470 World Championship Medal Races - New pairings come good

by Sailing lntelligence on 30 Aug 2009 While the rain gods held off all week, the medal races for the 470 World Championship took place today, run by the Royal Danish Yacht Club off Rungsted harbour, in conditions varying so wildly that Beijing Gold medallist Malcolm Page described them as 'like four seasons rolled into one'.

And so, following today’s double points scoring Medal races for the top ten placers in each event, men and women, Croatia’s Šime Fantela and Igor Marenic are the new Men’s 470 World Champions, while the ever consistent Dutch women, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout, have won this year’s World title in the Women’s event.

Going into the medal race, the Croatian men were looking comfortable in the Gold spot with a 16 point lead over the second placed Japanese, Ryunosuke Harada and Yugo Yoshida, winners of this year’s European championship.

The main fight was on for the remaining podium spots with the Japanese separated by just two points from the Netherland’s Sven and Kalle Coster, the class act earlier this week, and the fledgling British duo of Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell.

With the wind initially out of the west, the unpredictable offshore breeze the sailors dislike, racing got underway for the Men shortly before 1500 local time. The race, held on the shorter medal race course, closer to land, turned into a nailbiter with the lead changing on the first three legs.

On the first upwind, the Costers chose the extreme right while the British were furthest out to the left and narrowly led around the top mark. On the downwind Spain’s Onan Barreiros and Aaron Sarmiento had taken the lead, while a big left hand shift on the second beat saw Australians Matt Belcher and Malcolm Page surge up to first, which they never relinquished.

The Croatians finishing immediately behind them was enough to secure their Gold, while a solid fourth place for Patience and Bithell allowed them to take silver, tied on points with the Japanese Harada and Yugo Yoshida, who moved down to the final spot on the podium.

While they made it look easy Fantela said the race was about as tense as could be. 'We went out in 20 knots and the shower came with 35 knots and then there was no wind and then we started in light winds. So it was hard, really hard.'

But it wasn’t only the varied conditions putting knots in his stomach. 'The race was not so sure for us, because I thought we were OCS on the start. We had a good start and the opening of the race was really good, but because I thought we were OCS, I started to watch where were our opponents – the Japanese, Costers and the British.

Then when the British rounded first and we rounded seventh with the Japanese and the Costers behind us, it wasn’t so good because I was thinking if ‘we are OCS and he is first – we lose!’ Then when we got to the finish I saw we were not OCS and I was really, really happy. I feel really good, really good now,' said Fantela, once he’d arrived back at the Rungsted harbour slipway to be showered with congratulations from both his team and rivals.

Most surprising was the result of the 23 year olds Patience and Bithell, one of the youngest teams in the Skandia Team GBR Men’s 470 squad. They pulled up two places in the medal race to take silver, despite being such a new pairing that they had only sailed for five days prior to embarking on this World Championship.

'I am ecstatic. I can’t believe it. I really am happy, with hopefully more to come…' said Patience, the beaming Scot. 'We went in with all to gain and nothing to lose. We said to each other ‘we are just racing our race and we’ll just go and do what we are good at’. We were more than confident that we could come away with silver today in a medal race that was tight and small and offshore. It was one of those races where people do whacky things and try to go for all or nothing. So that went in our favour.'

But the class act of this 470 World Championship has been another new pairing: that of the Netherland’s Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout. They went into today’s medal race with a commanding lead, only to win it, thereby coming out with the lowest score across both fleets – just 36 points, 24 ahead of the second placed young Spanish crew, Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos, while French long term campaigners Ingrid Petitjean and Nadège Douroux retained bronze.

Despite having led this championship from the outset, the Dutch duo were over the moon to have won their first Worlds. Both are seasoned campaigners, Westerhof representing the Netherlands at the Olympic Games in Athens, where she finished ninth, and Berkhout, a twice world champion, who picked up silver in Beijing last year.

'This is awesome. We wanted it SO SO much,' said Westerhof, literally jumping up and down for joy on the slipway. 'This was not our goal. Our goal was to get close to the top sailors in the world. We started really really well and sailed a very consistent series and then a medal race like this which we won by really really far – it is great.'

As to why they had done so well so early on in their campaign for the 2012 Games, Westerhof explained: 'Two good sailors, a good coach, we had a good structure, we were working together really well….and there is still so much room for improvement still, as we only just got together, like communication and making decisions and who decides what – we are still finding things out and we’ll make sure we work really hard from now on. We’re not going to sit back and relax. We are going to push it through and make sure.'

The majority of the sailors in this World Championship are soon to be heading for Weymouth in the UK for the Sail For Gold Regatta over 14-19 September.

Next year’s World Championship takes place over 9-18 July 2010 in The Hague in the Netherlands.

2009 470 Men's World Championship
Rungsted 20-29 August 2009
Results 470 MEN
Scores take into account 1 discard
No	Sailno	Name	Scores	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1	CRO 83	Fantela Šime, Marenic Igor	58,0	3	2	1	1	6	7	8	8	13	-16	4	1	2
2	GBR 834	Patience Luke, Stuart Bithell	80,0	12	5	4	4	9	15	1	6	-30	7	7	2	4
3	JPN 4340	Harada Ryunosuke, Yoshida Yugo	80,0	2	5	12	2	6	3	(bfd )	2	8	9	3	18	5
4	NED 1	Coster Sven, Coster Kalle	85,0	1	9	3	1	2	1	-22	7	16	11	10	10	7
5	AUS 11	Belcher Matthew, Page Malcolm	91,0	7	5	8	3	2	5	-14	11	9	14	12	13	1
6	AUT 3	Schmid Matthias, Reichstaedter Florian	91,0	14	1	2	3	3	2	17	17	11	1	14	-25	3
7	FRA 44	Leboucher Pierre, Garos Vincent	92,0	4	11	4	4	1	6	(bfd )	27	2	10	8	3	6
8	ESP 9	Barreiros Onan, Sarmiento Aaron	104,0	10	7	6	11	14	1	2	9	1	(dnf )	5	16	dsq
9	ARG 7	Calabrese Lucas, De la Fuente Juan	110,0	4	19	5	8	7	7	9	-25	12	6	13	4	8
10	GRE 1	Mantis Panagiotis, Kagialis Pavlos	120,0	11	8	11	13	1	16	(bfd )	22	3	2	2	9	ocs
11	ISR 7	Kliger Gidi, Gal Udi	118,0	6	4	2	14	5	18	(bfd )	4	14	5	6	29	1
12	AUS 13	Kivell Sam, Ryan Will	131,0	3	2	1	14	4	6	10	-30	23	19	11	19	9
13	ITA 4	Luca Dubbini, Roberto Dubbini	131,0	1	3	9	5	15	10	7	-31	10	22	21	7	11
14	NZL 212	Snow-Hansen Paul, Saunders Jason	133,0	6	4	9	6	8	2	(bfd )	5	5	20	31	21	6
15	SUI 11	Buhler Matias, Steiger Felix	134,0	3	1	3	3	3	6	(bfd )	20	17	15	25	5	bfd
16	GBR 841	Rogers Nick, Green Pom	136,0	9	3	4	2	6	20	(bfd )	23	4	26	17	8	4
17	FRA 7	Charbonnier Nicolas, Meyer Baptiste	138,0	5	2	1	6	8	10	21	13	31	28	1	12	(bfd)
18	GBR 828	Asher Nic, Willis Elliot	138,0	1	3	5	26	3	(ocs )	16	3	25	4	19	20	3
19	GBR 846	Saxton Ben, Kohler David	148,0	11	7	2	9	9	3	5	28	19	13	-30	17	15
20	RUS 2	Sheremetiev Mikhail, Sheremetiev Maxim	154,0	12	8	6	5	11	11	19	15	24	17	-28	11	5
21	USA 1713	McNay Stuart, Biehl Graham	155,0	5	7	3	9	7	1	(bfd )	10	18	27	22	23	13
22	FRA 27	Bouvet Sofian, Mion Jeremie	160,0	5	6	14	17	14	15	20	1	21	3	-26	24	10
23	NZL 198	Woolley Geoffrey, Overington Mark	161,0	8	11	7	2	18	13	12	18	6	25	15	26	(bfd)
24	SWE 341	Dahlberg Anton, Ostling Sebastian	162,0	2	9	11	10	12	2	13	16	20	-24	23	22	12
25	NED 77	Le Fevre Steven, Krol Steven	162,0	11	4	9	18	2	4	(bfd )	26	26	12	18	6	16
26	ESP 1868	Santurde Pablo, Ramos Alejandro	173,0	9	8	13	1	16	3	11	12	29	23	20	28	(bfd)
27	GRE 165	Kambouridis Panagiotis, Orologas Gerasimos	173,0	8	11	7	11	9	24	18	-29	22	8	16	27	2
28	ESP 7	Medina Jose Antonio, Jover Emilio	179,0	7	10	24	12	10	4	4	(bfd )	15	30	32	14	7
29	GER 49	Zellmer Lucas, Seelig Heiko	185,0	10	1	27	18	1	5	(bfd )	14	28	21	27	15	8
30	GER 17	Hauptmann Martin, Chorrosch Timo	189,0	16	14	10	8	12	9	3	21	27	29	9	31	(bfd)
31	FRA 21	Rossignol Alexandre, Boudgourd David	195,0	13	17	7	12	4	19	15	24	7	18	29	30	(bfd)
32	ESP 1	Sanchez Francisco, Illan Ramon	205,0	12	9	6	19	11	11	6	19	32	(dnf )	24	32	14
33	RUS 7	Chaus Vladimir, Gribanov Denis	102,0	6	14	22	7	7	20	5	1	1	4	13	2	(dns)
34	JPN 4271	Ishikawa Yuya, Yanagawa Shouichi	119,0	14	10	15	6	13	-26	1	14	7	19	12	6	2
35	GRE 7	Vasilas Georgios, Papadopoulos Andreas	130,0	4	18	14	17	12	18	7	(ocs )	10	14	5	3	8
36	ITA 11	Zeni Fabio, Nicola Pitanti	139,0	20	13	21	-23	10	7	9	17	3	7	21	8	3
37	BLR 11	Adzintsou Daniil, Meyer Kiryl	145,0	25	16	10	16	5	8	11	7	17	11	14	(dnf )	5
38	GER 74	Zepuntke Daniel, Baldewein Dustin	151,0	15	6	29	21	20	17	17	(ocs )	4	3	1	5	13
39	FIN 7	Lindgren Joonas, Lindgren Niklas	152,0	13	20	17	15	14	5	(bfd )	6	13	16	9	17	7
40	ISR 22	Yosef Yogev, Sela Eran	156,0	13	16	12	9	19	12	13	3	-21	10	18	14	17
41	GER 55	Wagner Jan-Jasper, Scheufler Lennart	160,0	16	12	10	15	19	14	-24	18	6	21	11	4	14
42	GBR 814	Marsden Neil, Dobson Ian	166,0	21	22	5	4	21	-29	8	9	23	20	10	22	1
43	ISR 9	Eyal Levin, Yam Amir	166,0	24	12	16	5	16	18	(bfd )	16	2	2	16	dnf	6
44	SWE 333	Bergstr. Victor, Dackhammar Marcus	166,0	18	6	25	15	15	4	(bfd)	ocs	5	9	3	10	23
45	ITA 71	Airo Andrea, Masoli Nikolaos	170,0	23	20	12	7	24	9	(bfd )	20	12	6	8	18	11
46	POL 50	Piasecki Patryk, Mickiewicz Marcin	173,0	9	21	16	13	22	21	6	4	11	15	-28	19	16

2009 470 World Championship
Rungsted 20-29 August 2009
Results 470 WOMEN
Scores take into account 1 discard
No	Sailno	Name	Scores	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	NED 11	Westerhof Lisa, Berkhout Lobke	36,0	2	2	3	2	1	4	4	6	3	-8	6	1	1
2	ESP 696	Pacheco Tara, Betanzos Berta	62,0	4	-11	4	1	6	5	3	3	8	10	2	2	7
3	FRA 4	Petitjean Ingrid, Douroux Nadège	72,0	2	2	-19	9	4	2	1	18	4	2	4	6	9
4	ITA 23	Conti Giulia, Micol Giovanna	73,0	-17	5	1	7	3	1	2	2	7	13	15	5	6
5	AUS 357	Rechichi Elise, Parkinson Tessa	87,0	-19	6	1	5	2	3	10	16	12	6	9	11	3
6	NZL 75	Aleh Jo, Powrie Olivia	91,0	15	1	9	1	5	8	(bfd )	20	10	4	10	4	2
7	GBR 842	Wilson Pippa, Clark Saskia	91,0	8	4	3	2	6	2	11	-21	13	14	8	10	5
8	JPN 4151	Kondo Ai, Tabata Wakako	95,0	6	10	2	5	2	7	-17	17	11	11	13	3	4
9	GBR 822	Clark Penny, Hughes Katrina	106,0	14	1	5	7	1	15	8	9	-16	12	7	7	10
10	USA 1757	Maxwell Erin, Farrar Isabelle Kinsolving	112,0	5	5	15	6	12	11	18	-22	5	9	1	9	8
11	ARG 8	Sesto Maria Fernanda, Consuelo Monsegur	113	9	9	23	10	7	8	5	-25	6	1	11	8	6
12	ESP 133	Gallego Marina, Rita Roman Julia	124	1	3	20	13	3	20	19	1	1	3	19	-23	11
13	FRA 12	Rol Emmanuelle, Defrance Hélène	127	12	3	20	12	8	4	13	-24	17	5	3	19	1
14	JPN 4321	Yoshisako Yuka, Okuma Noriko	140	5	19	7	16	16	7	6	-26	14	7	16	12	5
15	GER 61	Lutz Tina, Beucke Susann	143	1	8	6	10	7	18	-22	13	18	16	12	17	7
16	ISR 311	Cohen Gil, Mamriev Dana	165	3	13	19	17	16	1	14	4	23	29*	-28	27	4
17	GER 4924	Wriggers Wibke, Genrich Geeske	165	27	7	12	4	27	6	15	5	2	19	25	16	(bfd)
18	DEN 143	Koch Henriette, Sommer Lene	166	11	15	18	3	21	10	7	10	19	17	20	15	(bfd)
19	CRO 111	Nincevic Enia, Zupan Romana	168	18	12	4	16	4	14	12	8	22	20	-23	13	15
20	NED 6	Fokkema Margriet, Jongens Marieke	173	16	11	13	3	8	11	24	7	-26	26	18	18	8
21	GBR 847	Mills Hannah, Chapman Rosie	176	13	18	8	14	13	3	16	29	9	25	14	14	(dnc)
22	USA 1768	Carapiet Molly, Provancha Briana	194	15	9	10	14	18	13	20	12	-28	22	21	21	9
23	RUS 12	Ivanova Natalia, Krutskikh Diana	195	8	4	16	11	11	24	27	15	15	24	(raf )	28	2
24	GRE 21	Sampati Maria-Nefeli, Papadopoulou Sofia	196	10	16	14	4	23	6	9	-28	21	23	26	24	10
25	SWE 326	Ericson Lisa, Gabrielsson Astrid	198	3	7	16	25	18	16	(bfd )	19	dsq	15	5	20	14

At the conclusion of the regatta Morten Lorenzen, CEO of the Royal Danish Yacht Club commented: 'We are really happy – and tired. It has been a really big event for us, but with such a dedicated group of volunteers who have worked from early morning till late night, we have managed to achieve what we set out for: to hold a really great event for the sailors. And the order we send to the weather gods before the event, also came through!

'The Royal Danish Yacht Club’s ambition is to hold high class events, where the activities on the water combine with a great atmosphere ashore. We are all sailors ourselves, and just simply try to create an event we would like to participate in ourselves.'

The 2009 470 World Championship is one of a number of high profile sailing regattas taking place in Denmark this summer as part of wider festival of different sports, called Denmark’s Year of Sport.

To do their utmost to ensure that their events are held to the highest possible standards the Danish Sailing Association is working with the support of the insurance company CODAN (part of Sun Alliance Group), to provide TracTrac tracking during the Laser Radial Europeans, Finn Gold Cup, EUROSAF Match Racing Europeans and 470 World Championship.

The Danish Sailing Association has purchased 150 state-of-the-art GPS tracking devices, allowing races to be followed in real time over the internet.

Last year the TracTrac tracking of the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Aarhus, Denmark was followed by nearly 30,000 viewers from 69 countries all over the world.

Up until Thursday, 79,000 track viewers had been opened by those following the 470 Worlds with total viewing amounting to 27 months.

Live tracking of the 470 World Championship can be viewed here: http://www.tractrac.com/?page=470worlds

Event website: http://worlds470.kdy.dk/