49er/49erFX World Championship in Argentina - Day 5
by International 49er Class 20 Nov 2015 13:33 PST
16-21 November 2015
The 2015 49er & 49er FX World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina is now one day away from crowning World Champions, along with announcing three more countries who will be heading to the Rio 2016 games.
The Gold fleet was sent out to a beautiful morning on the water with a light Southerly wind, but even though the sun was shining and the sailors were ready, the light conditions prevented the sailors from racing more than one race until midday. Yesterday's thunderstorms put a hold on racing for both the Gold and Silver fleets after Silver was caught out amongst the stormy weather subsequent to the only race they completed that day. Sailing in unstable conditions was what the venue delivered, and only a few in either fleet really got a handle of what was going on out there.
49er
Unstable and light conditions saw 49er crews cast to the front and back of races all day long, except for the Alonsos. The Spanish brothers, Federico and Arturo, have been journeymen of the class for more than a decade and chose a perfect day to get it right. "For sure it was our best day ever," said a humble but happy Federico. "At worlds in gold fleet this is more than anyone can ask for." Their shoreline of 1, 6, 2, 4 was unrivaled on the day and moved them into the lead at one point before the gold fleet drop race kicked in.
They trail only perennial leaders Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who hold a 12 point lead. When asked if the Spanish duo think they can take on Burling and Tuke, true to their understated nature they answered no! "We are just here to race against gold fleet and see what we can do. If Burling and Tuke fall into us, that would be great, but we are just focused on our racing."
The Alsonso are no strangers to the company of grateness. They were the sparring partners to Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez for the best part of five years during that duos run of dominance from 2004-2010. They never really got a look at an Olympic berth themselves, though for a while it seemed like 2012 might be on the cards for them until Iker and Xabi decided to return. They have chosen a great time to sail at their best as this event is part of the Spanish Olympic trials.
The leading Kiwis had two poor races by their standards, but even when they were struggling late into races they managed to claw back to post decent poor results instead of disasters. In the second race of the day, they had a great leeward rounding to gain a small bunch and then a solid final downwind to pull back to mid fleet. In the third race of the day they pulled an unorthodox early gybeset on a screwed run to sail the short side first passing half a dozen boats to get them back into contention. They started the day on a second and finished with the win to remain in commanding position of the championship.
The Alonsos had a strategy of winning the boat, heading right until they got a shift, moving back to the middle and playing the shifts from there. Even on the final beat, Burling and Tuke were heading one way while Outteridge and Jensen were the other, then both team switched side for the next beat. It was the type of day where patience and pluckiness paid off.
Outteridge and Jensen had a commendable day, pulling into 7th overall and within striking distance of the medals. In the fight for country qualification, Germany, Poland, and Argentina look poised to claim the three automatic bids, with Croatia, Belgium, and Japan all fighting for the spots they hope will open up from empty continental spots. There are enough points to be scored tomorrow that any of the team could still win an automatic bid – the pressure is on!
49er FX
The FX fleet saw some challenges across the board today with shifty conditions toying with a lot of the sailors mental games. Leading for most of the regatta, Danish team Neilson/Olsen had been knocked out of 1st and into 2nd by the start of the final race in today's sequence. Marie Olsen noted that today was definitely a tricky one for the two Danes, finishing well into the teens for two out of the four races today. The past world champions Brazil's own Grael/Kunze, who had a slow start early on in the regatta but have found their groove as the first three races of the day they've finished in either 1st or 4th. The pair was knocked back into 2nd by Neilson/Olsen as they finished one point ahead in the last race for the day. Four points separate the two boats, but the two boats have been biting at each other's heels.
Rounding out the top five are Italy's Conti/Clapcich in 3rd; Great Britain's Dobson/Ainsworth in 4t; and finally Hansen/Salskov-Iversen in 5th sitting just one point apart from the 6th place Spanish team of Echegoyen/Betanzos.
The British ladies, Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth, were sitting in tenth going into the day, but decided early on they wouldn't be sitting there for long. Sophie Ainsworth commented, "We said today when we got out there that it was going to be a really tricky day and that we hoped we were wearing our 'Jagger' pants. It's pretty much how we summed up the day, because you know you can try and make your own luck, but sometimes you get dealt a better hand." Better hand indeed for these two, apart from their final race of the day in which they took a bit of a digger into 21st, the pair sailed their own races and finished 5th, 1st, and 3rd. These two were definitely wearing their Jagger pants, Mick would be proud!
The Danish pair, Jena Mai Hansen and Katja Salskov-Iversen, who were sitting in 4th going into today, only dropping one place felt the mental pangs early on starting off with a 16th. The shifty conditions and uneven pressure were getting ahold of Hansen's mental confidence and affecting her style. She notes, "It was tough mentally like, trying to see the right things, trying to make the right decisions, that was really tough because maybe sometimes when you look at other boats it seems like 'ok left is going really good, oh no, now right is going really good,' it was difficult to choose."
The ladies both decided to stop trying to reinvent their style and stick to what they know works - clean starts and getting ahead of the pack early to be able to control what they wanted to do instead of being controlled. When asked about what why she felt she couldn't start the day on the right track Hansen also mentions, "We were a bit too reserved today in the starts, and normally thats not like us." The last race Hansen was able to let her aggressive side out and get off the line enabling the pair to win the start and finish 2nd overall.
Countries looking to qualify sit just outside of the top ten. Singapore (11), Argentina (13), Norway (15), USA (17) and Canada (19) all sit just inside the top twenty. These teams know what they need to do, but can they do it at this 2015 World Championship? Tune into 49er.org, or on all of our social media channels: @49ersailing to get all the updates on the final day of racing.
The 2015 49er & 49erFX World Championship is in Buenos Aires, Argentina from November 16-21, 2015 The event website including results is 49er.org/event/2015-world-championship and the event is sponsored by Seiko, SAP, and Magic Marine.
Burling and Tuke hold their lead into final day (from Yachting New Zealand)
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke will take a 12 point lead into the final day of the 2015 49er and 49erFX World Championships as they attempt to take the 49er crown for 2015 and make it three back to back world titles.
Recently named 2015 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Burling and Tuke are in a good position to extend their unprecedented winning streak in the Olympic skiff class. Victory in Argentina would make it 23 consecutive wins in the 49er class.
After no racing was possible on day four of the regatta an early start was scheduled for day five in an attempt to allow for plenty of catch-up racing. Both the men's and women's gold fleets sailed four races apiece under sunny skies, but not without light wind interruptions.
"It has been a really long day on the water," says Peter Burling. "We got one race off before a three hour delay then into the final three races."
Time spent racing and training in Argentina in the lead-up to the 2015 World Champs highlighted that this was a venue with a unique set of challenges.
Burling and Tuke placed 2nd in what was the opening race of the finals series, then suffered a mid-fleet finish with a 15th in the next. Adding a 9th after that, the kiwis then took a race win to end the day on a high note.
"Today was some of the shiftiest racing we have done in a long time, huge gains and losses," says Burling. "We were pleased to come away with a solid enough day, all things considered."
Today's official report describes the kiwis' performance; "The leading Kiwis had two poor races by their standards, but even when they were struggling late into races they managed to claw back to post decent poor results instead of disasters."
The Spanish brother pairing of Federico and Arturo Alonso, described as 'journeymen' after ten years in the class, managed to close the gap on Burling and Tuke with four good races today.
Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech will go into the final day of racing lying 8th overall in the women's 49erFX Championship. Like their male team-mates their results were mixed and ended on a high - 8, 19, 7, 1.
Currently Denmark's Ida Marie Nielsen and Marie Olsen are leading from Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze of Brazil.
The schedule for tomorrow is to sail three more finals races for the gold fleets before the top ten in both the 49er and 49erFX duke it out in the medal races.
Meanwhile racing is underway in Oman for the 2015 Laser Radial World Championships where the woman's single-handed Olympic class sailors will race for their world crown.
NZL Sailing Team representative Sara Winther has opened the regatta with a 16th and an 11th in today's racing to lie 19th overall in the 100-strong fleet.
Outteridge/Jensen move into seventh place (from Australian Sailing)
Olympic Gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) have climbed up into seventh place at the 2015 49er & 49er FX World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Friday (20 November) local time with one more race day to go.
Four more races plus the top-ten Medal race are scheduled for Saturday local time after Gold fleet racing had to be cancelled on day four of the event (Thursday 19 November) when winds built to gusting strength and a downpour of rain flooded the area.
On the penultimate day on Friday, the Gold fleet was sent out to a beautiful morning on the water with a light Southerly wind, but even though the sun was shining and the sailors were ready, the light conditions prevented the sailors from racing more than one race until midday. Once again sailing in unstable conditions was what the venue delivered, and only a few in either fleet really got a handle of what was going on out there.
Unstable and light conditions saw 49er crews cast to the front and back of races all day long, but Outteridge and Jensen had a commendable day, with Jensen slowly recovering from a gastro illness and pulling into seventh overall and within striking distance of the medals.
"We finally got our first few races of Gold fleet underway. We got there early for a ten o'clock start, but then had a dying Southerly and a really tricky first race. We missed a few shifts and finished 17th. Then we had a three hour wait between the first and the next few races and eventually the thermal breeze came in and it was super unstable and shifty but we managed some good results in the top ten and finished off the day with a second. It was a pretty good day for us considering how tough it was and we sit in overall seventh," Nathan Outteridge summed up the day.
"Seventh is a big improvement on where we were a couple days ago and Gooby's (Iain Jensen) health is a lot better now. He's just started to enjoy a bit of food, so he's pretty chirpy and we are looking forward to tomorrow."
And for the last regatta day ahead he added: "Tomorrow is the last day of the event and we have a ten o'clock scheduled start and as we are behind schedule we're probably trying to get four races in, followed by a Medal race in the afternoon. The forecast looks better with a stronger north-easter that will blow most of the morning so there's a good chance we'll get all our races in and we're looking to push closer and closer to the front of the top ten."
All Australian 49er crews had qualified for the top-30 Gold fleet, but struggled with the challenging conditions and currently sit outside the top-ten with four more races in the final series to go. Going into the final day, Australian Sailing Squad's Will Phillips and brother Sam are ranked 18th with Australian Sailing Team's David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (VIC) following in 19th, while Queenslanders Joel Turner and Lewis Brake are ranked 21st.
Four races were also completed in the 49erFX with Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA) are still in reach of the top ten Medal race after finishing the day in 14th (18, 3, 18, 19).
"We had four races today to make for the missed day yesterday and went into today ranked tenth overall. Unfortunately we had a couple of average races and dropped into 14th. So tomorrow we've some points to catch up on to get into Medal race contention. We'll have four races ahead of the Medal race so fingers crossed we can get back up there," Caitlin Elks said.
Gold and Silver fleet races will continue on Saturday, 21 November with the Medal Races scheduled from 14:55 local time (AEDT Sunday, 22 November 3:55 a.m.).
Live Tracking will be held for the Gold fleet. There will be youtube broadcast tracking with commentary via 49er.org. For in depth analysis and self guided live tracking, please go to 49erworlds2015.sapsailing.com.
The 2015 49er/FX World Championships are the men's and women's skiff season highlight and a total of four Australian Sailing men's skiff crews are competing in Argentina including Australian Sailing Team's (AST) Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW), David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (VIC) as well as Joel Turner (QLD) and Lewis Brake (QLD). Australian Sailing Squad's Will Phillips (VIC) is joined by his brother Sam Phillips (VIC). The 49erFX crew of Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA) complete the Australian contingent in Argentina.