Kieler Woche 2018 - Day 7
by Andy Rice 23 Jun 2018 15:09 AEST
16-24 June 2018
John Gimson & Anna Burnet on day 7 of Kieler Woche ©
www.segel-bilder.de / Kieler Woche
The strong winds and shifty conditions are making it very difficult to be consistent. Yet some crews are firing in bullet after bullet. However in some of the Olympic classes the points at the top of the leaderboard remain extremely close. Just two days to the Medal Races and it's all to play for...
Day 7 of Kieler Woche was another windy one with big shifts across the various race courses. Solid boat-handling was one part of the equation but finding your way through the shifts and gusts was the other big challenge of the day.
Nacra 17
John Gimson and Anna Burnet sailed a stunning day in the Nacra 17, their scores of 1,3,2 moving the British crew to the top of the leaderboard ahead of previous leaders Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin. These two teams hold a bit of a gap on the rest of the fleet with Gemma Jones and Jason Waterhouse of New Zealand sitting in third overall. Nathan and Haylee Outteridge continue to get to grips with the Nacra 17 after only a few days of sailing the foiling multihull. Today's scores of 10,1,3 have lifted the Australian brother and sister combo to 11th overall. The Outteridges had to come from way back in the race that they won, managing to find some good windshifts on the upwind legs to work their way past the opposition.
Finn
Previous leader in the Finns, Ed Wright of Great Britain, now finds himself in the middle of a Kiwi sandwich. Andrew Maloney moves to a one point lead while Wright sits on equal points with Josh Junior who moves to third overall. With a nine-point gap back to another Brit in fourth place, Ben Cornish, it's looking like it will be a three-way fight for the Finn medals this Sunday.
470M
Luke Patience and Chris Grube won two races this afternoon, moving the British team to one point behind the new series leaders, the Swedish. Previous leaders Mat Belcher and Will Ryan have slipped to third overall although the Aussies are still only three points off the lead.
470W
Silvia Mas and Patricia Cantero won both of the last two races this afternoon which moves the Spanish to second overall and within striking distance of the German leaders, Nadine Böhm and Ann- Christin Goliaß, whose advantage is now down to just two points. Maria Bozi and Rafailina Klonaridou of Greece sit in third place on equal points with the Spanish.
49er
The top four in the 49er Men all sit within a point of each other. A bullet in the last race of the afternoon lifts the Olympic Champion of 2008, Jonas Warrer crewed by Jakob Jensen, to first overall. However, breathing down the neck of the Danes are two Spanish crews - Diego Botin/ Iago Lopez and Federico/ Arturo Alonso - with Kiwis Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey in fourth overall. Fritiof Hedström and Otto Hamel enjoyed a stunning day in the strong breeze with scores of 4,1,2 which lifts the Swedes to 8th overall.
49erFX
As with the 49er Men, the points at the top of the 49erFX women's skiff are incredibly close. Yesterday's leaders from the Netherlands have dropped to fourth overall but it's another Dutch crew that takes up the lead - Dewi Couvert and Jeske Kisters - although just one point in front of the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists Alex Maloney and Molly Meech from New Zealand. Just two points further back in third overall are Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke of Germany.
Laser Men
Elliot Hanson of Great Britain has been sailing incredibly consistently with scores of 5,1,1,2,2 to hold a four point lead in the Laser Men, ahead of local hero Philipp Buhl. Back in third place is Estonia's Karl-Martin Rammo.
Laser Radial
Maxime Jonker of the Netherlands has won all five her races so far and holds a three point lead over Norway's Line Flem Höst, with Japan's Manami Doi another two points back in third overall.
Laser Radial Men's World Championship
Niklas Dehne came back ashore with mast and boat separated. At the start for the second race of the Silver Fleet of the Laser Radial Worlds, his outhaul broke. "It was too much wind for my material", he commented. "It felt like more wind on the upwind than yesterday and big waves."
The leading sailors crossed the finish line without any damage. Zac Littlewood (Australia) did decide the qualifier for him. Behind him were Josh Armit (New Zealand) and Aleksander Arian (Poland) on rank two and three. Maximilian Walkenbach (rank 31) and Felix Laukhardt (rank 45) did also quality for the Gold Fleet in the final races.
The strong gusts did not seem to bother Zac Littlewood. He did win twice in a row and thus could keep his top position in the fleet. So the Australians are leading the fleet at the moment, since Caplin Winchcombe did move up to rank two before Aleksander Arian from Poland.
"A little bit more would have been possible", explained Maximilian Walkenbach, who ended up on rank 38. Nevertheless, he is content. The legs are trembling, the muscles hurting. "Until yesterday, up to rank 20 would have been possible." But now the wind is too much, he said. He is lacking height and weight to sail further in front in those conditions. With the steep waves from the right side, he had to watch out to keep the boat straight on the downwind and not to capsize. "But it was great fun, nevertheless." Those are the Worlds indeed and the conditions are difficult, but feasible, he commented.
In total, ten sailors from Germany are at the start line. Maximilian Walkenbach regrets a bit, that there are not more. His brother Philip for example did already start outside of the Worlds during the first part of the Kiel Week, because his highlight this year will be the Laser Radial Youth World Championship in August in Kiel. But Walkenbach did pay tribute to the quality of the fleet. "The first 15 are really strong, after that the level drops a bit." For the next days he will try to keep his rank or improve a bit and climb up onto rank 30.
EUROSAF Parasailing European Championships
For the Eurosaf Para Sailing European Championship, the Hansa 303 class was again the first fleet to get out onto the race course. Piotr Cichocki (Poland) again could handle the conditions the best. His experience in boat handling and feeling for the boat did result in an almost perfect series of race victories. The victorious start was again part of this series and another two victories did follow. Even Waldemar Wozniak did continue his run from the day before and did finish behind his fellow countryman and defend his place two in the overall ranking. Jens Kroker did cross the finish line as the fourth boat, managed to find his race mode again and finished the sailing day with two more second places. So he remains on rank three overall.
In the 2.4mR the overall leading Damien Seguin (France) could also extend his row of top placements. Two further victories left no doubt that there is no-one at the moment being able to take away his top position. In the second race of the day Heiko Kroeger almost managed to win at least one race. But on the last downwind, the French sailor did not just catch up on him, but even could cross the finish line before Heiko Kroeger. Altogether the German had to stick with rank two. Lasse Koetzing did start on rank three on this third day of the Europeans and defended this position.
Results of the Kiel Week regatta can be found at www.kieler-woche.de