NZ Boardsailors Battle for Top Placings at Athens Test Event

by Louise Andrews on 21 Aug 2002 A sensational day on the water for New Zealand boardsailor Jon-Paul Tobin places him in 2nd place ahead of fellow kiwi, James Wells (3rd), in the Men's Mistral. Tobin and Wells trained hard together over the past season under the watchful eye of coach Bruce Kendall. Peter Fox, who is currently in Athens with the New Zealand team quotes, 'Kendall's wealth of experience has been extremely beneficial to both Jon-Paul and James, they have been training and sparring together and it shows in their performance out on the water'

Sharon Ferris and crew, Jo White and Amy Famularo mastered what Peter Fox attributed to be the 'hardest day on the water' to put them in 7th place, with a 4 and 16th result. Sharon's day is all the more impressive as she is sailing a boat borrowed at the last minute from a local Greek sailor after her boat was stolen last week
in Italy.
Undertaking the long drive to Athens, Sharon and her crew were on the last leg of their journey and were staying in a motel in Ancona before catching an early morning ferry to Greece. Unfortunately their Yngling keelboat was towed away in the night and has yet to be recovered by the Italian Police.

Conditions were difficult, with the wind constantly shifting and those who found the narrow vanes of wind found themselves well ahead of their opposition. The race committee sent the 49er, Tornado and 470 women back to shore and finally abandoned racing after not being able to set a course due to the constant unpredictable changing of the wind.

Full Results from NZ competitors were as follows:

470 (women)
Shelley Hesson / Linda Dickson 16th
470 (men)
Stephen Keen / Phil Keen 19th
Simon Cooke / Peter Nicholas 26th
Andrew Brown / Jamie Hunt 27th
Finn
Clifton Webb 16th
Ian Neely 31st
Mistral (women)
Sheena McKinnon 23rd
Julie Worth 26th
Mistral (men)
James Wells 3rd
Jon-Paul Tobin 2nd
Thomas Ashley 12th
Yngling
Sharon Ferris/ Aimee Famularo / Joanna White 7th
Alesha Thorpe / Samantha Fickling / Michelle Vinsen 16th

(Day 5 was a reserve day - no sailing)
Laser
Andrew Murdoch 10th
Robbie McMillan 26th
David Weaver 44th

Official Regatta website with full results:

http://www.athens.olympic.org/page/default.asp?id=5802&la=2