Aussies close on second place at Yngling Worlds

by Mattias Dahlstrom - yngling.org on 15 Feb 2008 The Blue skies and moderate breeze of Miami were all gone this morning and the sailors faced low clouds, rain squalls and 20-25 knots.

Warnings for thunderstorms had been issued and the Race Committee and the sailors knew already when leaving the harbour that this would be a tricky day.

The Yngling is described as a heavy weather boat that can handle a lot of wind. In fact it is probably the Olympic class that can sustain the highest wind forces and still conduct racing without damages. The comments among sailors and coaches were that these conditions are good for racing but we are getting closer to the limit.

The Yngling doesn’t have a set maximum wind limit for racing. Being raced worldwide the conditions are very different from lakes to open ocean and it is at the discretion of the Race Committee to decide when the conditions are not suitable for racing.

The race got underway and after a close start the fleet fought the elements and each other for the first laps of a three lap upwind and downwind course. The Race Committee were keeping track of a thunderstorm closing in via radar and decided to shorten the course for a finish on the second downwind. The squall hit the fleet going down towards the finish and the wind increased substantially and shifted about 40 degrees. The teams showed there skills in boat handling in extreme racing conditions taking down their spinnakers on the final run for the finish.

Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson (GBR) protected their lead with a second, while the German team of Ulrike Schemann, Julia Bleck and Ute Hoepner sailed a drop, a 27th but remain in second place.

The Australian trio of Krystal Weir,Karen Gojnich and Angela Farrell were third today, their worst placing across the whole regatta is 10th place and they are now only two points behind the Germans in the fight for the silver medal.

In the fight for the Olympic nation qualification spots Norway, France, Greece and Italy is currently having an advantage over Denmark, Canada, Japan and Ukraine. The fight for the medal race is also exciting with less than 20 point between rank 10 and 15.

Tomorrow is the final day of the opening series and with three races scheduled it is the moment of truth for many of the crews.

2008 Yngling Women's World Championship

Series Standing - 9 races scored

Division: Yngling (28 boats) (top)

Pos Sail Skipper/Crew CBYRA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total Points Pos
1 GBR 12 Ayton, Sarah/Webb, Sarah/Wilson, Pippa GBR 1 3 3 2 4 [5] 1 4 2 20.00 1
2 GER 261 Schuemann, Ulrike/Bleck, Julia/Hoepfner, Ute GER 6 7 5 1 3 9 5 8 [27] 44.00 2
3 AUS 59 Weir, Krystal/Gojnich, Karyn/Farrell, Angela AUS 4 6 2 3 [10] 10 9 9 3 46.00 3
4 NOR 406 Sundby, Siren/Fredriksen, Lise Birgitte/Koefoed, Alexandra NOR 8 5 12 12 5 2 6 [15] 12 62.00 4
5 USA 337 Barkow, Sally/Howe, carrie/Capozzi, Debbie USA 2 14 11 6 13 1 12 10 [21] 69.00 5
6 FIN 2 Lehtinen, Silja/Klemetz, Maria/Varesmaa, Livia FIN 3 10 4 15 7 14 3 [16] 15 71.00 6
7 RUS 8 Skudina, Ekaterina/Krutskikh, Diana/Ivanova, Natalia RUS 13 2 19 16 14 6 4 [22] 4 78.00 7
8 FRA 9 LE BERRE, Anne-Claire/DEPLANQUE, Marion/PONSAR, Alice FRA 20 9 8 4 2 8 10 [26] 17 78.00 8
9 NZL 4 Ferris, Sharon/Smeal, Raynor/Powrie, Olivia NZL 9 1 6 11 [29/OCS] 11 2 24 18 82.00 9
10 RUS 4 Basalkina, Anna/Ukraintseva, Vladislava/Maximova, Ekaterina RUS 17 16 1 9 [20] 7 14 3 16 83.00 10
11 GBR 17 Robertson, Shirley/Lush, Annie/Macgregor, Lucy GBR [29/OCS] 22 14 7 6 3 11 13 10 86.00 11
12 GRE 7 Bekatorou, Sofia/Papadopoulou, Sofia/Charamountani, Christina GRE 7 12 10 5 15 19 [29/DNF] 5 14 87.00 12
13 FRA 7 Le Helley, Anne/Catherine, Lepesant/Julie, Gerecht FRA 12 8 7 [25] 22 21 21/RDG 1 1 93.00 13
14 NED 1 Mulder, Mandy/Faber, Mary/Witteveen, Merel NED 23 4 15 13 [29/OCS] 13 13 6 11 98.00 14
15 RSA 1 Provoyeur, Dominique/Alison, Penny/Rew, Kim RSA 11 20 [29/DSQ] 19 9 15 7 12 5 98.00 15
16 NED 111 Groeneveld, Renee/Bes, Annemieke/Kampen, Marge NED 10 13 16 23 17 18 [29/DNF] 2 7 106.00 16
17 NED 350 Thies, Annelies/Wierenga, Lieske/Heerema, Caroline NED [22] 19 9 10 16 16 20 17 6 113.00 17
18 ESP 3 Azon, Monica/Azon, Sandra/Pisonero, Graciela ESP 15 15 20 18 8 20 [29/DNF] 7 13 116.00 18
19 ITA 16 Calligaris, Chiara/Scognamillo, Francesca/Pignolo, Giulia ITA 5 17 25 21 1 12 [29/DNF] 23 20 124.00 19
20 CHN 1 Xia Qun, Song/XIAO NI, LI/YAN LI, YU CHN 16 11 18 14 12 23 [29/DNF] 11 24 129.00 20
21 DEN 199 Palludan, Trine/Hartvig, Ida/Boidin, Susanne DEN 24 [29/DSQ] 13 17 25 17 8 20 8 132.00 21
22 CHN 3 Jie, Li/ru, wang/yang, gao CHN 19 [24] 22 20 11 24 19 18 9 142.00 22
23 JPN 1 Shige, Yumiko/Horiuchi, Mayumi/Onizuka, Minami JPN 14 18 23 [27] 23 27 15 14 25 159.00 23
24 CAN 14 Provan, Jennifer/Henderson, Martha/Abbott, Katie CAN [29/DNS] 21 17 8 21 22 18 28 26 161.00 24
25 NED 11 Hin, Janneke/V.D. Werf, Brechtje/Hendriksen, Floortje NED 25 [29/RAF] 24 24 24 4 15/RDG 25 22 163.00 25
26 UKR 1 Dolynska, Mariia/Matevusheva, Svetlana/Kalinina, Ganna UKR 18 23 26 22 19 26 21/RDG 19 [28] 174.00 26
27 CAN 16 Moberg-Parker, Tine/Marshall, Sarah/Robson, Cressida CAN 21 25 21 26 18 25 17 [27] 23 176.00 27
28 GRE 1 Danezi, Altani/karabatsou, zoe/vlachou, evagelia GRE 26 [29/DNS] 27 28 26 28 29/DNF 21 19 204.00 28

Notes

(1) Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2005-2008
(2) Finishes in [brackets] denote throwouts

Information is provisional and subject to modification

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