2009 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta
14th September 2009Strong day for Aussies, while Wright and Percy & Simpson shine for Brits on opening day of Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta
Australian crews had a sparkling day on the waters off the Dorset coast today (Monday), leading three of the 10 Olympic class fleets on the opening day of the 2009 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta.
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the Star class and Ed Wright in the Finn head the British challenge, leading their respective fleets at the end of day one at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, the venue for the London 2012 sailing events.
Around 700 sailors from 42 nations are competing at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, which is also the climax of the 2008/9 ISAF Sailing World Cup series.
49er World Champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) lead their fleet after the first three races. The pair had to settle for third behind Spain’s Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medallists Iker Martinez de Lizarduy and Xabier Fernandez Gaztanaga in the first race, but won the second and rounded off their day with third in their third and final race of the day.
Denmark’s Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang are second courtesy of a fifth and eighth and first place finishes. There are five British crews in the top-10, with David Evans and Simon Hiscocks leading the British challenge in third overall. They were second in race one, 17th in race two and fourth in race three. Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes, who won the class at the 2007 ISAF World Championships and are now bidding for back-to-back titles at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, are currently 10th.
Tom Slingsby (AUS), winner of the Laser class at the 2007 ISAF World Championships heads the fleet at the end of day one, winning both of the opening races in the blue flight, with Swedes Jesper Stalheim and Johan Wigforss second and third. Skandia Team GBR’s Nick Thompson is fourth on seven points. Thompson, winner of last year’s Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, finished second in the first blue flight race and fifth in the second.
Skandia Team GBR’s Paul Goodison, the reigning Olympic, World and European Champion, is 22nd at the end of day one.
The Star and Finn were the last two classes to finish on day one – and both produced good news for British supporters. Percy and Simpson, Beijing 2008 Olympic champions, won their opening race and was runner-up in the second to lead their fleet from Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominic Zycki.
And there was more good news for Skandia Team GBR in the Finn Class, with Ed Wright leading the Finn fleet. Wright has already wrapped up the World Cup series with two golds and two silvers in earlier regattas to build-up an unassailable 24-point lead. He leads at Weymouth and Portland from France’s Thomas Le Breton.
Finland’s Sari Multala continued the form that won her the Laser Radial World Championships crown in Japan last month, winning both of the opening races in the class at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta. Skandia Team GBR’s Charlotte Dobson – who was runner up at last year’s Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta – is the highest placed British sailor. She came seventh and sixth today, enough to put her fifth overall.
Britain’s Nic Asher and Elliot Willis are lying second in the men’s 470 competition. They finished third and second in blue flight races. Aussies Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page lead the fleet, winning both of their opening races.
New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie lead the women’s 470 fleet, winning both of today’s races. Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes lead the British challenge in fifth with Pippa Wilson and Saskia Clark seventh.
Spain’s Blanca Manchon has already won the overall women’s RS:X ISAF World Cup series, with three series regatta wins and two second places already this season. She continued her impressive form by winning both of the races on the opening day of the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta. France’s Charline Picon is second overall, finishing third in the first race and second in the second. Team Skandia GBR’s Bryony Shaw, Beijing 2008 Olympic Games bronze medallist, is third overall courtesy of second place and third place finishes.
Greece’s Nikolaos Kaklamanakis won the opening RS:X windsurfer race and then finished fourth in the second to lead the fleet from Brazil’s Ricardo Santos (third and second), with Joo Rodrigues (fifth and first) of Portugal in third. Richard Hamilton is the highest placed Brit in seventh, with a sixth and a 10th placed finish in the opening two races of the series.
Four crews take 100 per cent records into the second day of Match Racing, which makes its Olympic debut at the 2012 Games. Crews skippered by Claire Leroy (FRA), Silke Hahlbrock (GER), Silja Lehtinen (FIN) and Lucy Macgregor (GBR) won three out of three today.
In the Paralympic classes, USA crews dominated the SCUD-18 and Sonar classes on the first day of racing. Scott Whitman and Julia Dorsett won both of the SCUD-18 races to lead the fleet from Team GBR’s Alex Rickham and Niki Birrell, who were second in both outings. The Canadian crew of John McRoberts and Brenda Hopkin came third in each race.
Rikk Doerr, Hugh Freund and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (USA) won both of the Sonar races. The Skandia Team GBR crew of John Robertston, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas, who contested both of the last two Paralympic Games, finished second in race one and third in race two.
Thierry Schmitter (NED) – bronze medallist at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games – leads the 2.4m fleet with a first and second place, from France’s Damien Seguin, who finished second and then first in the opening two races. Megan Pascoe is the highest placed Brit in sixth with seventh and fourth place finishes.