Day 5- Halfway stage at Qingdao

by ISAF on 26 Aug 2006 The rain came down today but it did nothing to dampen the competition as the ISAF Grade 2 Qingdao International Regatta hit the halfway stage. Mixed results across the fleets once again proved that there are plenty of surprises still to come in the first Olympic Test Event.

Whilst in the Women’s 470, Yngling and the two RS:X fleets it was a case of the rich getting richer, elsewhere the leaders slipped up. With three scheduled days remaining until the Medal Race fleets are finalized, the shifting patterns at the top of the leaderboards look set to continue.

Today stronger winds were forecast, with a return to the conditions seen last week during the practice sessions. As the fleets headed out ready for the 1300 (local time) start, the RS:X men planed across the bay, the Qingdao skyline stood bright in the background and everything looked set for the first day of big breeze. And then the rain came down. A short but heavy shower coincided with the early breeze dropping out, and another day of tactical racing ensued.

Tomorrow the Men's 470 fleet return to the Qingdao waters after a two day break and the 49ers and Finns are also back in action after a day off today. The forecasters are once again expecting winds in the teens, with a shift in the conditions looking set to add a further twist to the tale spun so far in Qingdao.

Whilst the sight of the Men’s RS:X boarders planing out on the bay this morning promised much, the Women’s RS:X fleet in the end had to settle for one short race in full pumping conditions.

Japan’s Yasuko KOSUGE found pressure early on the right of the course to take an early lead, but young Polish star and bronze medallist at the recent Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship Malgorzata BIALECKA was also away well and past KOSUGE by the second upwind. Behind the battle for first Olympic Champion and overall leader Faustine MERRET (FRA) was engaged in a battle with the three Chinese sailors, rounding the final mark a fraction ahead of Athens silver medallist and local hero Jian YIN (CHN). Peina CHEN’s (CHN) challenge also faded in the face of MERRET’s persistence, but Limei SUN (CHN) was able to hold off the French star. She crossed in third place, two ahead of MERRET, whilst BIALECKA held on for the bullet.

MERRET was back with a bang in race four, winning ahead of SUN to take the overall lead by one point. BIALECKA came in sixth to end the day third overall, just ahead of the Chinese duo YIN and CHEN.

With a shifting wind, the Race Committee postponed several starts to get the fleet off on a fair race, with the opening race five starting in just over six knots from the south east.

A stunning start from Natthaphong PHONOPPHARAT (THA) saw him head off the line closest to the Committee Boat and lead the fleet up the right hand side of the course in race five. But PHONOPPHARAT’s display of speed was shortlived and chasing hard Joeri VAN DIJK (NED) rounded the windward mark first and took the fleet down to the gate, with Ricardo SANTOS (BRA) and Lukasz GRODZICKI (POL) hot in his heels. As VAN DIJK, who claimed the silver medal at the recent RS:X European Championship, continued to lead through the downwind gate, it was surprising to find Israel’s Olympic hero and defending gold medallist Gal FRIDMAN only just making his way around the windward mark for the first time.

GRODZICKI the gold medallist from this year’s ISAF Youth Worlds managed to catch VAN DIJK on the final downwind leg to take the gun. This victory was followed by a fifth in race 6, and sees GRODZICKI hold firm in the bronze medal position.

China’s two sailors continue to hold the first and second positions overall, only trading places after today’s races. Posting a 4,1, Zhennan FANG (CHN) now leads over Feng HE (CHN).

No to be discounted, their team mate Aichen WANG (CHN) wrapped up his best day of the series so far, to take two third place finishes and remain in sixth overall.

Contrasting Fortunes For Tornado And Yngling Leaders
Like the 470 fleet, the Tornado ventured out today for a single race to catch up with their schedule. Given the dominance of Roman HAGARA and Hans Peter STEINACHER (AUT) in the light winds so far, today’s 16th place at least gives the rest of the fleet hope that the Austrian pair can be caught. Olivier BACKES and Paul Ambroise SEVESTRE (FRA) built on their bullet from yesterday with a second place, moving them into a tie for second place with Xavier REVIL and Christophe ESPAGNON (FRA), who were fourth today. HAGARA and STEINACHER still have a ten point lead over this pair, but look a lot less invincible than 24 hours ago.

The bullet in today’s race went to Russia Andrey KIRILYUK and Valeriy USHKOF, which combined with some inconsistent scoring elsewhere moves them up from 13th to sixth overall.

The campaign of Mandy MULDER, Brechtje VAN DERWERF and Janneke HIN (NED) moved even further in the right direction today when the trio posted their third bullet in the series. This now places them with an eleven point lead over the second placed Helena LUCAS, Annie LUSH and Lucy MACGREGOR (GBR).

LUCAS continues to prove herself as a stand-in helm for the Olympic gold medal winning helm Shirley ROBERTSON (GBR) who is on maternity leave, and will no doubt be pleased with the team’s steady progress up the leaderboard, after they posted 4,2 today to sit in the silver medal position. LUCAS can be more usually found competing on the Paralympic circuit in the 2.4 Metre keelboat.

China continues to challenge the cream of the Yngling fleet with Xiaqun SONG, Xiaoni LI and Chuanshuang ZHANG (CHN) finishing in second and seventh today. But a points shortfall sees them drop down to third overall, by a one point margin.

Sarah AYTON, Sarah WEBB and Katherine HOPSON (GBR) showed their form to take the gun in race six and with it manage to convert themselves up to fifth overall. No surprises elsewhere in the fleet as the top three boats continue to cruise over the fleet.

Only three more races remain until the ten-boat Medal Race, and whilst the top few boats seem safe to make the cut, the battle will continue to intensify for those further down the scoreboard.

Another two races turned the Laser fleet on its head today, with Evagelos CHIMONAS (GRE) relinquishing the overall lead for the first time since the regatta began. The Greek had been somewhat of a surprise leader, but 20,15 scores today saw him fall back into second place. European Championship silver medallist Maciej GRABOWSKI (POL) moves into pole position, although even he was immune to a bad score on a day when inconsistency seemed to be the only consistent factor. Of the top ten only Singapore’s Maximilian SOH (SIN) managed to avoid a score in the double figures today.

SOH is having a remarkable regatta in Qingdao and after 8,9 scores today is now seventh overall and sandwiched between World number one Paul GOODISON (GBR) and Olympic silver medallist Andreas GERITZER (AUT). All this less than a year after he finished 118th at the Laser Worlds in Brazil.

After a good start, GOODISON has struggled through the rest of this week, but a bullet in today’s first race was a return to form. 14th in race eight was less good however, but with high scores right across the leaderboard he is by no means out of the running, 18 point off GRABOWSKI. Steven LE FEVRE (NED), caught out with a rule 42 penalty in the preceding race, took the bullet in race eight by a considerable distance to move into fourth place overall.

After two more races today for the 34 boat Laser Radial fleet, the same three sailors remain in the top three positions, but Paige RAILEY (USA) has managed to wrestle the top spot from Penny CLARK (GBR), despite posting her worst result of the series.

RAILEY was too keen at the start and was called off the race course for being OCS (on course side) at the start of today’s race six. This result however has been discarded from her po