Better breeze for second day at Qingdao!

by Lynn Fitzpatrick on 17 Aug 2007 Lumpy seas and 6-8 knots of wind from the south east made for a difficult day at the Good Luck Beijing 2007 Sinopec Qingdao International Regatta. Needless to say there were some big shifts out there and the current played a major issue at the starts and in calling lay lines.

All classes sailed all of the races that were scheduled for the day. The big winners for the day were Evi Van Aker (BEL) with a 1,2 in the Laser Radial, Therese Torgersson and Vemdela Zachrisson (SWE) who had a 1, 2 in the 470 Women’s class and Shaw Bryony(GBR) who had a 1, 2 on the RS:X Women’s fleet.

Out on the Laser and Laser Radial course the current made things hard to judge. The Laser class had a general recall as the fleet jockeyed for position into the current. Evi Van Aker (BEL) recovered from two mediocre starts by playing the left up the top of the first beat while the fleet was on the right.

She went from about 20th to 6th on the first leg and then picked off a couple of more boats on a shifty downwind leg. According to Evi, her big gain came during the second weather leg when she tacked right on the lay line and others over stood the mark because they had not compensated for the current. During the second race of the day, Evi had another big gain and went from 24th to 2nd in the race.

On the 470 course, Therese Torgersson and Vendela Zachrisson (SWE) have established themselves in a commanding lead following three races. They attribute their 1, 2 for today to winning the pin end start. Once the fleet flopped over onto port, they were launched. During the second race their big gain came when they were the first among the front pack to jibe. Posting a 2, 1 for the day and second in the regatta were Al Kondo and Naoko Kamata (JAP).

In the 470 Men’s fleet the sailing was tight and there was a lot of yelling as they rounded the final mark with their spinnakers up and sailed the final short reach to the finish. Javier Conte and Juan de la Fuente (ARG) and Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page (AUS) won the first and second races, respectively. With a 4.5 average, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield (GBR) lead the regatta.

Out on the Tornado course Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby (AUS) held the lead from the start of the first race and nearly had a photo finish as they jibed to make the port end of the line and Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz (GER) finished more toward the center of the line. Xavier Revil and Christophe Espagnon (FRA) followed the Aussie’s suit and picked their way around the closely located orange and red marks of the Star and Tornado courses to win the second race of the day.

Five Star world champion teams battled for the bullet in the first race of the series. The smart Swedes, Fredrik Look and Anders Ekstrom stole the lead from Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) on the last leg of the race. There was quite a fleet inversion during the second race of the day for the Stars. The winner of the race was Flavio Marazzi and Christoph Christen (SUI) in their specially designed boat for these conditions.

While Marazzi/Christen led all of the way around the course, the boat that gained the most on the run was this year’s world champion team of Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA). They finished second in the race and recovered from a 9th around the last mark. Putting in a strong performance in both races, as is their norm, was Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (FRA). They lead the Star Class with a 3, 3.

The RS:X sailors had their work cut out for them trying to keep their balance in the swells. The Chinese are in third in both the RS:X Men and RS:X Women’s classes. Yuan Guo Zhou (CHN) opened the regatta with a victory for the Chinese team. Yuan Gou stole the show with a 38-second lead around the first mark in the men’s division and was able to maintain it around the entire trapezoidal course. Yuan Guo finished sixth in the second race. Tom Ashley (NZL) sits atop the leaderboard with a 3,2 for the series so far.

Jian Yin (CHN) had a nearly a 100-yard lead around the first weather mark of the first race and had a difficult time keeping Shaw Bryony (GBR) at bay. Shaw and Allessandra Sensini (ITA) traded places for the final three legs of the race, with Shaw coming out the victor. Merret Faustine (FRA) stole the show in the second race by leading all of the way around the course.

Reigning Olympic Champion Ben Ainslie (GBR) made another dramatic return to the Finn heavyweight dinghy, posting a win and a second place to top the overall standings. Ainslie has not competed in the Finn since the Test Event in Qingdao last year, but won the opening race by a comfortable 50-second margin before placing second behind Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) in race 2.

Ainslie competed in the 2006 Test Event under similar circumstances, arriving in Qingdao with hardly any practice or competition in the Finn over the previous 12 months (due to America’s Cup commitments). Last year he also began the regatta with a win and a second place on the opening day and then went on to blitz the competition with another eight bullets. This year the Finn fleet is larger and strong than 2006, making Ainslie’s performance all the more remarkable, although he did admit to feeling tired after today’s opening two races.

World Champion Rafa Trujillo (ESP) led at the first mark of race 1. However, that was to be the highlight of his day as he fell back through the fleet eventually finishing ninth, which he followed up with a 20th in race 2. Ainslie took over the lead and never looked back, while Gasper Vincec (SLO) finished in second place ahead of Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO).

Pieter Jan Postma (NED), a rapidly rising star in the class and silver medalist at the recent World Championship, led at every mark to win race 2 ahead of AINSLIE, with the consistent Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) again in third place.

Ainslie holds a three-point overall lead, with Kljakovic Gaspic second overall. Vincec and world #1 Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (DEN) tie for third overall on eight points.

Newly crowned World Champions Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson (GBR) made a terrific start to lead after today’s opening two Yngling races. The British trio scored 2, 1 for the day to hold the overall lead one point ahead of Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi (USA). The British and Americans crews finished first and second at the recent World Championships and dominated the opening two races of the Yngling series in an 8 knot southeasterly on course area D.

Barkow and her team seized the early initiative, leading around every mark in race 1 to take the opening bullet of the series. Behind them the British battled with Silja Lehtinnen, Maria Klemetz and Livia Varesmaa (FIN), with a strong final run pushing them up into second ahead of the Finns.

In the day’s second race Ayton, Webb and Wilson seized the lead on the first downwind leg and extended again on the final run to win by 43 seconds. Renee Groeneveld, Annemieke (BES) and Marije Kampen (NED) completed a strong opening-day performance with a second place ahead of the fast finishing Barkow, Howe and Capozzi.

That second place puts the Dutch team on six points in third place overall, just ahead of Ekaterina Skudina, Diana Krutskikh and Natalia Ivanova (RUS). The Chinese team of Xiaqun Song, third in last year’s Test Event, finished the day with 9, 9 scores and in ninth place overall.

Leading Results - http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=36677