Sail for Gold - Racing in only two fleets on day 2
by PR on 21 Sep 2007
Bryony Shaw competing at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta onEdition
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Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta saw frustration across the international fleet as only two classes, the RSX 9.5’s and RSX 8.5’s windsurfers took to the water at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. By dawn this morning (Thursday) the Portland Harbour Anemometer recorded a mean wind speed of nearly 30 knots with rain squalls gusting over 35 knots.
Race officials announced that due to the extreme conditions racing would be on hold until conditions improved. By 10:00hrs the race office announced that no racing would take place outside the harbour and the RS:X fleet would use the two inside courses, to start the day’s racing off.
The RS:X sailors saw intense conditions out on the racecourse with 30 plus knots, which soon separated the fleet between the key players and the novices. Experience and confidence was key today, with the Frenchman Fabrice Hassen dominating the RS:X men’s fleet, scoring an impressive first and second to secure his overall lead. Hot on his heels was Britain's Nick Dempsey who sailed consistently to deliver two thirds, finally securing third in the rankings after two days racing.
The RS:X 8.5 fleet contains both women and men who are training to develop into the RS:X 9.5 fleet. Spaniard Bianca Manchon is dominating the fleet and after securing a second place in yesterday’s racing, she clocked up an impressive first and third out on the water securing the top spot at the end of the day’s rankings.
Making a comeback from a shaky start, was Britain’s Bryony Shaw who was on top form today, producing a second and first, raising her to fifth on the leader board overall.
After the two races for the RS:X fleet, the Lasers were primed and ready to get racing, but conditions proved too dangerous for the sailors, and the race organisers soon announced a cancellation to racing for the day.
With 321 sailors competing at this event from sixteen countries across five continents, this ISAF Grade 2 regatta is a truly international event. One of the competitors, Ajay Rau is just nineteen years old and hales from Madras in Southern India, he is sailing in the Laser Class and absolutely thrilled to be sailing at Weymouth this week;
'This is my second visit to Weymouth, having competed in the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships here in 2006, it is a fantastic venue with world class competitions. At home, I sail at the Royal Madras Yacht Club and we rarely have more than ten Lasers racing at a time, to come to this regatta and race in a big fleet of world-class sailors is very exciting for me.
'I am still hoping to compete for India in Beijing, although that is not looking likely at the moment but looking forward, it would be a dream come true to sail at Weymouth for my country at the 2012 Olympics. If I could, I would spend as much time sailing in Weymouth as possible and I am very grateful to fellow Laser sailor, Robert Godwin for his help with accommodation and the welcome he has given me during this regatta.'
The sailors will be waiting with baited breath for better conditions tomorrow and over the weekend, the latest forecasts (16:00 BST) suggests the low pressure system which has dominated the region for the last few days to be passing through, but the bad news comes on the form of a second frontal system lying over Scotland, which is expected to affect the area on Friday.
Skandia Sail for Gold Event Director Rob Andrews said today, 'We have decided to move the racing forward, starting at 10:00hrs tomorrow morning in order to secure some racing time for all the classes. Ultimately we can’t control the weather and whilst the postponements are frustrating we will only send sailors out in what we deem to be safe conditions on the race course.'
Leading positions after day 1
Laser Radial
1st GBR 189099 VICKERS Lizzie 2 1 3 pts
2nd GBR 184298 CLARK Penny 6 3 9 pts
3rd GBR 187717 BALDWIN Laura 5 4 9 pts
4th SWE 184015 SÖDERSTRÖM Karin 4 5 9 pts
5th GBR 188304 WILLIAMS Sarah 8 6 14 pts
6th GBR 183239 JESSOP David 1 14 15 pts
7th SUI 187535 MEYER Connie 16 2 18 pts
8th GBR 183496 Philip Garner 9 10 19 pts
9th FIN 184712 MULTALA Sari 3 17 20 pts
10th GBR 188411 BREWSTER Andrea 15 7 22 pts
Laser
2nd SWE 189170 CLAESON Arvid 3 6 9 pts
3rd GBR 185652 THOMPSON Nick 8 3 11 pts
4th SWE 189166 WIGFORS Johan 1 12 13 pts
5th SWE 189664 SUNESON Kalle 13 1 14 pts
6th GBR 189641 GOODISON Paul 7 7 14 pts
7th FRA 181012 PRUVOT Corentin 11 5 16 pts
8th GBR 188610 GODWIN Robert 10 8 18 pts
9th GER 173615 BUHL Philipp 4 15 19 pts
10th GBR 188302 MON Eifion 17 4 21 pts
Finn
1st SWE 11 BIRGMARK Daniel 1 1 2 pts
2nd GBR 111 WRIGHT Edward 3 2 5 pts
3rd GBR 88 ANDREWS Mark 5 3 8 pts
4th SWE 736 TILLANDER Johan 4 4 8 pts
5th ESP 100 TRUJILLO VILLAR Rafael 2 8 10 pts
6th GBR 41 SCOTT Giles 6 5 11 pts
7th IRL 5 GOODBODY Timothy 7 6 13 pts
8th GBR 625 GREIG Ed 8 9 17 pts
9th FRA 69 LOBERT Jonathan 9 10 19 pts
10th GER 771 KURFELD Jan 13 7 20 pts
470 - Men
1st GBR 817 ROGERS Nicholas GLANFIELD Joe 3 1 4
2nd GBR 838 ASHER Nic 2 WILLIS Elliot 2 4
3rd GER 4 LUCAS Zellmer SEELIG Heiko 1 4 5
4th GBR 823 MCGOVERN Jonny MAPPLEBECK Tom 4 6 1
5th GBR 832 BATCHELOR Nathan SCHIEBER Dan 5 5 10
6th GBR 834 PATIENCE Luke GRUBE Chris 9 7 16
7th GER 11 RIEGER Max RIEGER Moritz 8 9 17
8th DEN 150 FRIIS Jakob GEDBJERG Morten 7 13 20
9th ESP 9 BARREIROS Onan SARMIENTO Aaron RAF 3 21
10th GBR 826 MOSS Jonathan MUSKETT Ben 10 11 21
470 - Women
1st GBR 189099 VICKERS Lizzie 2 1 3 pts
2nd GBR 184298 CLARK Penny 6 3 9 pts
3rd GBR 187717 BALDWIN Laura 5 4 9 pts
4th SWE 184015 SÖDERSTRÖM Karin 4 5 9 pts
5th GBR 188304 WILLIAMS Sarah 8 6 14 pts
6th GBR 183239 JESSOP David 1 14 15 pts
7th SUI 187535 MEYER Connie 16 2 18 pts
8th GBR 183496 Philip Garner 9 10 19 pts
9th FIN 184712 MULTALA Sari 3 17 20 pts
10th GBR 188411 BREWSTER Andrea 15 7 22 pts
RS:X Men, leading positions
1st FABRICE Hassen 1 1 2pts
2nd WILHELM Toni 5 2 1
3rd DEMPSEY Nick 4 3 3
4th BONTEMPS Julian 3 4 5
5th QUENTIN Henry 2 5 6
6th LANGER Vincent 7 6 4
7th TILLIER Benjamin 6 8 8
8th HUGUET Nicolas 10 7 7
9th LE GAL Nicolas 8 9 9
10th CORDONNIER Antoine 9 11 12
RS:X 8.5 Mixed, leading positions
1st MANCHON Blanca F 2 1 3pts
2nd NORS Jesper M 3 2 2
3rd RICARD Eugénie F 5 5 6
4th STRANGE Ed M 11 3 4
5th SRADNICK Wiebke F 6 7 5
6th STALSTROM Jannicke F 4 6 9
7th SHAW Bryony F 17 4 1
8th MARINE Rambaud F 10 12 8
9th VALLÉE Dominique F 8 11 11
10th MERRET Fraustine F 7 9 18
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday 20th Sept Racing for all classes, Qualification races
Friday 21st Sept Racing for all classes, Qualification races
Saturday 22nd Sept Racing for all classes Qualification races
Sunday 23rd Sept Finals Races
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