Kieler Woche 2018 - Day 8
by Andy Rice 24 Jun 2018 03:34 AEST
16-24 June 2018
Maria Bozi and Rafailina Klonaridou of Greece take the lead © Sascha Klahn / Kiel Week
Day eight of Kieler Woche started out extremely windy, forcing the race committee to postpone many of the fleets later in the day. Here are the fleets that completed today's racing before 6pm.
470 Women
Two German crews have led the standings all this week in the 470 Women's fleet but slipped down the order today. Maria Bozi and Rafailina Klonaridou of Greece now take the lead with a five-point advantage over Agnieska Skrzypulec and Jolanta Ogar of Poland. Sitting in third overall, Silvia Mas and Patricia Cantero of Spain are just one point behind the Poles.
470 Men
Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström have sailed a very consistent series in unpredictable conditions, the Swedes rewarded with a three-point advantage over the Australians, Mat Belcher and Will Ryan. France's Kevin Peponnet and Jeremie Mion move into the top three for the first time this week, a point ahead of Luke Patience and Chris Grube of Great Britain.
49er Men
Yesterday the top four teams were all within a point of each other but the gaps began to open up today after two testing races in the shifty conditions. Olympic Champion of 2008, Jonas Warrer crewed by Jakob Jensen, scored 8,1 today, moving the Danish crew to a nine-point lead over the Spanish brothers in second, Federico/ Arturo Alonso. Just 0.6 points behind them are another Spanish team in third place, Diego Botin/ Iago Lopez.
Laser Standard
Series leader Elliot Hanson admits he played a 'get out of jail' card today. In the first race the British sailor finished 17th overall and things looked even worse at the start of the next race when he was forced to take a 720 penalty soon after the start gun. "Luckily I had the opportunity to sail low on the reach when the rest of the fleet went high and I managed to pick up about 25 places before the next mark."
Hanson burst into the lead, won the race, and now holds a three-point lead over Philipp Buhl from Kiel. It looks like tomorrow's Medal Race will see some match racing between the Briton and the German, while 13 points further back will be a battle for bronze between Finland's Kaarle Tapper and Croatia's Tonci Stipanovic, the Rio 2016 silver medallist.
Nacra 17
John Gimson and Anna Burnet go into the final day maintaining their lead over the Nacra 17 fleet. The British duo now hold a 6 point advantage over Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin in second place. A third place in today's final race has lifted Austria's Thomas Zajac and Barbara Matz to third overall. However, it's not much of a points gap back to fourth and fifth place, respectively the New Zealand and Danish teams.
2.4mR
In the 2.4mR keelboat class, the reigning Paralympic Champion Damien Seguin continues to hammer home his advantage with bullet after bullet on the scoreboard. Seven victories from eight races put the Frenchman 10 points ahead of Heiko Kröger who sits 17 points clear of fellow German, Lasse Klötzing.
Men's Laser Radial World Championship
Who could manage the game with the waves and shifting winds the best and keep the concentration until the end, had the significant advantage on the third day of the Laser Radial World Championship.
Two races on the inner course were sailed on Saturday. Difficult conditions with inconsistent winds for the sailors, but that way they did not need to tackle the really big waves.
The leading Zac Littlewood (Australia) was dominating the first race from the beginning. The Australian was already on the downwind, while the majority of the fleet was still beating upwind. But in the second race he fell behind, finished as seventh, his discard in this race series.
In the second race, the title defender Marcin Rudawski and Aleksander Arian (both from Poland) had the better feeling for the wind. Alexander Arian was looking back at the pursuers and saw his fellow countryman. Thus there was a double Polish lead on the last downwind to the finish, followed by Josh Amt from New Zealand. The title defender was challenging his fellow countryman and had the luck with him. Alexander Arian got the yellow flag, he had overstretched the rules and had to do a 360. That did cost him so much time, that he crossed the finish line as the third boat. "On the water we are competitors, ashore we are friends", said Marcin Rudawski. "I have tried to predict what the wind will do, and I made it better than the others", he concluded after the victory. The goal for tomorrow: Win the title.
On a physical level, it is more difficult in the big waves further offshore than on the inner course. "I am not one of the tallest and heaviest." But regarding the conditions, Marcin Rudawski still has no preferences. "I am prepared for all winds, but personally like more wind better."
With 37 years, he has more experience than many others in the fleet, but on the other side, he also realises that he is less athletic. "I need more time to recover." After ten years in the Laser Radial these World Championships are his last big event.
Caelin Winchcombe even brought home a place 20. Thus the Australian had to give away the third place in the overall ranking to Marcin Rudawski, Aleksander Arian moved up to rank two. But that did not lower Caelin Winchcombes' mood. "I nevertheless am having fun", he stated about his capsizing. It were the very shifty winds, which lead to that. "It's always good to be out there, no matter what's happening."
Results of the Kiel Week regatta can be found at www.kieler-woche.de
You can check out all the results here