAN	CAN100	Luke Ramsay Nikola Girke	18	(40) UFD	14	9	18	17	116.00	76.00
33	ITA	ITA126	Francesco Porro Caterina Marianna Banti	12	13	12	(34)	23	16	110.00	76.00
34	GBR	GBR182	Tom Phipps Zennor Pascoe	19	16	(20)	18	15	9	97.00	77.00
35	SWE	SWE12	Tim Shuwalow Celine van Dooren	11	17	(27)	18	16	15	104.00	77.00
36	GER	GER142	Paul Kohlhoff Carolina Werner	(22)	18	11	19	14	18	102.00	80.00
37	ARG	ARG239	Lucas Gonzalez Smith Moira Gonzalez Smith	15	13	14 RDG	16	22	(23)	103.00	80.00
38	RUS	RUS227	Maxim Semenov Alina Shchetinkina	17	(30)	16	11	24	13	111.00	81.00
39	USA	USA169	Sarah Streater Matthew Whitehead	(21)	18	18	17	19	11	104.00	83.00
40	GBR	GBR120	Rupert White Nicola Boniface	(22)	20	17	16	21	12	108.00	86.00
41	ITA	ITA90	Ferdinando Trambaiolo Carlotta Gianni	24	(27)	16	23	17	14	121.00	94.00
42	URU	URU147	Pablo Defazio Abella Mariana Foglia	20	19	15	(24)	20	23	121.00	97.00
43	ITA	ITA166	Francesco Sabatini Marcella Mamusa	24	12	(32)	20	25	18	131.00	99.00
44	RUS	RUS22	Sergey Dzhienbaev Daria Ivanova	20	(40) RET	29	22	11	19	141.00	101.00
45	BRA	BRA230	Clinio Marcelino de Freitas Neto Claudia Swan de Freitas	23	20	(26)	15	26	22	132.00	106.00
46	GER	GER61	Finn Heeg Merle Baars	27	26	(34)	21	22	14	144.00	110.00
47	FRA	FRA72	Charles Hainneville Alizée Desbordes	25	(34)	17	17	25	26	144.00	110.00
48	GER	GER92	Jakob Lenz Susann Brechlin	25	31	(32)	22	17	21	148.00	116.00
49	ITA	ITA89	David Bondì Cristina Celli	(40) DNF	24	20	21	21	30	156.00	116.00
50	ESP	ESP151	Sven Stadel Sara Lujan Mora	26	25	24	(31)	27	17	150.00	119.00
51	VEN	VEN168	Yamil Saba Andrea Saba	23	25	22	(28)	26	27	151.00	123.00
52	BRA	BRA117	Joao Siemsen Bulhoes Juliana Poncioni Mota	21	(40) DNF	21	29	23	31	165.00	125.00
53	GBR	GBR152	Alicia Clifford Tom Bruton	26	21	23.5 RDG	25	(32)	30	157.50	125.50
54	DEN	DEN80	Anne-Line Lyngsø Thomsen Søren Kristensen	18	26	23	32	27	(40) UFD	166.00	126.00
55	FRA	FRA83	Vincent Domand Fanny Merelle	36	23	22	24	(40) UFD	24	169.00	129.00
56	SWE	SWE54	Sandra Sandqvist Kalle Torlén	30	17	21	23	(40) DNF	40 DNC	171.00	131.00
57	NZL	NZL229	Rachel Basevi Tomer Simhony	28	(30)	27	26	29	25	165.00	135.00
58	BEL	BEL161	Morgan Good Charlotte Heijstek	(31)	24	28	31	28	28	170.00	139.00
59	GER	GER150	Thomas Haupt Johanna Hector	32	27	(33)	27	30	24	173.00	140.00
60	GER	GER45	Eckart Kaphengst Tine-Marie Kaphengst	(34)	33	26	30	29	25	177.00	143.00
61	USA	USA38	Katelyn Flood Keenan Madewell	31	23	(40) DNF	26	35	29	184.00	144.00
62	NZL	NZL159	Geoffrey Woolley Vicky Francis	32	(37)	24	25	34	31	183.00	146.00
63	RUS	RUS13	Anastasiya Kruchkova Viatcheslav Sheludyakov	27	32	34	28	(36)	26	183.00	147.00
64	FRA	FRA203	Régis Bouyer Milena Schoenahl	29	29	(40) UFD	27	33	29	187.00	147.00
65	NOR	NOR196	Nicholas Fadler Martinsen Martine Steller Mortensen	33	28	25	35	31	(40) UFD	192.00	152.00
66	GBR	GBR162	Madeleine Anderson Finbar Anderson	33	31	25	33	31	(40) UFD	193.00	153.00
67	ESP	ESP207	Ascension Roca De Togores Vernon Cerdan Ming	28	28	29	(40) DNF	35	33	193.00	153.00
68	RUS	RUS 97	Alena Pankratova Yury Artemiev	(34)	33	30	32	28	33	190.00	156.00
69	DEN	DEN187	Anette Viborg Andreasen Nicolaj Bjørnholt	(40) DNF	40 DNC	40 DNC	33	20	27	200.00	160.00
70	GER	GER197	Charlotte Müller Thomas Mueller	(36)	35	30	30	32	34	197.00	161.00
71	HUN	HUN218	Flora Virag Balázs Gecse	(40) DNF	32	33	36	30	32	203.00	163.00
72	ITA	ITA 52	Elena Trevisan Paolo Trevisan	(49) DPI	35	31	35	33	32	215.00	166.00
73	ITA	ITA106	Pier Paolo Tocchio Viola Monaci	29	22	(40) DNF	40 DNF	40 DNC	40 DNC	211.00	171.00
74	GER	GER221	Katrin Brunner Markus Enzensperger	37	36	31	(40) DNF	34	34	212.00	172.00
75	FRA	FRA79	Michel Hardy Marie Duvignac	35	34	28	(40) RET	40 DNC	40 DNC	217.00	177.00
76	ITA	ITA165	Matteo Ferraglia Germana Tognella	30	29	(40) DNF	40 DNF	40 DNF	40 DNF	219.00	179.00
77	MON	MON7	Blandine Medecin Rodelato Jean Rodelato	35	36	(40) DNF	37	37	35	220.00	180.00