Morrison and Rhodes lead GBR qualifiers at 49er

by Di Pearson on 6 Jan 2008
Qualification races finished at the 49er Worlds in Melbourne Saturday and the fleets will be divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets - Three of the British teams qualified for the Gold fleet.

Steve Morrison and Ben Rhodes finished in third place, Mark Asquith and Paul Cambell-Jones in 11th and John Pink and Simon Wheeler 16th. Alain Sign and Dylan Fletcher finished 44th and will sail in the Silver fleet, Tom Peel and Richard Mason were 52nd.

Many prayed for heavier winds at this regatta, getting their wish today, although a lot more than they bargained for in gusty and shifty 20-25 knot southerlies. It made the going tough and resulted in lots of upside-down skiffs, protests and minor injuries that kept the medical officers busy most the afternoon.

Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin thrived in the heavy winds and wavy and choppy seas off Sorrento and they retain their lead of the Championship. Fending of challenges from other teams, the Aussies finished the day with 5-1-3 results.

With a total score of 17, Outteridge and Austin are just four points clear of Rodion Luka and George Leonchuck (UKR) who moved into second place today following 2,3,2 results, and six points clear of third placed defending world champs Steve Morrison and Ben Rhodes (GBR).

In Race 8, the Aussies, selected for Beijing, were sitting in fourth place at the first windward mark in a tight bunch with Alexandre Monteau and Damien Guillou (FRA), John Pink and Simon Wheeler (GBR) and Giuseppe Angilella and Pietro Zucchetti (ITA). Former world champions, Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez (ESP) led the fleet by a good margin.

By the second time around, the Aussies had moved up to second place with the French crew snapping at their heels. At the rounding, the Spanish crew headed out, the four behind them took a course closer to the shore. On reaching the next mark, it was crew Outteridge in front with team Monteau hot on their tails, but the Aussies managed to hold them off to the finish. Earlier leaders Martinez and Fernandez finished seventh.

Morrison and Rhodes had a similar day to the Aussies, with 6-3-1 results keeping them in third place and close on the tails of the leaders. In Race 8, it was all some could do to keep their boats afloat and on track and Morrison talked Rhodes through some manoeuvres, more to reassure himself as the pair watched others capsize around them.

German brothers Jan Peter and Hannes Peckolt are now fourth, with Martinez and Fernandez moving up to fifth place. This Championship is by no means over and continues tomorrow with a further three races.

Of those nations trying to qualify for the Games, Brazil’s Andrea Fonseca and Rodrigo Duarte are the only crew to make it into the gold fleet, currently in a pleasing 19th place. Others seeking selection are in the silver fleet.

Anthony Kotoun, skipper of the US Virgin Island crew, here to try and qualify their nation for the Olympics, described today’s conditions: 'It was so windy and choppy; it made it hard sailing downwind.'

He and crew Cy Thompson have been in Sorrento since December in their attempts to qualify for the Olympics. However, big capsizes in Races 7 and 9 resulted in not finishing those races. They are currently in 35th place on equal points with 36th placed brothers Goran and Ivan Invankovic (CRO) who are also trying to qualify their country.

Results are provisional pending protests. The Sail Melbourne ISAF Grade 1 event continues tomorrow.

49er Qualifying - Final positions

1 AUS OUTTERIDGE, Nathan 2 1 3 1 1 7 5 1 3 17pts
AUSTIN, Ben
2 UKR LUKA, Rodion 3 13 5 2 3 1 2 3 2 21
LEONCHUK, George
3 GBR MORRISON, Stevie 2 1 4 8 5 1 6 3 1 23
RHODES, Ben
4 GER PECKOLT, Jan Peter 1 4 6 2 5 3 2 4 4 25
PECKOLT, Hannes
5 ESP MARTINEZ, Iker 4 4 9 4 2 6 1 7 1 29
FERNANDEZ, Xabier
6 ITA SIBELLO, Piero 1 9 2 7 3 1 11 1 6 30
SIBELLO, Gianfranco
7 AUT DELLE KARTH, Nico Luca Marc 6 3 5 3 6 4 1 2 6 30
RESCH, Nikolaus Leopold
8 DEN HANSEN, Peter 1 2 1 5 14 2 13 4 4 32
HANSEN, Soren
9 FRA MORGAN, Lagraviere 5 6 17 6 1 10 1 2 8 39
STÉPHANE, Christidis
10 USA WADLOW, Tim 6 8 8 2 3 3 5 5 7 39
RAST, Chris
11 GBR CAMPBELL-JAMES, Paul 3 5 2 11 4 9 2 4 28 40
ASQUITH, Mark`
12 ESP FEDERICO, Alonso 10 2 5 1 8 12 5 1 9 41
ARTURO, Alonso
13 POR LIMA, Jorge 3 5 12 8 5 2 7 8 3 41
ANDRADE, Francisco
14 ITA ANGILELLA, Giuseppe 4 2 22 8 6 5 8 5 7 45
ZUCCHETTI, Pietro
15 DEN WARRER, Jonas 9 14 11 3 4 4 4 9 6 50
KIRKETERP, Martin
16 GBR PINK, John 5 3 2 5 28 18 11 3 5 52
WHEELER, Simon
17 GBR EVANS, Dave 7 5 10 12 10 2 3 7 8 52
HOPSON, Alex
18 BRA FONSECA, Andre 7 7 6 1 8 4 12 28 8 53
DUARTE, Rodrigo
19 DEN KRÃœGER ANDERSEN, Peter 6 3 14 10 2 8 3 7 28 53
DENGSØ ANDERSEN, Dennis
20 AUS PHILLIPS, William 5 6 13 3 4 11 11 5 11 56
NEWMAN, Jon
21 NOR GUNDERSEN, Christopher 11 8 8 6 7 5 9 9 4 56
BOVIM, Frode
22 FRA EMMANUEL, Dyen 2 9 16 17 7 11 4 6 2 57
YANN, Rochierieux
23 CAN COOK, Gordon 9 28 7 4 2 14 10 8 3 57
REMOCKER, Ben
24 GER BAUR, Marcus 8 18 6 4 18 3 8 6 17 70
BAUMANN, Hannes
25 SWE LINDBERG, Jonas 10 6 9 9 10 14 4 9 13 70
TORLÉN, Kalle
26 POL CZAJKOWSKI, Marcin 8 10 14 5 13 12 7 6 9 70
KIERKOWSKI, Krzysztof
27 FIN UUSI-AUTTI, Janne 18 7 9 13 11 7 6 8 10 71
BASK, Kalle
28 AUT SIEBER, Christoph 8 11 11 9 9 8 8 10 9 72
KRUSE, Clemens
29 IRL MCGOVERN, Russell 9 9 14 10 12 8 19 14 1 77
MCGOVERN, Matthew
30 FRA MONTEAU, Alexandre 12 25 4 14 28 20 3 2 2 82
GUILLOU, Damien
31 JPN ISHIBASHI, Akira 18 13 19 11 6 9 7 13 5 82
MAKINO, Yukio
32 AUS O'CONNOR, David 19 15 16 10 1 16 12 11 5 86
JENSEN, Iain
33 CRO KOSTOV, Pavle 11 1 23 14 9 11.6 9 16 16 87.6
CUPAC, Petar
34 ISV KOTOUN, Anthony 7 10 3 13 18 6 28 12 28 97
THOMPSON, Cy
35 CRO IVANKOVIC, Goran 15 7 17 13 16 6 16 12 12 97
IVANKOVIC, Ivan
36 FIN KUUSI, Ilmari 10 12 10 15 9 13 14 15 28 98
GRANQVIST, Jacob DNF
37 NED SCHUTTE, Daan 13 13 1 6 28 23 15 19 12 102
STAVENUITER, Wilco
38 GRE PANAGIOTIDIS, George 28 18 1 12 11 28 6 12 15 103
PANAGIOTIDIS, Alfonso
39 POL STANCZY, Tomasz 11 14 21 15 12 5 28 15 10 103
KUZMICKI, Pawel
40 FRA D'ORTOLI, Julien 12 17 17 14 16 19 10 10 7 103
DELPECH, Noé
41 JPN TODOROKI, Kenjiro 12 10 7 7 28 19 12 11 28 106
TAKAHASHI, Kenji
42 GRE PACHOUMAS, Athanasios 14 4 11 15 28 13 28 11 13 109
SIOUZIOUS, Athanasios
43 FIN LEHTINEN, Lauri 4 11 10 11 10 9 28 28 28 111
SOININEN, Heikki
44 GBR FLETCHER, Dylan 20 15 4 9 13 16 9 28 28 114
SIGN, Alain
45 URU SILVEIRA, Santiago 28 15 18 16 13 17 10 13 12 114
STEFANI, Diego
46 GER FRICKE, Leopold 14 16 12 7 14 11 15 28 28 117
HUBER, Lorenz
47 GRE DIMOU, Dionisis 28 17 20 17 7 7 28 14 10 120
PATENIOTIS, Michalis
48 RSA WADE-LEHMAN, Clynton 16 20 18 21 15 15 13 16 11 124
DE KOCK, Joe
49 HKG KNIGHT, Richard 13 16 8 16 17 15 15 28 28 128
HALKES (HO WAI HO), Mike
50 USA NOBLE, Matt 28 11 3 19 16 13 14 28 28 132
HEINEKEN, John
51 EST HAAVEL, Tõnis 15 8 28 18 11 12 28 18 28 138
KIVISTIK, Lenart
52 GBR MASON, Richard 16 14 15 22 28 10 17 17 28 139
PEEL, Tom
53 NZL BORROWS, Kevin 14 23 20 20 17 14 20 20 14 139
FENWICK, Andrew
54 AUS MANN, David 17 17 16 17 15 15 16 28 28 141
MIRSKY, Torvar
55 CAN GOODERHAM, Billy 13 12 24 12 19 21 17 2