Fletcher-Bithell head up 49er medal double at World Cup Gamagori

by Lindsey Bell / RYA on 22 Oct 2017 Britain’s 49er sailors proved a dominant force at the World Cup Gamagori, which drew to a close on Sunday (22 October) under the looming threat of Typhoon Lan.

The regatta – the first in the 2018 World Cup Series – yielded a British 1-2 in the men’s skiff class, with World and European Champions Dylan Fletcher-Stuart Bithell claiming the regatta victory on Saturday’s first medal race day.

The duo have now won their past three events in a row, seeing off a strong challenge from teammates and eventual silver medallists James Peters-Fynn Sterritt, while Laser talent Lorenzo Chiavarini narrowly missed out on the podium spots on Sunday’s weather-affected final day of racing at the Japanese venue.

Fletcher-Bithell had taken a five point lead over their British stablemates into the three-race finale for the 49er fleet, with the two teams battling it out for top honours right through until the final run of the final race.

Peters-Sterritt, who won silver at both the Worlds and Europeans, cranked up the pressure early on, with a win in the first race of three narrowing the gap.

But Fletcher-Bithell turned the tables in the second to set up a final race showdown for gold.

“We were both guaranteed silver going into the last race,” Fletcher explained. “We chose to match race them to put us as far as possible down the fleet to ensure we would beat them because we were ahead on points.

“It was going smoothly until we made a mistake, at the bottom, and they wiggled free.”

Peters-Sterritt managed to get ahead and at one stage had almost enough boats between themselves and their teammates to be in gold medal position before a pile-up at the finish ended any title hopes.

“We thought we had to overtake one more boat to beat Dylan and Stuart overall,” Peters explained.

“We were trying to overtake but the French boat didn’t give us enough room at the finish and ultimately, we were rafting against the committee boat. It was a bit of an unfortunate way to end the last race.”

Fletcher-Bithell sailed back past their teammates to finish sixth in the final race, ahead of Peters-Sterritt in eighth, and secure gold by six points.

“It’s been a fantastic year. We started sailing together a year ago and it’s gone from strength to strength,” said Fletcher. “We’ve medalled at all the major events, and we’ve won the last three on the trot. At the moment we’re in our little purple streak and hopefully we can dominate like the Kiwis did and beat them when they come back.”

“We have all been working very hard and it’s nice to see that it’s paying off with the Worlds, Europeans and the Gamagori World Cup Series, we have been doing really well,” added Bithell of the strong British 49er squad performance this season.

Sterritt said he and Peters could be happy with their silver.

“We were saying on the sail in, to be in a position where you’re battling for gold and silver is a good place to be. Obviously it didn’t quite go our way today, but we’re happy with a silver and we gave it a good go out there. Congratulations to Dylan and Stu.”

Podium Potential squad talents Chris Taylor-Sam Batten also qualified for the ten-boat 49er medal race, finishing ninth overall.

Lorenzo Chiavarini was pipped to Laser bronze on a rain and wind-affected final day on Sunday (22 October).

With Typhoon Lan approaching the Japanese coast, the second of the medal race days had to be curtailed with just three of the scheduled five races able to take place. The building breeze varied greatly in both strength and direction, making it a challenging day for both sailors and race officials.

The women’s Laser Radial fleet was the first to get underway after several attempted starts. Alison Young was in action for Great Britain, albeit out of contention for the medal positions, and finished her regatta on a high with the medal race victory elevating her to eighth in the overall final standings.

Chiavarini had gone into the final day in bronze medal position in the Laser class, but with Australia’s Olympic Champion Tom Burton breathing down this neck.

Just one point separated them in the standings with a gap to fifth place, and with whichever sailor finishing ahead of the other likely to take the final podium position.

As with the Laser Radials, big wind shifts also saw delays to the medal race start, but once it got underway, Chiavarini and Burton separated to different sides of the course on the first upwind leg, with the Australian’s choice proving the favourable one.

He led at the first mark and every mark thereafter, and although Chiavarini fought back he couldn’t reel in his Australian rival. He finished sixth in the medal race, with Burton’s race win sealing him the bronze medal.

Rio Olympian and double World Champion Nick Thompson finished his regatta in fifth, with a third place in the medal race, while Michael Beckett was sixth overall and eighth in the medal race.

Luke Patience-Chris Grube, competing at their first major event since Rio 2016, fell foul of a jury disqualification on Saturday night which relegated them into ninth place going into the 470 Men’s finale on Sunday, having been in third place prior to the protest.

Ultimately, their medal race was called off leaving them no opportunity to improve on their overall position.

“We came here really to kick off what is our Tokyo 2020 programme. It’s the first time we’ve really been back in the boat since the Olympics,” Patience explained.

“It’s actually been a good week. It’s been horrible weather-wise with the rain, but it’s been good racing and we’ve been pleased to just get a series in.”

“We’re really, really excited and more importantly very energised for what’s ahead. We took a year off, and I needed that as it’s been 12 years without a break of doing the same,” continued the Olympic silver medallist. “I’ve gained some great perspective, but more than anything else it’s about the hunger. I’m more mad for it than I’ve ever been I think, which is a cool thing to say at 31 years old.

“There’s less than three years to go [to Tokyo 2020], but having had that time away, I think I can compress a lot of work in a short space of time.”

The eighteen British Sailing Team athletes to compete at the World Cup Gamagori will now make their way to the 2020 Olympic Games venue for Enoshima Olympic Week (27-29 October), where they’ll be joined by Finn sailors Ben Cornish and Giles Scott, who will be racing in his first Finn regatta since claiming gold in Rio.