Sailing World Cup Hyeres - First leg lottery dictates RSX leaderboard

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 29 Apr 2016 2016 Olympic aspirant Natalia Kosinska (NZL) had another character-testing day at the Sailing World Cup Hyeres in the Women's RSX Windsurfer. However, she moved up the leader board to lie 28th overall in the 40 strong fleet and placed ninth in the first race of Day 2.

In contrast to the fresh to strong winds of yesterday’s Mistral, the wind was a lot lighter today, and the start of racing was delayed until 3.30pm.

“The breeze was a similar direction to yesterday's last race – SW - so it was pretty stable,” she told Sail-World.

“The first race was sailed in 7-10kts of breeze, and it increased slightly for the second and third races to 9-13knt.

“The first race of the day was my best - I finished ninth, after starting towards the pin and went left, I think.

“I rounded top mark ninth caught up four places on the downwind – getting up to fifth place on the official roundings. But then I lost three places towards the end of second upwind.

“In the second race today I had a good start and went left again, but the right-hand side boards came through - so I was deep to the top mark. I caught up a bit on the second lap but lost again towards the end of the downwind – the outer side got a bit more pressure.

“In the third race, I decided to start from the committee boat and go right. I executed it very well and was leading to the right. However, unfortunately, the left-hand side came through pretty hard!

“To summarize I felt better today on the water, however, it was only in the first race that I made a correct call for the favoured side. I'm usually pretty good with deciding which side is better for pressure/shift but not the last two days. I'll have another go tomorrow,” she added.

The leaderboard was consistent for its inconsistency.

French windsurfer Helene Noesmoen scored two wins, but also has a bunch of 20+ placings and lies in 15th overall.

Current World Champion Malgorzata Bialecka from Poland, who is light wind specialist today scored sixth, 30th, and 25th placings, and lies in 13th place overall – the lowest placed of three Polish competitors in the regatta. Bialecka is also the Polish nominee for the 2016 Olympics – with the current regatta being led by 2012 Olympic medallist Zofia Noceti-Klepacka. She also qualified Poland for the 2016 Olympics by placing seventh at the 2014 World Championships in Santander, Spain.

Kosinska explains the inconsistency within the fleet by the fact that the racing is very close coupled with the need to pick the right side of the course, and then hope that it pays off. Few got that call right in all three races on the day. Many got it right twice and were rewarded with a higher place in the overall standings. Those who only got it right one time out of three struggled.

According to Kosinska, the left-hand side worked for first and third races. The right-hand side paid the dividend in race 2.

Those sort of outcomes are almost like calling tactics by tossing a coin.

Bearing in mind that most of the teams are well supported by coaches and funding, who should be in a good position to call the shots better than a coin toss.

Kosinska is running a self-funded campaign and has partnered with Brazilian Olympic nominee, Patricia Freitas and her new Kiwi coach, JP Tobin. Their plan was to work together to get the best side sorted ahead of each race. That worked for Kosinska in the first race of the day. Time prevented them repeating the tactic in the remaining two races.

Freitas is renowned for her speed in marginal planning conditions and hit the high notes in the third race of the day, getting the right side of the course and then used her speed to build an impressive lead.

She won the final race of the day but placed 26th and 20th in the other two sailed,

“Some are getting it right!” Kosinska said, reflecting on the day’s results. “That's the beauty of sailing isn't it - always a different day tomorrow!”