Skandia Sail For Gold- Kiwis have another roller coaster in the breeze
by Richard Gladwell on 13 Aug 2010
Hazard (NZL) in action in the Match class on day 4 of the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta. onEdition
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The NZL Sailing Team had another mixed day at the 2012 Olympic venue, competing in the Skandia Sail For Gold regatta as the breeze straightened and freshened over the course of the day.
Today was the first of the second round of the regatta, as the fleets were cut in two after the end of the Qualification Round, into Gold and Silver fleets, ahead of the top ten progressing to the Medal race on the Final day.
Although predicted to only get to 11-14kts the NW breeze came in much stronger at 20kts plus later in the day causing many competitors to struggle - particularly in the Finn class with lighter gear.
New Zealand's Dan Slater was a case in point, starting safely but in a good position in the final race of the day for the Finn class. He worked his way through to a useful second by the first mark, ahead of the Croatian Ivan Kljakovic and moved into the lead soon afterwards.
On the second reach he dropped two competitors but was still well in contention. But for the second beat, the breeze clearly increased with the odd whitecap now being replaced with quite rough water, and several competitors including triple Gold medalist Ben Ainslie, who had been in contact with the front bunch, seeming to struggle.
The high white cliffs of the Dorset coast made a spectacular backdrop for the Finn sailors, who had to work hard upwind and down. For Slater and Ainslie it was a case of damage control, with Slater faring much the better of the two holding on for sixth place, while Ainslie added and 11th to his 14th place earlier in the day. But the positions reversed on the points table with Ainslie holding fifth overall while Slater is on sixth.
Top performance of the day came from Sara Winther in the Laser Radial class, scoring a convincing win (see separate story), she could not back that up in the second race and finished in 10th place to lie in fourth place overall - just five points out of the lead in a very closely grouped event.
Although scoring poorly, by his standards, Andrew Murdoch is still the best best performed New Zealand sailor lying in third overall in the Mens Laser, despite scoring 15th and 20th places today, the latter which was his worst place so far, and able to be discarded in his pointscore.
Behind him it was not a pretty sight for the rest of the New Zealand troops with the two young sailors, Sam Meech and Josh Junior getting a cold welcome to the Gold fleet dropping to 15th and 25th overall after scoring 42nd and a starting disqualification respectively in the final race of the day.
Australia's Tom Slingsby, who crashed so spectacularly at the 2008 Olympics is back in fine form and has dominated the regatta - now holding a massive 27pt lead over Paul Goodison (GBR), the 2008 Olympic Gold medallist
In the Star class the good news is that Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk have recovered from their woes of yesterday placing second and sixth in today's racing - a big improvement on their double places in the 20's yesterday and now lie in sixth overall with two days left in the regatta.
The New Zealand 49er crew of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke also struggled in the fresh conditions, returning three double digit places and have dropped five places on the points table, but are only two points out of fifth place overall.
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie were another crew to regain some form in the Womens 470 class, finishing in second and eigth places in the fresh conditions, which should have been to their liking. They also turned around double places in the near 20's from the previous day and are seventh overall but with a 20point gap to the sixth place boat.
The top Mens 470 crew of Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders could not repeat their performances in the qualification round, and returned their worst place of the regatta, a 22nd - which was their discard and an 11th to slide four places on the points table but are only three points off the vital 10 ten overall and have it all before them in tomorrow's racing.
JP Tobin sailed less spectacularly in the RS:X windsurfer to hold fourth place overall scoring 5th and 7th places. Behind him, Tom Ashley, the 2008 Gold medalist and World Champion is having his worst regatta of the year managing an 11th and 8th places for the day. Having already discarded a 19th from the opening race, Ashley can afford no more low placings if he is to make the cut for the 10 strong medal race - a mark of which he is only one point clear from two competitors who are both on 40pts for the series and in equal 10th. Ashley has a worrying 39points, and faces the very real prospect of not making the cut for the Medal fleet.
For full results http://www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk/news/_992/latest_results!click_here
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