Sailing at Rio 2016 Day 4- Racing for Finns, Nacra 17s, 470s and RS:Xs

by Mark Jardine on 11 Aug 2016 Day four of the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition with the RS:X Men and Women, the Finns, the 470 Men & Women and the Nacra 17 Mixed Multihulls all in action. The wind at race time was from the West with 9 knots on the inshore Escola Naval inshore course and a building breeze elsewhere.

Offshore, on the Atlantic Ocean courses, it was quite a different story with waves the size of houses, and a fresh breeze of 20-25kts.

Foe the Finn class this was not their first experience on the outside courses, but for the 470's it came as a rude shock after their puddle jumping on Guanabara Bay on Wednesday.

The 2016 Olympics are now in their fourth day, no new classes started today, however the Lasers took a break, the first class to do so.

Tomorrow the 49e Mens and Womens edition gets underway and that will mean that all classes have sailed in Rio. Medal racing does not start until Sunday local time, with the medals in the RS:X Windsurfers being decided.

Overall the mood at the regatta venue seems to have lightened up, with the pollution control measures being every effective to date. While the water is still an unhealthy colour, the debris has all but vanished.

Not that there are vast armies of garbage boats on the bay - they are conspicuous by their absence.

Finn

The Finns raced on the Copacabana course with two races scheduled.

In race 5 Hungary's Zsombor Berecz overhauled Brazilian Jorge Zarif after the first lap to take the win. Finland's Tapio Nirkko held third for the entire race. New Zealand's Josh Junior finished just ahead of Australia's Jake Lilley while Great Britain's Giles Scott came back from 19th at the first mark to 11th at the finish, holding on to his overall lead. USA's Caleb Paine finished 14th.

Race 6 saw Giles Scott bounce back strongly again to win by 21 seconds ahead of USA's Caleb Paine with New Zealand's Josh Junior third and Australia's Jake Lilley fourth.

In the overall standing Giles Scott has now built a 12 point lead over Slovenia's Vasilij Zbogar with Hungary's Zsombor Berecz 4 points further back. USA's Caleb Paine is now in fourth place with Australia's Jake Lilley seventh and New Zealand's Josh Junior 15th.

Scott said: 'It's good to put a bit more of a point gap on today but at the moment I'm just very frustrated with how I sailed in that first race. I found myself with only a handful of boats behind me at that first mark, which was pretty frustrating.

'There was a huge gain on the right hand side of the course all day and I was pretty slow to realise that on that first leg and I let the fleet get to the right of me and it put me on the back foot. But I managed to come back to 11th, which I suppose was damage limitation. To come out and win the next race that is all I could ask for really.

'The important thing to remember is that everyone has got big scores now. I don't think there is one person who has been massively consistent so you know you really have to fight for every single position, regardless of where you find yourself. There is a long way to go in this regatta and it's going to be tough.'

Nacra 17

On the Nacra 17 Ponte course, first up was the rescheduled race 3. Aurba's Nicole van der Velden & Thijs Visser lead from start to finish with Ben Saxton & Nicola Groves sneaking into second place, ahead of Vittorio Bissaro & Silvia Sicouri from Italy by just 2 seconds. Australia's Jason Waterhouse & Lisa Darmanin finished fourth, New Zealand's Gemma Jones & Jason Saunders seventh, Canada's Luke Ramsay & Nikola Girke eighth while USA's Bora Gulari & Louisa Chafee were forced to retire.

With no delay Nacra 17 race 4 was held with Australian's Jason Waterhouse & Lisa Darmanin taking the win, just 4 seconds ahead of Argentina's Santiago Lange & Cecilia Carranza Saroli and Italy's Vittorio Bissarao & Silvia Sicouri a further 3 seconds back. New Zealand's Gemma Jones & Jason Saunders finished fifth, Great Britain's Ben Saxton & Nicola Groves seventh, Canada's Luke Ramsay & Nikola Girke 10th and USA's Bora Gulari & Louisa Chafee 12th.

Australia's Jason Waterhouse & Lisa Darmanin won race 5 ahead of Brazil's Samuel Albrecht & Isabel Swan with Italy's Vittorio Bissaro & Silvia Sicouri third. New Zealand's Gemma Jones & Jason Saunders finished fourth with Great Britain's Ben Saxton & Nicola Groves fourth, Canada's Luke Ramsay & Nikola Girke 16th and USA's Bora Gulari & Louisa Chafee forced to retire again.

The final race of the day was won Aurba's Nicole van der Velden & Thijs Visser ahead of New Zealand's Gemma Jones & Jason Saunders and Britain's Ben Saxton & Nicola Groves third, USA's Bora Gulari & Louisa Chafee fourth and Australia's Jason Waterhouse & Lisa Darmanin.

Overall this now puts the Australian and British teams tied on points at the top with Jason Waterhouse & Lisa Darmanin ahead due to their two race wins. The Italian team are in third with New Zealand's Gemma Jones & Jason Saunders fourth.

470

The 470s were racing on the Niterói course with Women's Race 3 first away in a building breeze. Great Britain's Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark took the win by over a minute ahead of France's Camille Lecointre & Hélène Defrance and Japan's Ai Kondo Yoshida & Miho Yoshioka. New Zealand's Jo Aleh & Polly Powrie came back well from yesterday's disqualification to take fourth with USA's Anne Haeger & Briana Provancha 10th and Australia's Carrie Smith & Jaime Ryan just behind.

New Zealand's Jo Aleh & Polly Powrie won race 4 ahead of USA's Anne Haeger & Briana Provancha with France's Camille Lecointre & Hélène Defrance third. Britain's Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark finished sixth.

In the overall standings, New Zealand's Olympic champions Jo Aleh & Polly Powrie have leapt into the lead now that they can discard their disqualification in race 1. Japan's Ai Kondo Yoshida & Miho Yoshioka are in second with Great Britain's Britain's Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark third, tied on points with the French and Slovenian teams.

Jo Aleh said after the racing, 'It was a crazy day out there – the biggest contrast you could find from yesterday. Today the waves were as big as we can handle. It was pretty on edge for us even in the 470 – it was awesome sailing. We were getting airborne a few times and the boat does not land well. It wasn’t too much about boat speed it was just about hanging in there and not making too many mistakes - and keeping Polly on the wire.'

In the Men's fleet Greece's Panagiotis Mantis & Pavlos Kagialis won race 3 ahead of Sweden's Anton Dahlberg & Fredrik Bergström with Mathew Belcher & William Ryan in third. Great Britain's Luke Patience & Chris 'Twiggy' Grube finished fifth, USA's Stuart Mcnay & David Hughes eighth, New Zealand's Paul Snow-Hansen & Daniel Willcox 20th and Jacob & Graeme Chaplin-Saunders finished 22nd.

Croatia's Sime Fantela & Igor Marenic won race 4 with France's Sofian Bouvet & Jeremie Mion second and Australia's Mat Belcher & Will Ryan third. Britain's Luke Patience & Chris Grube finished sixth, USA's Stuart Mcnay & David Hughes 13th and New Zealand's Paul Snow-Hansen & Dan Willcox 15th.

Overall this puts Croatia's Sime Fantela & Igor Marenic in the lead with a superb scoreline and 4 points ahead of Australia's Mat Belcher & Will Ryan and Greece's Panagiotis Mantis & Pavlos Kagialis in third. Britain's Luke Patience & Chris Grube currently lie in sixth.

RS:X

The RS:X Men's & Women's racing took place on the Escola Naval in lighter winds than the other race areas.

In the Men's fleet Germany's Toni Wilhelm won race 7 ahead of Great Britain's Nick Dempsey with Russia's Max Oberemko third. The Netherland's London 2012 gold medallist Dorian Van Rysselberghe finished fourth and the USA's Pedro Pascual finished 22nd.

Dorian Van Rysselberghe won Race 8 ahead of Poland's Piotr Myszka with Russia's Max Oberemko third and Britain's Nick Dempsey finished fifth.

Nick Dempsey paid attention to the left hand side paying for the Women's fleet and went out hard to the left hand side, coming in to cross ahead of the fleet on port in a beat that saw huge variations in wind strength. His lead was short-lived though with the wind all over the place and he rounded the windward mark ninth with Dorian Van Rysselberghe rounding third and then powering downwind into the lead. As the wind built the Olympic champion turned on the after-burners to win ahead of Denmark's Sebastian Fleischer with Italy's Mattia Camboni third, a minute behind the leaders. Great Britain's Nick Dempsey finished eighth.

Dorian Van Rysselberghe's superb day has helped him extend his lead at the top, but Nick Dempsey is only 8 points behind in 2nd. Piotr Myszka is currently in 3rd a further 5 points adrift.

In the Women's fleet, regatta leader Flavia Tartaglini took another race win ahead of Israel's Maayan Davidovich with Great Britain's Bryony Shaw third. USA's Marion Lepert finished sixth.

Italy's Flavia Tartaglini leads overall by a point from France's Charline Picon and Russia's Stefania Elfutina. Britain's Bryony Shaw is in 10th with USA's Marion Lepert 12th.

Loads of photos and more information from Richard Gladwell to follow shortly.