Yngling team add Team GBR's third Gold this year

by Sail-World.com/uk on 16 Feb 2008
Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson successfully completed their Medal Race appearance to confirm their second Yngling World Championship title. They had already taken victory in Miami with a day to spare and had only to sail the final race to conform with the rules.

The trio, which earned the nod for Olympics after winning both the 2007 World Championships in Cascais and the Olympic Test Event in Qingdao, dominated the 28-boat fleet from the first day of the regatta.

Their world title is Skandia Team GBR’s third of the year, adding to Ben Ainslie’s gold at the Finn Gold Cup, and Nic Asher and Elliot Willis’s win at the 470 Worlds in Melbourne last month.

As defending champions and among the favourites heading into the event, ‘Team Mirabaud’ weren’t prepared to let the title slip from their grasp.

“In the past we’ve been in the same position, but have made a few mistakes. This time, I think our experience helped pull us through. We just sailed really consistently throughout the week – we had some pretty tricky conditions and some big breezes and so our teamwork has really shone through.”

The focus was on the silver and bronze placings and in a building breeze the ten boat fleet got away with most going for the pin end of the line. Siren Sundby of Finland was judged over the line but did not restart so scored an OCS for the race.

The French team of Anne-Claire Leberre were away well and it was a match race for the lead between them and the another Finnish team lead by Silja Lehtinen, with the French taking the gun after a gybing duel at the finish.

The Australian team of KrystalWeir, Karyn Gojnich and Angela Farrell took the overall Silver and Ulrike Schumann, Julia Beck and Ute Hoepner of Germany the Bronze.

The other British crew at the Yngling Worlds, Shirley Robertson, Annie Lush and Lucy Macgregor, finished in eighth place.

Yngling - Medal race and Final over all positions

1 GBR 12 Ayton, Sarah/Webb, Sarah/Wilson, Pippa GBR 10 35 pts
2 AUS 59 Weir, Krystal/Gojnich, Karyn/Farrell, Angela AUS 18 74 pts
3 GER 261 Schuemann, Ulrike/Bleck, Julia/Hoepfner, Ute GER 14 75 pts
4 USA 337 Barkow, Sally/Howe, carrie/Capozzi, Debbie USA 8 79 pts
5 RUS 8 Skudina, Ekaterina/Krutskikh, Diana/Ivanova, Natalia RUS 6 85 pts
6 FRA 9 LE BERRE, Anne-Claire/DEPLANQUE, Marion/PONSAR, Alice FRA 2 86 pts
7 FIN 2 Lehtinen, Silja/Klemetz, Maria/Varesmaa, Livia FIN 4 90 pts
8 GBR 17 Robertson, Shirley/Lush, Annie/Macgregor, Lucy GBR 12 103 pts
9 NZL 4 Ferris, Sharon/Smeal, Raynor/Powrie, Olivia NZL 16 103.001 pts
10 NOR 406 Sundby, Siren/Fredriksen, Lise Birgitte/Koefoed, Alexandra NOR 22/OCS 110 pts

11 RUS 4 Basalkina, Anna/Ukraintseva, Vladislava/Maximova, Ekaterina RUS 95 pts
12 FRA 7 Le Helley, Anne/Catherine, Lepesant/Julie, Gerecht FRA 97 pts
13 NED 1 Mulder, Mandy/Faber, Mary/Witteveen, Merel NED 101 pts
14 GRE 7 Bekatorou, Sofia/Papadopoulou, Sofia/Charamountani, Christina GRE 102 pts
15 RSA 1 Provoyeur, Dominique/Alison, Penny/Rew, Kim RSA 113 pts
16 NED 350 Thies, Annelies/Wierenga, Lieske/Heerema, Caroline NED 121 pts
17 ESP 3 Azon, Monica/Azon, Sandra/Pisonero, Graciela ESP 124 pts
18 NED 111 Groeneveld, Renee/Bes, Annemieke/Kampen, Marge NED 128 pts
19 ITA 16 Calligaris, Chiara/Scognamillo, Francesca/Pignolo, Giulia ITA 141 pts
20 CHN 1 Xia Qun, Song/XIAO NI, LI/YAN LI, YU CHN 149 pts
21 DEN 199 Palludan, Trine/Hartvig, Ida/Boidin, Susanne DEN 152 pts
22 CHN 3 Jie, Li/ru, wang/yang, gao CHN 154 pts
23 CAN 14 Provan, Jennifer/Henderson, Martha/Abbott, Katie CAN 170 pts
24 NED 11 Hin, Janneke/V.D. Werf, Brechtje/Hendriksen, Floortje NED 181 pts
25 JPN 1 Shige, Yumiko/Horiuchi, Mayumi/Onizuka, Minami JPN 185 pts
26 UKR 1 Dolynska, Mariia/Matevusheva, Svetlana/Kalinina, Ganna UKR 199 pts
27 CAN 16 Moberg-Parker, Tine/Marshall, Sarah/Robson, Cressida CAN 201 pts
28 GRE 1 Danezi, Altani/karabatsou, zoe/vlachou, evagelia GRE 227 pts

Event website: http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/ynglingworlds/index.asp