Sarah Blanck finishes fast at Princess Sofia

by Di Pearson on 10 Apr 2004 The Princess Sofia regatta finished overnight in Palma, Mallorca, Sarah Blank headlining the Aussies, staging a comeback to finish second overall in the Europe class.

Blanck, who hails from Victoria, had only two let-downs during her series – a 20th in Race 1 and a 30th to finish the series, otherwise, her results were all top tens including two wins and a second place. She finished the series on 52 points, 22 behind Siren Sundby (NOR) and six in front of Meg Gaillard (USA).

This is a great result for the former World title holder, boding well for her first Olympic Games in Athens.

The rest of the Australian team also picked up the pace, except for Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page in the 470 Mens. The pair had mixed results that went from a win to a worst result of 20th with a DNC thrown in for good measure to finish 12th with 102 points.

Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield (GBR) won the Mens – Great Britain look like once again fielding a hard to beat team for the Olympics later this year.

The Womens 470 crew, Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell, however, lifted when they needed to finish fourth, managing two wins – Races 10 and 11, to add to their win in Race 2.

Stowell reported, ‘we had an up and down regatta – but we had a great last day, we won two races to finish fourth overall. We were disqualified over a measurement error in Race 8 and it cost us a second place, but overall, we are happy with our fourth place and looking forward to our next regatta.’

The 470 Womens was dominated by Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa (GRE), who finished first with 47 points. They won the class without having won a single race and only placing second once, but they were consistently in a top five position, which always pays off.

In the Finn class, Anthony Nossiter also came to life towards the end to finish 17th overall; a great result considering where he was placed until the final day. ‘Nocka’ obviously got his eye in, 8-5-8 were his final three results after some disastrous placings including a 36th and 42nd.

Ben Ainslie (GBR) was the overwhelming winner in the class; he won seven of the nine races he sailed, not needing to compete in the final race, to finish on 24 points.

This man, who will take some beating at the Olympic Games, is the Ian Thorpe of sailing, his amazing win record includes:

2004 - Finn Gold Cup

2003 - Finn - 2003 ISAF World Championships; Saronikos Gulf Regatta; European Championship; SPA Regatta

2002 - Athens 2002 Regatta (Test Event); Finn Gold Cup; Finn European Championship;

2000 – Laser - 2000 Olympic Regatta (Gold medal); Laser European Championship; National NZ Laser Championships; Sail Auckland, Royal Sun Alliance.

In the Tornado, Darren Bundock and John Forbes finished sixth overall, a BFD and OCS putting paid to a top three result. Bundy and Gonzo will this week defend their Tornado World title at this same venue. Should they be successful, they will not only go down in history as one of Australia’s most successful sailing partnerships, but Forbes will hold a record for World titles in sailing.

John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree (USA), the Olympic reps from Sydney 2000 cleanly won the regatta from Fernando Echavarri and Christophe Espagnon (ESP).

Our Yngling crew, skippered by Nicky Bethwaite, also finished their regatta better, with a 15th overall on 156 points, Bethwaite saying, ‘we were guillotined, but we can and will improve. We look forward to our next event. It is tough racing at this level.’

However, they have some work to do to be competitive with the top players. The winners, the Dutch team skippered by Annelies Thies, finished on 55 points, Alesah Thorpe’s Kiwi team were second placed with 61 and Germany’s Kristin Wagner crew third with 69.

The final day of competition was sailed in excellent conditions, with around 13 knots in the Bay.

Results:

Yngling

1 NED Annelies Thies/Annemieke Bes/Petronella de Jong 55

2 NZL Alesha Thorpe/Karen Lambert/Michelle Vinsen
61

3 GER Kristin Wagner/Anna Hoell/Veronika Lochbrunner 69

15 AUS Nicola Bethwaite/Karyn Gojnich/Kristen Kosmala 156

Tornado

1 USA John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree 37

2 ESP Fernando Echavarri/Anton Paz 49

3 FRA Yann Guichard/Christophe Espagnon 85

6 AUS Darren Bundock/John Forbes 102

Finn

1 GBR Ben Ainslie 24

2 CRO Marin Misura 30

3 POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz 61

17 AUS Anthony Nossiter 167

470 Men

1 GBR Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield 77

2 SWE Johan Molund/Martin Andersson 79

3 ARG Javier Conte/Juan de la Fuente 82

12 AUS Nathan Wilmot/Malcolm Page 102


470 Women

1 GRE Sofia Bekatorou/Emilia Tsoulfa 47

2 RUS Vladlena Ilienko/ Natalia Gaponovich 72

3 ESP Natalia Via-Dufresne/Sandra Azon 76

4 AUS Jenny Armstrong/Belinda Stowell 80

Europe Women

1 NOR Siren Sundby 30

2 AUS Sarah Blanck 52

3 USA Meg Gaillard 58

Full results and other details: http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/.