Saturday 23 August 2008

49er Olympic Gold Medal to Denmark Confirmed by CAS

SAILING - SKIFF DINGHY 49ER

THE APPLICATIONS FILED BY THE NOCs OF ITALY AND SPAIN WERE DISMISSED BY THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS)

Beijing, 23 August 2008 – The ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has today dismissed the applications filed by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) against two decisions of the International Jury of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) related to the gold medal race of the 49er event which took place on 17 August 2008.

A panel of CAS arbitrators composed of Dr Stephan Netzle (Switzerland), President, Prof. Richard McLaren (Canada) and Ms Margarita Echeverria (Costa Rica) heard the parties today between 9.00am and 2.00pm, as well as the representatives of the Danish NOC, as interested party. After having deliberated, the CAS arbitrators announced that both applications were dismissed and that the decisions rendered by the ISAF International Jury concerning that event and dated 18 and 19 August 2008 were confirmed. The CAS decision with the grounds will be published on the CAS website before the closing of the Olympic Games.

This procedure followed an incident which occurred before the gold medal race in the 49er class event on 17 August 2008. Shortly before the start of the race, the Danish team (Warrer/Ibsen) was sailing towards the start line when the mast of their boat broke. As a consequence, the Danish team decided to use the boat of another team (Croatia) which had not qualified for the gold medal race. The Danish team finished 7th in the gold medal race and was ranked first in the overall ranking of this event. The Spanish team, which obtained the silver medal and the Italian team, which was ranked fourth, as well as the Race Committee, filed various protests which were all rejected by the ISAF International Jury. The two NOCs then requested the CAS to annul the ISAF International Jury decisions, to declare that the Danish team was not entitled to take part in the gold medal race, to disqualify the Danish team and to re-allocate the Olympic medals to the Spanish team (gold medal), to the German team (silver medal) and to the Italian team (bronze medal).

Court of Arbitration for Sport

Unveiling of Official New 2012 Olympic Flag

from Cailah Leask, FastTrack Sailing

The official 2012 Olympic sailing venue, the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) will be marking the Beijing to London hand over this Sunday, August 24th, with the unveiling of a new 2012 flag, given to the Academy by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. This flag can be only be flown at selected 2012 venues. Sunday will be the first time that anyone has viewed the flag and rumour is that the design incorporates the Union Jack within it.

The flag will be hoisted by Mark Stubbings, Chief Executive of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, at 15:00 on Sunday, August 24th.

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy

Friday 22 August 2008

Profile of Adam Minoprio, BlackMatch Racing


Adam Minoprio (skipper/helmsman) and the BlackMatch Racing team won the Toyota Sopot Grade One Match Race in Poland in July 2008. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

by The World Match Racing Tour, with additional material and amendments from SailRaceWin

New Zealand newspapers have labelled him as the next Dean Barker, and at just 23 years old, his BlackMatch Racing team already have the support of Emirates Team New Zealand. His local sailing community in Auckland are expecting big things from the young Kiwi, but Adam Minoprio is a lot more modest about the whole situation. “I have a long way to go, the best out there are still a lot better. But my team and I are still young, so we have lots of time to get better and hopefully be the best.

What does “match racing” mean to you?
At the moment it’s pretty much my life. Hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to make it my career, so I guess it means a lot to me.

What does “sailing” mean?
Pretty much the same as what match racing means. It’s my life.

How did you get in to match racing?
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron youth training programme.


Adam Minoprio match racing Dean Barker on the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland, earlier in his sailing career, as a member of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron youth training programme. Image copyright Anne Hinton.

For others wanting to make it in match racing what would your advice be?
Go do the RNZYS youth scheme. It’s a great stepping stone into competitive racing, and really sets you up. If you are living in Europe it’s probably a lot easier, there are so many regattas that are easily accessible. Get a good group of mates and get out there and do it.

How did you meet your crew and how long have you sailed together?
Tom [Powrie] and I used to sail together as kids. I met the others through RNZYS youth scheme. We have been sailing together for more than 4 years.

What is your biggest goal?
Long term: to win the World Match Racing Tour. [Note: Adam Minoprio is currently #8 in the ISAF Open Match Race rankings.]

What is your most marked characteristic?
Pretty persistent, determined. Never give up.

What do you most value in your friends?
Loyalty

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Easy going.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Caring.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I'm not very patient on the water, that’s something I am trying to work on, to be more patient.

Which living person do you most admire?
If Peter Blake was still alive it would be him. That’s a hard one. Do they really have to be living? There are heaps, Gilly (Peter Gilmore) – I have a lot of respect for everyone competing on the WMRT. I don’t like to idolize one person; I like to take the best attributes from a variety of people!

In which country would you like to live?
New Zealand. That’s a pretty easy question. These places I get to travel to with sailing are all amazing in their own way, but New Zealand still tops them all.

What is it that you most dislike?
Inconveniencing other people by being late, it’s rude. Most of the time you have no excuse for being late.

Which talent would you most like to have?
If I wasn’t a yachty I would want to be real good at... lawn bowls. Nah, seriously though I would like to be an entrepreneur.

What is your definition of a hero?
Someone like Shackleton. An explorer who in times of adverse situations would put yourself second for the benefit of the group.

What is your greatest extravagance?
I used to spend all my money celebrating... just celebrating anything, but now I’ve got no money. Travelling around Europe doing regattas is quite expensive and we have to save everything we can!

Which words or phrases do you most over-use?
Toughen up. I say that a lot, to people who complain about nothing. Actually I say it to anyone really.

When and where are you happiest?
When I’m doing the Friday night Rum Race with all my mates back in Auckland. It’s always a good time, and a good chance to go sailing and not worry about winning or losing. It’s all about having fun.

If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
This isn’t exactly changing my family, but we need more space in our house, with three boys living there and mum and dad, sometimes I feel like we are pretty much living on top of each other.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Well I haven’t graduated yet, but I plan on it. I’m nearly finished with a mechanical engineering degree so graduating would be cool... being in Europe and sailing in the world match racing tour. I’ve always wanted to be here and do this so I guess it’s a pretty good achievement. I get to sail against the best in the world on a regular basis and it’s great.

We noticed you are sponsored by Line 7 the official clothing supplier of the Tour how do you like their apparel?
The Line 7 racing gear is the best as it is lightweight, breathable and looks good too. They also have supplied us with great formal and every day wear. We are proud to be sponsored by a New Zealand brand of clothing and find it easy dealing with Line 7, especially someone like Ross Munro.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being comfortable in surroundings.

What is your greatest fear?
Failing to achieve my goals.

What is your motto?
Never give up – so hopefully I won’t have to face my greatest fear.

Adam started sailing competitively at 8 years old and won his first nationals when he was 11, competing in his first world championship at the age of 12.

Adam's older brother, Simon Minoprio, has also competed internationally in match racing with his own Vision Yachting team.


Simon Minoprio (left) and his Vision Yachting team qualified in first place for the 2004 New Zealand National Match Racing National Championships, which had several America's Cup team entries, whilst his brother Adam (right) was given a direct entry into the event as the top Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron youth match racing team. Image copyright Anne Hinton.

Adam Minoprio and BlackMatch Racing are sponsored by Line 7 and FedEx Express.

World Match Racing Tour

Court of Arbitration for Sport 49er Olympics Hearing Postponed

At the request of the NOC (National Olympic Committee) of Denmark, the ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has decided to postpone the hearing in the procedure CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) & COE (Spanish Olympic Committee) vs. ISAF (International Sailing Federation).

The hearing was initially scheduled for 22 August 2008 at 11:00am. It is now fixed for 23 August 2008 at 9:00am in Beijing, China.

Hearing Details:

SAILING - SKIFF DINGHY 49ER

THE NOCs OF ITALY AND SPAIN REQUEST THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS) TO DISQUALIFY THE DANISH TEAM FROM THE RACE AND TO RE-ALLOCATE THE OLYMPIC MEDALS

The ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has received an application from the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) against two decisions of the International Jury of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) related to the gold medal race of the 49er event which took place on 17 August 2008.

Shortly before the start of the gold medal race in the 49er class event on 17 August 2008, the Danish team (Warrer/Ibsen) was sailing towards the start line when the mast of their boat broke. As a consequence, the Danish team decided to use the boat of another team (Croatia) which had not qualified for the gold medal race. The Danish team finished 7th in the gold medal race and was ranked first in the overall ranking of this event. The Spanish team, which obtained the silver medal and the Italian team, which was ranked fourth, as well as the Race Committee, filed various protests which were all rejected by the ISAF International Jury. The two NOCs request the CAS to annul the ISAF International Jury decisions, to declare that the Danish team was not entitled to take part in the gold medal race, to disqualify the Danish team and to re-allocate the Olympic medals to the Spanish team (gold medal), to the German team (silver medal) and to the Italian team (bronze medal).

The panel of CAS arbitrators appointed to hear this matter is composed of Dr Stephan Netzle (Switzerland), President, Prof. Richard McLaren (Canada) and Ms Margarita Echeverria (Costa Rica).

A hearing in this matter will take place on 23 August 2008 at 09.00am. The hearing is not open to the public.

Court of Arbitration for Sport

Kiwi Olympic Sailors Return to Auckland on 27th August

from Jodie Bakewell-White

New Zealand's 2008 Olympic Sailing Team, with Gold medallist Tom Ashley, is due to arrive back at Auckland International Airport at 7.30am on Wednesday, 27th August. Greet the Team members and congratulate them on their achievements!

New Zealand Equal Sixth in 2008 Olympics Sailing Medals

by Anne Hinton

New Zealand finished equal sixth in the national medal tally for Olympic sailing. The Gold medal of Tom Ashley (RS:X) was enough to match the gold of Danish sailors, Jonas Warrer and Martin Ibsen in the 49er class.

Britain topped the sailing medal table, as she has done at each Olympics in the 21st Century. However, the Brits exceeded their medal tally from each of the last two Games, winning 6 sailing medals in Qingdao (4 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze).

Across the Ditch, the Aussies finished second in the sailing medals table, with 2 Golds (470 Men and Women) and a Silver (Tornado). Spain and the USA finished equal third with one Gold and one Silver medal apiece.

Hosts, the People's Republic of China, made a great leap in sailing to finish fifth sailing nation, thanks to their first ever Gold medal from Yin Jian in the Women's RS:X and a Bronze won by Xu Lijia in the Laser Radial.

Lithuania made it onto the Olympic sailing medals table for the first time, in joint eleventh place, thanks to the silver medal won by Gintare Volungeviciute in the Laser Radial.

A total of 18 countries won medals in sailing on Fushan Bay off Qingdao at the 2008 Olympic Games. Britain won twice as many medals as second place Australia. Nearly half of the countries winning sailing medals were European nations.

Sailing Olympic Medal Table 2008 (number of gold - silver - bronze; total medals):

1. Great Britain 4-1-1; 6 medals
2. Australia 2-1-0; 3 medals
3= Spain 1-1-0; 2 medals
3= USA 1-1-0; 2 medals
5. PR China 1-0-1; 2 medals
6= Denmark 1-0-0; 1 medal
6= NEW ZEALAND 1-0-0; 1 medal
8. Netherlands 0-2-0; 2 medals
9. France 0-1-2; 3 medals
10= Brazil 0-1-1; 2 medals
10= Italy 0-1-1; 2 medals
12= Lithuania 0-1-0; 1 medal
12= Slovenia 0-1-0; 1 medal
14= Argentina 0-0-1; 1 medal
14= Germany 0-0-1; 1 medal
14= Greece 0-0-1; 1 medal
14= Israel 0-0-1; 1 medal
14= Sweden 0-0-1; 1 medal

Data source: ISAF Olympic website results

Over its history of competition in the sailing at the Olympic Games, New Zealand has won a total of 15 medals; 7 Gold, 4 Silver and 4 Bronze. By this reckoning, New Zealand is the ninth most successful sailing nation of all time at the Olympic Games, just behind Australia, which has won 3 more Bronze medals.

Great Britain again tops the table in terms of most successful sailing nation of all time, with 25 Gold, 14 Silver and 11 Bronze medals. The USA has actually won more sailing medals than Britain (59 cf. 50), but lies second in the table by virtue of its 19 Gold medals to 23 Silver and 17 Bronze. Norway is third with 17 Gold, 11 Silver and 3 Bronze medals.

All-time Olympic Sailing Medals by Nation (Gold - Silver - Bronze; medal total), top 10 Nations shown:

1. Great Britain 25-14-11; 50 medals
2. USA 19-23-17; 59 medals
3. Norway 17-11-3; 31 medals
4. Denmark 12-8-6; 26 medals
5. France 11-9-11; 31 medals
6. Spain 11-5-1; 17 medals
7. Sweden 9-12-12; 33 medals
8. Australia 7-4-8; 19 medals
9. NEW ZEALAND 7-4-5; 16 medals
10. Brazil 6-3-7; 16 medals

Data source: ISAF Olympic website

Note: The analysis above assumes that the current results for the 49er class stand. The 2008 Olympic medal results for the 49er are subject to a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing.

Thursday 21 August 2008

Gold for Britain and Spain; Olympic Sailing Regatta NZ News on Day 13




Top: The Spanish pairing of Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz Blanco took Gold in the Tornado (multihull) class.
Middle and Bottom: Britain's Iain Percy and Andrew (Bart) Simpson's downwind speed earnt them Gold in the Star class in Qingdao.
Images copyright protected Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

SailRaceWin is grateful to Juerg Kaufmann and Go4Image for exclusive provision of images of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
by Jodie Bakewell-White, with additional material from SailRaceWin

The 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta has concluded today with the Star class medal race – New Zealand’s Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams have finished 9th.


Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams, seen here sailing against the Swiss team of Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria in the medal race, were second at the first mark, but finished seventh in the race and ninth overall in the Star class in Qingdao. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

With the wrap up of the Star medal race, sailed in gusty winds, rain and big waves off Qingdao, all eleven Olympic champions have now been decided.

New Zealand’s Final Results

GOLD - Tom Ashley, Men’s RS:X
5th - Andrew Murdoch, Laser
6th - Barbara Kendall, Women’s RS:X
7th - Jo Aleh, Laser Radial
9th - Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams, Star
11th - Carl Evans & Peter Burling, Men’s 470
12th - Dan Slater, Finn

New Zealand’s top performance was far and away the gold medal from RS:X windsurfer Tom Ashley, who since his winning race yesterday has been busy fulfilling media commitments.

New Zealand’s most recent Olympic gold medallist had this to say after yesterday’s conclusion to the Men’s RS:X event:

“I’ve done it! It’s the most incredible feeling and I can’t begin to tell you how I feel right now.

“I’ve been working toward this for so many years. It was an insanely tough medal race.”

“The weather had a little bit of everything. I tried to sail as consistently as I could.”

The New Zealand team in Qingdao is extremely proud of the new Olympic champion.

“Tom you’re a legend!! An impressive effort to finally stand on top of the podium!” team-mate Carl William’s commented yesterday: “A true professional with one goal in mind: being the best!”

Another four Kiwi crews had top ten showings with Andrew Murdoch, New Zealand’s second best result at the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta. While Murdoch was disappointed to not return a sailing medal at this Games for his country, 5th place in the hard fought 43 strong Laser fleet is no mean feat.


Pepper and Williams upwind in the Star at Qingdao. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

In today’s Star class medal race Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams came home in 7th place which means their overall result is 9th place. Today’s race sailed on course A in rainy, blustery conditions was quite a spectacle for the crowd, on the harbour wall, who came out to watch despite the weather.

See Carl Williams' blog for his view of the Star medal race.

The battle for the gold medal went the way of Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson of Great Britain, who were lying 2nd going into the medal race. Robert Scheidt of Brazil got up to claim the silver edging out Fredrik Loof of Sweden on count back, who went into today’s race with the lead and came away with the bronze medal.

The international jury, Chaired by John Doerr, confirmed the Silver and Bronze medal placings in the Star class after an examination of the place recordings at the finish from both ends of the line, helicopter and on-the-water video of the finish, and the Omega GPS boat tracks. Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom (Sweden) finished just one second behind Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (France). As a result the Swedish team finished on equal points with the Brazilian team (Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada), but their 10th place in the medal race saw the pre-medal race class leaders take Bronze, rather than Silver, medal in Qingdao.

STAR Final Results (top five)

GOLD GBR Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson
SILVER BRA Robert Scheidt & Bruno Prada
BRONZE SWE Fredrik Loof & Anders Ekstrom
4th POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz & Dominik Zycki
5th SUI Flavio Marazzi & Enrico De Maria

9th NZL Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams


Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski from Germany, featured earlier on SailRaceWin, finished seventh overall in the Star class in Qingdao. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

MEN’S RS:X Final Results (top five)

GOLD NZL Tom Ashley
SILVER FRA Julien Bontemps
BRONZE ISR Shahar Zubari
4th GBR Nick Dempsey
5th BRA Ricardo Santos

WOMEN’S RS:X Final Results (top six)

GOLD CHN Jian Yin
SILVER ITA Alessandra Sensini
BRONZE GBR Bryony Shaw
4th ESP Marina Alabau
5th AUS Jessica Crisp
6th NZL Barbara Kendall


Qingdao marked the last appearance at the Olympic Games for the multihulls. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

ISAF Olympic website results Clicking on a race gives more information on weather, course and mark rounding positions.

Yachting New Zealand

Open Keelboat and Offshore Racing Committee Meeting

from Jude Eades

The KORC (Keelboat and Offshore Racing Committee of Yachting NZ) will hold an open meeting to discuss any matters of interest to sailors and boat owners at 7.30pm on 9th September 2008 at:

Yachting New Zealand
85 Westhaven Drive
Westhaven
Auckland

Topics which may be of interest are PHRF and IRC Nationals. Please come along if you have any matters of interest to discuss.

Contact Jude Eades (jude@yachtingnz.org.nz), Yachting New Zealand, for further information.

Wednesday 20 August 2008

Gold for New Zealand and China: Olympic Sailing News on Day 12 in Qingdao



China's Jian Yin celebrates her Gold Medal in the Women's RS:X windsurfer. Images copyright protected Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

SailRaceWin is grateful to Juerg Kaufmann and Go4Image for exclusive provision of images of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
by SailRaceWin

New Zealand's Tom Ashley added the Olympic Gold medal to his World Championship win in the RS:X Windsurfer in the medal race in Qingdao (see report below). China's Jian Yin took her country' first ever sailing Gold in the Women's RS:X event.

Former (1992) Olympic Gold medal winner, Barbara Kendall showed that, sixteen years on, she is still at the top of the women's windsurfers, finishing sixth in the medal race and sixth overall in the Women's RS:X event in Qingdao. Italy's Alessandra Sensini won the medal race, to give her Silver medal in Qingdao, while Britain's Bryony Shaw took the Bronze medal.


Italy's Alessandra Sensini took Silver in the Women's RS:X. Image copyright protected Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

In the Star boats, three races were sailed off Qingdao today, in winds of 8-15 knots. Pepper and Williams recorded 13-5-11 placings and have dropped to ninth overall, taking them out of medal contention.

The Swedish pairing of Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom maintained their lead in the class, although losing ground to Iain Percy and Andrew (Bart) Simpson of Britain, who are now just two points ahead on nett scores, and level on total points. Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada recorded consistent 3-3-3 placings, and are in third place overall, 12 points behind the British, going into tomorrow's medal race.

Whilst the top ten teams mean that all the expected names are in the medal race for the highly competitive Star class, the strong currents and light, shifty winds, have brought those best able to make the most of the conditions to the top of the scoreboard.

See Carl Williams' blog for his view of the racing.

In the Tornado, any of the top four Spanish, Australian, Argentinian and German teams could take gold after tomorrow's medal race.

ISAF Olympic website results Clicking on a race gives more information on weather, course and mark rounding positions.

Olympic GOLD Medal for Tom Ashley


Tom Ashley wins Gold for New Zealand in the Men's RS:X. Image copyright protected Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image


by Jodie Bakewell-White

Today in Qingdao, China, Tom Ashley has won a gold medal – the first Olympic sailing gold for New Zealand since 1992 when Barbara Kendall won windsurfing gold 16 years ago in Barcelona.


Tom Ashley from New Zealand finished third in the medal race today, clinching the Gold medal, while Britain's Nick Dempsey, lying second before the medal race, finished seventh, dropping him to fourth overall. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

Ashley secured the medal this afternoon after a gruelling medal race where he fought it out with three rival windsurfers for a podium spot and an Olympic medal. With Julien Bontemps of France, Nick Dempsey of Great Britain and Tom Ashley all within one point of each other at the top of the standings, and Shahar Zubari of Israel a little further back but still in with a shot, today’s medal race was a grand finale of epic proportions.


Ashley congratulates the RS:X 2008 Bronze medallist, Shahar Zubari of Israel. Julien Bontemps of France won the Silver medal. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

This has been Ashley’s second Olympic Games appearance after he competed in the Mistral class in Athens 2004 at just 20 years of age. Back then he finished 10th, but the now 24 year old from Auckland’s North Shore has topped that today with the gold medal.

Ashley’s ability to produce consistent results when racing at either end of the wind range has been his strength at this event where the light air and heavy air specialists fell in the standings when conditions didn’t suit them. The fleet started competition ten days ago and have raced in the extreme light winds typical of Qingdao, as well as the blustery and choppy 15-20 knot conditions experienced last Sunday.

It was on Saturday that the Kiwi moved up into the lead spot in the Men’s RS:X class in which 35 windsurfers, all representing a different nation, compete. Since then Ashley has held the lead, until after yesterday’s race ten when the points at the top of the board closed up and he found himself in a tussle with three other medal contenders going into today’s race.

SailRaceWin is grateful to Juerg Kaufmann and Go4Image for exclusive provision of images of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta.

Yachting New Zealand

Tuesday 19 August 2008

Gold for Britain and the USA in Laser and Radial; Kiwi Sailors on Day 11 in Qingdao



Top: Paul Goodison wins Gold for Britain in the Laser class.
Bottom: Anna Tunnicliffe wins Gold for the USA in the Laser Radials.
Images copyright protected by Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

SailRaceWin is grateful to Juerg Kaufmann and Go4Image for exclusive provision of images of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
by Jodie Bakewell-White

Tuesday saw the conclusion of the Laser and Laser Radial classes, race ten and the end of the opening series for the windsurfers, and no racing for the Star class.

New Zealand’s Standings Summary

3rd - Tom Ashley, Men’s RS:X (after 10 races)
6th - Barbara Kendall, Women’s RS:X (after 10 races)
7th - Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams, Star (after 7 races)


Andrew Murdoch wins the Laser medal race in Qingdao. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

Final Results
5th - Andrew Murdoch, Laser
7th - Jo Aleh, Laser Radial
11th - Carl Evans & Peter Burling, Men’s 470
12th - Dan Slater, Finn

The stage is set for an almighty battle for the men’s windsurfing medals at the 2008 Olympic Games with Kiwi Tom Ashley right in the mix. Just one point separates the top three in the men’s RS:X class - France’s Julian Bontemps, Great Britain’s Nick Dempsey and New Zealand’s Tom Ashley going into their medal race set to be sailed tomorrow off Qingdao.

Andrew Murdoch has finished 5th overall in the Laser class which wrapped up today the gold medal secured by Great Britain’s Paul Goodison, adding the third Olympic sailing gold for his nation at this Games. Olympic debutante Murdoch won today’s Laser medal race in front of a spectator packed break wall which lifted him up into the top five finishers in the 40 strong fleet.

Jo Aleh has finished 7th overall in the Laser Radial class after sailing their medal race today on course A soon after the Lasers. Aleh’s medal race today was defined when she had to return to the start line fearing she was over early, and never managed to get back in the race, crossing the line in 9th place.

Barbara Kendall moved from 7th overall up to 6th place on the women’s RS:X leader board after race ten sailed today, and while the five time Olympian has booked a spot in the medal race her chances of adding a fourth Olympic medal to her collection of three has slipped away. The points gap for her to now catch up with the leaders is too great to get to the podium tomorrow.

Despite race eight getting started and more than half way through, the lack of wind on course area E saw that race abandoned, and no further racing for the Star class today.

MEN’S RS:X

The top ten to sail the medal race were decided today when race ten was sailed for the Men’s RS:X fleet. Things have closed up at the top of the standings and Tom Ashley’s three point leading margin after race nine has disappeared after he finished towards the back of the fleet today in very light conditions on course area B.

Ashley started well at the pin end forcing the others to tack away however after choosing to stay on the left the Kiwi suffered dramatically when a 30 degree wind shift hit the course.

The Kiwi discards his result from today, while those close on his tail in the standings both managed a decent finish in the race sailed today. Julien Bontemps of France now has the overall lead on 45 points while Nick Dempsey GBR and Ashley are both on 46 points, so it all comes down to tomorrow's double-points medal race.

None of Bontemps, Ashley or Dempsey are far enough ahead of the fleet on points to be assured of a medal just yet. Also in with a shot at a podium finish is early competition leader Shahar Zubari of Israel. Zubari posted a 4th place in today’s race and is nine points back from Dempsey and Ashley, so a top medal race for him, combined with a poor performance for one of the leading trio could see him climb up.

Further back Ricardo Santos on 65 points has 5th place ahead of the deciding race tomorrow which leaves him an extreme outside chance to close the gap to the podium, although it’s near on impossible.

Tom Ashley comments:

“Tough day today!

“Very light, VERY shifty offshore breeze for the last fleet race of the Olympics.

“I had a really great start at the pin end of the line, and was planning to go left. Unfortunately (!) my start was so good that I made all my rivals (FRA, GBR and ISR) tack off towards the right and I succeeded in getting to the left, at which point the wind went 40 degrees to the right and I ended up deep.

“In those conditions, and being that far behind, there was no way that I would be able to finish in the top seven and make the race count (I was discarding an 8th until today) so I backed off and cruised the rest of the race to save energy for tomorrow's medal race.

“So, the overall situation is very tight now, with three of us separated by a single point at the front of the fleet. Julien Bontemps of France is leading, followed by Nick Dempsey (GBR) and myself one point back. Shahar Zubari of Israel is another eight points back, and fifth place is nineteen points behind.

“With the medal race counting double, this means that the medals will be fought out between the four of us tomorrow. It's all on! It'll be a great way to finish a very toughly fought regatta.”

The Men’s and Women’s RS:X races will be sailed tomorrow with a scheduled start time of 1pm local time.

Men’s RS:X (provisional)
Top five standings going into the medal race

1st FRA Julien Bontemps - 45 points
2nd GBR Nick Dempsey - 46 points
3rd NZL Tom Ashley - 46 points
4th ISR Shahar Zubari - 54 points
5th BRA Ricardo Santos - 65 points

WOMEN’S RS:X

The women’s RS:X fleet rounded out their ten race series today with Barbara Kendall finishing 21st in the race. Today’s race becomes her discard and she manages to leap frog Klepacka of Poland into 6th place.

Despite advancing up the standings Kendall appears to be out of range of the podium with a 22 point gap up to the 3rd placed Shaw of GBR. Alessandra Sensini today relinquished the overall lead to Jian Yin of China, who won today’s race, a master in the extreme light conditions.

Women’s RS:X
Top six standings going into the medal race

1st CHN Jian Yin - 33 points
2nd ITA Alessandra Sensini - 38 points
3rd GBR Bryony Shaw - 41 points
4th AUS Jessica Crisp - 46 points
5th ESP Marina Alabau - 46 points
6th NZL Barbara Kendall - 63 points

STAR

Light winds out on course area E where the Star class race caused delays, and eventually abandonment of all racing for the day. The 16 boat fleet has only sailed seven races so far and have only tomorrow remaining in the schedule to conclude the planned ten race series before the medal race on Thursday.

If wind doesn’t appear tomorrow the series may be shortened for the Star class, though if time and breeze allow they will go for three races tomorrow.

Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams are lying 7th overall in the fleet at this stage with a five point gap up to third placed sailors Rohart and Rambeau of France. Despite the close points on the board the talent pool in this, the oldest Olympic sailing class, is phenomenal and the kiwi boys have got a challenge on their hands to finish strongly.

See Carl Williams' blog for his comments on the aborted racing.

Star (provisional) top seven after 7 races

1st SWE Fredrik Loof & Anders Ekstrom - 23 points
2nd GBR Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson - 26 points
3rd FRA Xavier Rohart & Pascal Rambeau - 32 points
4th POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz & Dominik Zycki - 33 points
5th GER Marc Pickel & Ingo Borkowski - 36 points
6th POR Afonso Domingos & Bernardo Santos - 37 points
7th NZL Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams - 38 points

LASER


Murdoch at the Olympics in Qingdao. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

Andrew Murdoch performed best at the very start and the very end of the regatta, rounding out his first Olympic Games with a win in the medal race sailed today after also winning race nine yesterday afternoon.

In the extreme light winds Murdoch took the early lead in today’s medal race which got underway just after one o’clock off Qingdao. While GBR’s Paul Goodison was intent on doing what was required to secure gold – simply beat Rasmus Myrgren of Sweden to the finish line – Murdoch led the fleet around the course with only Vasilij Zbogar of Slovenia in touch.

Goodison won gold, Zbogar lifted to take silver for Slovenia, and Diego Romero of Italy benefitted from the misfortune of Myrgren to take bronze.

A few average results during the middle of the regatta was Murdoch’s undoing, and given his standing in 12th place going into the penultimate day of racing he did well to recover from there and score a top five placing.

Laser top five final results

GOLD GBR Paul Goodison
SILVER SLO Vasilij Zbogar
BRONZE ITA Diego Romero
4th POR Gustavo Lima
5th NZL Andrew Murdoch

LASER RADIAL


Start of the Laser Radial medal race in Qingdao. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

The Laser Radial medal deciding race followed the Laser race of course A.

Jo Aleh’s hopes of a podium finish were dashed yesterday when she slipped out of contention after races 7, 8 & 9 were sailed. The 22 year old Aucklander was 9th in the medal race today, which was won by Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania.

Aleh’s final result for the 2008 Olympic Games is 7th place. The USA’s Anna Tunnicliffe claimed the gold medal, silver went Gintare Volungeviciute LTU and bronze to China’s Lijia Xu.

Click here for Jo Aleh's own view of the medal race and goal for 2012.

Laser Radial top seven final results

GOLD USA Anna Tunnicliffe
SILVER LTU Gintare Volungeviciute
BRONZE CHN Lijia Xu
4th AUS Sarah Blanck
5th FRA Sarah Steyaert
6th SUI Nathalie Brugger
7th NZL Jo Aleh

ISAF Olympic website results Clicking on a race gives more information on weather, course and mark rounding positions.

Whats happening Wednesday for the Kiwi team?
To be confirmed, but here's the likely schedule...

Tom Ashley – Men’s RS:X
Current position: 3rd (after 10 races)
Medal Race
Start time: 1300 hours
Course area A

Barbara Kendall – Women’s RS:X
Current position: 7th (after 10 races)
1 race – Races 10
Start time: 1100 hours
Course area A

Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams – Star
Current position: 7th (after 7 races)
3 races – Races 8, 9 & 10
Start time: 1100
Course area E

Yachting New Zealand

Nicole Kidman congratulates Aussie Men's 470 Gold Winners

by Laura Baldwin

Nicole Kidman, after whose movies Nathan and Malcolm named their boat ‘Australia’ (following a long tradition which goes back to their boat ‘Bangkok Hilton’), has been in touch with Wilmot and Page throughout their Olympic campaign and was thrilled when they won Gold. She has been cheering them on from the film set and was one of the first to congratulate them on their win.

Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page went into the Men's 470 medal race with a 22 point lead. They needed only to sail in the race to make the Gold medal a reality, but the Sydney pair sealed their victory with a race win, leading from start to finish.

Australian Sailing Team Newsletter

Monday 18 August 2008

Two Golds for Australia in the 470s; Kiwi News from Race Day Ten in Qingdao


Australia's Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page were consistently at the top of the Men's 470 fleet in Qingdao, although their only race win was the medal race, which capped their Gold-winning performance. British sailors, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, moved up to take the Silver, ahead of the French in Bronze. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image


Australia's Women's 470 sailors, Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson, took Gold in Qingdao. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

SailRaceWin is grateful to Juerg Kaufmann and Go4Image for exclusive provision of images of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
by SailRaceWin

Australia's Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page won both the medal race and the Gold medal on Monday, 18th August, in the Men's 470 in Qingdao. Compatriots Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson took the Women's 470 Gold medal, making it a clean-up in class for the Aussie sailors.

Australian head coach, Victor Kovalenko, has achieved remarkable success with the country's 470 sailing teams, and deserves a significant share in the congratulations. Wilmot and Page, who have dominated the Men's 470 class for years, and won Gold in Qingdao by a massive 31 point margin, have now announced their retirement.

Nine knots of wind from the west-northwest, and sunny weather, made for a perfect ending to the 470 sailing for the Australian Olympic sailing team. In the Men's 470 event, the British Athens Silver medallists, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, repeated their performance and took Silver in Qingdao, after finishing third in the medal race. Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset of France took the Bronze medal.

In the Women's 470, the Australians finished 10 points clear of Dutch pairing, Marcelin De Koning and Lobke Berkhout. Medal race winners, Fernanda Olivieira and Isabel Swan from Brazil, took the Bronze medal.

49er

The result of the protests in the 49er fleet saw the Danish team of Jonas Warrer and Martin Ibsen awarded the Gold medal after the protests against them were dismissed. The protest committee, chaired by John Doerr, found that the Danes had notified the Olympic Measurement Committee of the change of boat as soon as practical after racing, having started the race only 3 seconds within the time limit to do so. This change of boat request was then approved and the boat was found to comply with measurement checks. The Danish team had not gained a competitive advantage by having incorrect identification on the boat during racing, or failing to carry an onboard camera for the medal race.

In the 49er class, Silver medal went to Iker Martinez de Lizarduy and Xabier Fernandez Gaztanaga of Spain, with Bronze won by Germany's Jan-Peter and Hannes Peckholt.

Kiwi Olympic Sailing News, 18th August 2008

by Jodie Bakewell-White

Adding three races in one day was always going to make some impressions on the overall standings at the Olympic Sailing Regatta in Qingdao, China. With sufficient breeze, albeit fading through the day, the Laser, Radial and Star and fleets all sailed three races today and things have changed on the leader boards.
The top ten to sail in the medal race has now been decided for the Laser and Radial classes and these will be sailed tomorrow.

New Zealand’s Standings Summary

1st - Tom Ashley, Men’s RS:X (after 9 races)
6th - Andrew Murdoch, Laser (after 9 races)
7th - Jo Aleh, Laser Radial (after 9 races)
7th - Barbara Kendall, Women’s RS:X (after 9 races)
7th - Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams, Star (after 7 races)

12th Dan Slater, Finn (Final result)
11th - Carl Evans & Peter Burling, Men’s 470 (Final result)

The RS:X fleets both added two races today, have now completed nine and will be back on the water for race ten tomorrow ahead of their medal races on Wednesday.

Tom Ashley continues to lead the Men’s RS:X class though Nick Dempsey of Great Britain has gained some ground on the kiwi after today’s two races. Ashley returned two more consistent races, finishing 6th and then 8th. Race ten was abandoned late in the afternoon due to a dying breeze and has been rescheduled for tomorrow. Ashley leads on 38 points with Dempsey close behind on 41, while Julien Bontemps of France is third with 42 points.

Barbara Kendall was 6th in race eight and then 13th in race nine today which sees her slip slightly to 7th overall. One race remains before the top ten medal race participants are decided in the Women’s RS:X class.

Jo Aleh sits in 7th place overall going into the Laser Radial medal race. After two 14th places and a 20th in today’s three races her medal chances have slipped away. With a 28 point gap between her and Lijia Xu who holds 3rd overall Aleh won’t be able to make up the ground to hit the podium with only the medal race to sail.

Over in the Laser class Andrew Murdoch had some work to do today to move from 12th place up into contention for the medal race. The 26 year old from Kerikeri, Northland has managed that with ease climbing his way back up to sit in 6th overall at the end of what was a nine race opening series for the Lasers. Murdoch was 5th in race seven, 17th in race eight and closed the day with a win in race nine.

After seven races for the Star class the points remain close. Starting the day with a convincing win in race five, Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams then went on to post a 12th and an 11th in races six and seven. They now sit in 7th place on the leader board, on equal points with Robert Scheidt of Brazil in 8th place.

MEN’S RS:X

While the intention was for three RS:X races today only two were possible. The fleets are required to return ashore after two consecutive races in order to recuperate. However in the dying breeze in Qingdao today this meant that by the time the windsurfers went back out for race ten the wind had evaporated.

Tom Ashley was 6th in his first race of the day, and then 8th. His previous poorest race had been a 7th place early on in the series, so race nine now becomes his discard and he has a points total of 38. His five point buffer over second place has dropped to three points, with GBR’s Nick Dempsey moving up and ousting Julien Bontemps of France for second place. The Frenchman is in third and is just one point adrift of Dempsey.

With race ten rescheduled for tomorrow the 35 strong fleet will be back on the water on what was originally planned as a rest day. By tomorrow afternoon in Qingdao the overall standings ahead of the Men’s RS:X medal race will be decided.

Men’s RS:X medal race is planned for Wednesday 20th on course area A off Qingdao.

Men’s RS:X (provisional) top results after races

1st NZL Tom Ashley - 38 points
2nd GBR Nick Dempsey - 41 points
3rd FRA Julien Bontemps - 42 points
4th ISR Shahar Zubari - 51 points
5th BRA Ricardo Santos - 52 points

WOMEN’S RS:X

As with the men’s fleet the Women’s RS:X sailed two races today, one short of the planned three, leaving race ten to be sailed tomorrow before Wednesday’s medal race.

Barbara Kendall was 6th in race eight and then 13th in race nine, which becomes her discard score. Today’s results saw her slip from 5th overall back to 7th place in the overall standings. She has 50 points just one shy of Polish sailor Klepacka ahead of her in 5th place.

Reigning world champ, Alessandra Sensini has taken the lead today pushing local Chinese girl Jian Yin back into second place.

Women’s RS:X (provisional) top results after races

1st ITA Alessandra Sensini - 30 points
2nd CHN Jian Yin - 32 points
3rd ESP Marina Alabau - 37 points
4th GBR Bryony Shaw - 39 points
5th AUS Jessica Crisp - 41 points
6th POL Zofia Klepacka - 49 points
7th NZL Barbara Kendall - 50 points

STAR

Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams made a great start today winning their opening race of the day in flying form. Opening up a sizable gap on the fleet in the second beat, the pair was 43 seconds ahead going around mark three and romped home over a minute clear to take the win.

Races six and seven weren’t as fruitful for the Kiwi pair who was 12th and then 11th in those races respectively. Mixed results for many Star crews today, Pepper and Williams included, meant that overall standings shuffled continuously. At the conclusion of the day the kiwis have 38 points and 7th place; Robert Scheidt also has 38 points in 8th place.

The points are still close ahead of Pepper and Williams and another three races are yet to be sailed before the top ten are decided, which means there may be more shuffling on the leader board.

Fredrik Loof of Sweden currently holds the lead. The Star medal race is on Thursday 21st August.

See Carl Williams' blog for his account of the day's racing.

Star (provisional) top seven after 7 races

1st SWE Fredrik Loof & Anders Ekstrom - 23 points
2nd GBR Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson - 26 points
3rd FRA Xavier Rohart & Pascal Rambeau - 32 points
4th POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz & Dominik Zycki - 33 points
5th GER Marc Pickel & Ingo Borkowski - 36 points
6th POR Afonso Domingos & Bernardo Santos - 37 points
7th NZL Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams - 38 points

LASER RADIAL

Today didn’t go the way of New Zealand’s Jo Aleh on the Laser Radial course who slipped from 3rd overall to 7th place after races 7, 8 and 9 sailed today off Qingdao.

Aleh, competing at her first Olympic Games, will line up with the top ten tomorrow for the Laser Radial medal race, but the points difference that opened up today means that she is not in a position to make a challenge for the podium.

Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA will start the medal race as the favourite for the gold medal, with a seven point leading margin over Volungeviciute LTU in second place.

Click here for Jo Aleh's own view of the day's racing.

The Laser Radial Medal race is scheduled to start at 1pm local time in Qingdao Tuesday.

Laser Radial (provisional) top seven after 9 races

1st USA Anna Tunnicliffe - 33 points
2nd LTU Gintare Volungeviciute - 40 points
3rd CHN Lijia Xu - 44 points
4th AUS Sarah Blanck - 54 points
5th FRA Sarah Steyaert - 61 points
6th BEL Evi Van Acker - 71 points
7th NZL Jo Aleh - 72 points

LASER

Andrew Murdoch made the most gains today of all the New Zealanders still in action. Leaving the boat park this morning Murdoch was in 12th place and needed to lift his game and return some top results to make the medal race cut for tomorrow.

In race seven Murdoch stayed in the leading pack throughout the race and crossed the finish line in 5th place. He couldn’t repeat this in race eight, and rounded mark one mid fleet in 20th place, then managing to come back to cross in 17th.

In race nine the Kiwi took the lead early on, and despite the group just behind in hot pursuit Murdoch held on to take his first race win of the Olympic regatta and further improve his overall position.

The Laser Medal race will be sailed tomorrow on course A.

Laser top five (provisional) after 6 races

1st GBR Paul Goodison - 45 points
2nd SWE Rasmus Myrgren - 63 points
3rd POR Gustavo Lima - 65 points
4th SLO Vasilij Zbogar - 67 points
5th ITA Diego Romero - 69 points
6th NZL Andrew Murdoch - 79 points

ISAF Olympic website results Clicking on a race gives more information on weather, course and mark rounding positions.

What's happening Tuesday for the Kiwi team?

Andrew Murdoch – Laser
Current position: 6th (after 9 races)
Medal Race only
Start time: 1300 hours
Course area A

Jo Aleh – Laser Radial
Current position: 7th (after 9 races)
Medal Race only
Start time: 1300 hours
Course area A

Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams – Star
Current position: 7th (after 7 races)
2 races – Races 8 & 9
Start time: 1300
Course area E

Tom Ashley – Men’s RS:X
Current position: 1st (after 9 races)
1 race – Race 10
Start time: 1100 hours
Course area B

Barbara Kendall – Women’s RS:X
Current position: 7th (after 9 races)
1 race – Races 10
Start time: 1100 hours
Course area B

Yachting New Zealand

Leading RS:X Windsurfer, Tom Ashley, on Day Nine in Qingdao

Comments from Tom Ashley after day nine…

“Breeze on today! We sailed two races in 17-23 knots with big waves and frequent rain squalls. Epic sailing conditions!

“I posted a 5th and a 3rd to take the series lead from Julien Bontemps (FRA) and Shahar Zubari (ISR).

“The first race got off to a pretty bad beginning as I chose the wrong end of the start line and struggled to get going on the first upwind. I passed a bunch of boards on the first downwind and a couple more on each leg to end up fifth in the race, just ahead of rivals Zubari and Nick Dempsey (GBR).

“The second race went much better for me. I had a great start and was with the leaders for the whole race, sailing conservatively and not having to take any risks to catch up. I rounded the top mark 7th and improved to 3rd as the race went on and a few guys made mistakes.

“The race committee was planning on holding a third race for us today, but in the end they decided against it. It would have been nice to do another one in those conditions!

“Tomorrow's forecast is for good breeze in the early morning which should back off as the day goes on. We are scheduled to do three races starting at 1100, but in Qingdao you never know whether racing will happen until the start gun goes, so we'll see!!!”

NZ Olympic Committee

Baltic Match Cup 2008 Won by Björn Hansen


Björn Hansen and the winning Swedish team at the Baltic Match Cup, ISAF Grade 2 match race, Nyländska Jaktklubben, Helsinki. Image copyright protected by Match Race Center, Nyländska Jaktklubben.

by Niklas Lindqvist

Today the 3 remaining flights were sailed in the round robin for the ISAF match race Grade 2 Baltic Match Cup, held in J/80s from the Nyländska Jaktklubben (NJK) in Helsinki. Many exciting matches took place on the water. The wind was very shifty, but still the races went well.

After the round robin, Walker as winner of the RR chose Pasini as his opponent in the semifinals for the afternoon. The other semifinal pair was Hansen and Minoprio.

After 3 flights Hansen and Pasini met in the finals, with Hansen (Sweden) winning the event. Walker and Minoprio sailed against each other in the petit-final, with Minoprio gaining the upper hand.


First (middle of picture), second (left of image) and third (right of image) placed teams, respectively Hansen from Sweden, Pasini from Italy, and Minoprio and the BlackMatch crew from New Zealand, at the prizegiving of the Baltic Match Cup 2008. Image copyright protected by Match Race Center, Nyländska Jaktklubben.

Final Results:

1. Björn Hansen (Sweden)
2. Jacopo Pasini (Italy)
3. Adam Minoprio (New Zealand)
4. Evan Walker (Australia)

NJK Match Race Center

BlackMatch Finish Third at Baltic Match Cup 2008

from David Swete, BlackMatch Racing

After finishing the round robin we (BlackMatch Racing, helmsman Adam Minoprio NZL) found ourselves in 4th position, qualifying for the semifinals along with Jacopo Pasini, Evan Walker and Bjorn Hansen.

2008 Hardy Cup Champion Evan Walker from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia again showed his form today, finishing the round robin in first place with only 1 loss in 11 races. This meant he had the choice of who to race in the best of 3 semi final and he choose Italian Jacopo Pasini. BlackMatch were left with the unenviable task of racing world #4 Bjorn Hansen, and he eventually won the semifinal 2-1 after some very close racing.

After two tight races we were both on match point in the semifinal and facing scoreboard pressure. The last race provided some exciting action on the water, but, in a bottom mark incident, we were handed two penalties which essentially gave the Swede the victory.

The incident came about when we surged inside Bjorn at the bottom mark. We thought we had gained an overlap and thus inside rights to round the mark, but the umpires deemed we had not obtained an overlap outside the 2 boat length zone and we were handed a penalty. After about another minute of sailing we were handed a second penalty to be taken immediately as the umpires thought we had gained an advantage from the incident. This was, however, not true as Bjorn had gained a 3 boat length lead after the rounding so following our penalty the Swedish team's lead was too big for us to recover.

The form team of the week from Australia suffered an upset loss against the Italian team. This meant we had to race Evan Walker for 3rd place and we managed to take a very comfortable win to finish the regatta on a positive note.

It was a little disappointing to not step up for this regatta and win our 4th regatta of the year, however it has been a great experience and has put us in good stead for our next two World Tour events in a fortnight.

Fedex Express and Line 7 have given us support throughout the year and we would again like to extend to them a special thank you. Again a special thank you to our yacht club The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadon.

BlackMatch Racing

Two Golds for Britain; Kiwis Enjoy the Wind in Qingdao



Top: Britain's Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson surfed to victory in the medal race and Gold at the Qingdao Olympics in the Yngling.
Bottom: Ben Ainslie, Finn Gold medallist 2008, surfs to victory in the medal race in Qingdao.
Images copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

SailRaceWin is grateful to Juerg Kaufmann and Go4Image for exclusive provision of images of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
by SailRaceWin

Wind, waves and rain greeted competitors on day nine of the 2008 Olympic Games sailing events in Qingdao. Three medal races were held: Finn, Yngling and 49er, for nine of the sailing medals.

Finn

Ben Ainslie gave an excellent demonstration of downwind Finn racing in a breeze to surf to victory in the class' medal race and Gold in the 2008 Olympic Games, to add to his 2004 Finn Gold, and 2000 and 1996 Gold and Silver medals in the Laser class.


World ranked number 1 Finn sailor, Jonas Hoegh-Christensen of Denmark, enjoys the breeze in the medal race, in which he finished second, giving him 6th place overall. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

Visibility issues delayed racing and the Ynglings were the first to complete their medal race on Sunday, 17th August, on Fushan Bay, off Qingdao. After a delayed start, the 20 knot breeze meant that Ainslie sailed a very different race from the light airs tactics of the previous day. Ainslie kept only a very loose cover on American Zach Railey in today's race.

Hoegh-Christensen of Denmark, Trujillo of Spain and Florent (France) enjoyed the breezy conditions, and finished second, third and fourth behind Ainslie in the racing. Railey held on to sixth place to give him the Silver medal. However, Birgmark of Sweden moved up to seventh at the finish and tied on points with Florent, but the Frenchman won the Bronze medal by virtue of finishing ahead in the medal race.


Ainslie flies the British flag after winning Gold at the Olympics in 2008. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

Most decorated Olympic Sailors

Ainslie is now joint second most decorated sailing Olympian of all time, having the same number of Gold (3) and Silver (1) medals as Germany's Jochen Schuemann, and Valentin Mankin from the Ukraine. Only Denmark's Paul Elvstrom has won more sailing Olympic Gold medals (4).

Schuemann's feat was over more than two decades of Olympic sailing, starting with a Gold in the Finn class in 1976 and finishing with Silver in the Soling in Sydney 2000, twice scoring just out of the medals (5th in the Finn in Moscow 1980 and 4th in the Soling in Barcelona 1992; Schuemann missed the 1984 Los Angeles Games due to the Warsaw Pact boycott, else would have competed there in the Finn).

Mankin won his Gold and Silver medals in the Finn (1968 - Gold), Tempest (1972 - Gold; 1976 - Silver) and Star (1980 - Gold) classes between 1968 and 1980.

However, Ainslie has won Gold consecutively in each of the last three Olympic Games (Laser in Sydney and Finn in Athens and Qingdao) and Silver at his first attempt in the Laser in the Atlanta Games. Like Elvstrom, Ainslie has just sailed single-handed boats in the Olympics.

Yngling

Meanwhile, the first Gold medal of the day was won by Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson in the Yngling class, for Britiain. They overtook Germany's Uli Schuemann [no relation of Jochen Schuemann] on the final leg, and these two boats finished the medal race well ahead of the rest of the fleet. This gave the Germans fourth overall in class.

The Greek team of Sofia Bekatorou, Sofia Papadopoulou and Virginia Kravarioti finished third in the medal race, and took Bronze in the Yngling, behind the Silver medal winning Dutch team of Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen, who were fourth in the medal race.

The Russians hit the French Yngling and holed it at the start of the medal race. Although the Russians took a penalty, the increasing amount of water onboard slowed the French boat and she was awarded redress, moving from 8th place to equal 5th in the medal race. In further drama, it emerged that the Australian crew did not weigh in before the medal race today. The Australian Yngling was disqualified from the medal race in consequence, dropping them to 10th position overall.


British Yngling Gold medallists in Qingdao: Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann, Go4Image

49er

The 49er results are pending as the Danish team, leading the event, Jonas Warrer and Martin Ibsen, suffered a broken mast before the start of the medal race and borrowed the Croatian 49er boat for the medal race. They have provisionally won the Gold medal. However, the Danes have been protested by the Race Committee concerning their change of boat. The protest will be heard on 18th August.

In more 49er fleet drama, first the Italians, Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello, and then the Australian medal race leaders, Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin, capsized on the final leg of the race. This affected the overall results, with the Spanish (Iker de Lizarduy/Xabier Gaztanaga) and Germans (Jan-Peter and Hannes Peckolt) finishing first and second in the medal race, giving them, provisionally, Silver and Bronze medals in class, respectively. Provisionally, the Italians and Australians have finished in fourth and fifth overall in the 49er class.

New Zealand report for 17th August (Day Nine)

from Jodie Bakewell-White

It’s been an action packed day at the Olympic Sailing venue, Qingdao, China, on day ten of the regatta. Strong winds and heavy rain, medals decided in three classes, delays and further postponements.

New Zealanders in action included windsurfers Tom Ashley and Barbara Kendall sailing two races each; Andrew Murdoch; Jo Aleh and Star crew Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams all sailing one race a piece. The day has had its ups and downs for the Kiwi team.

New Zealand’s Standings Summary

1st - Tom Ashley, Men’s RS:X (after 7 races)
3rd - Jo Aleh, Laser Radial (after 6 races)
5th - Barbara Kendall, Women’s RS:X (after 7 races)
6th - Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams, Star (after 4 races)
12th - Andrew Murdoch, Laser (after 6 races)

12th Dan Slater, Finn (Final result)
11th - Carl Evans & Peter Burling, Men’s 470 (Final result)

Tom Ashley has moved up into the lead spot in the Men’s RS:X fleet who have now sailed seven races. After a 5th and a 3rd in racing today the Kiwi has ousted Shahar Zubari of Israel from the top of the leader board, and now has a five point buffer over Julien Bontemps FRA in second place.

Barbara Kendall relished the blustery and choppy conditions and came away with two more solid results to add to her scorecard. After a 4th and a 3rd in races six and seven sailed today the veteran Olympian has moved up from 6th overall into 5th place four points back from 4th.

Jo Aleh slipped out of the lead in the Laser Radials after a 14th place in the one race sailed today. She now has 3rd place overall just one point behind Anna Tunnicliffe USA in second.

The Star class has now completed four races, adding just one today, conditions on course area E reportedly rugged. Kiwi crew Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams were 11th in today’s race which means they now sit in 6th place overall in the 16 boat fleet on equal points with USA in 5th.

MEN’S RS:X

Today’s wet and windy conditions provided an exciting prospect for Tom Ashley who often demonstrates the advantage of performing well regardless of the conditions. So while the Auckland based windsurfer, who is competing at his second Olympic Games, has been consistent in the extreme light of Qingdao so far, he can also produce results on windy days. And that’s what Qingdao provided today – 15-20 knots of south westerly winds with swelly, choppy sea conditions.

“The racing is extremely tight and everyone is sailing at a very high level,” said Ashley yesterday. “Events like this generally are won and lost on attrition as guys make mistakes and take themselves out of the running, so consistency will definitely be the key as the regatta goes on and we race in different conditions.”

Under way on schedule today the Men’s RS:X started first on course area B at around midday, organizers hoping to fit in three races to catch up on the programme. At mark one Ashley was buried in the fleet rounding in 17th place, dropping back to 27th at one point. But, as he did in race five, Ashley staged a comeback, up to 5th, and gaining another place on the final run to the line, finishing 4th.

In race seven which followed Ashley didn’t lose sight of the leaders, rounding each mark within the top five, and again passing sailors as the race progressed to record a 3rd place. As some of his counterparts fell by the wayside unable to bring home the results in the strong winds Ashley moved up the leader board to take the top spot after seven races.

Ashley will compete again tomorrow.

Men’s RS:X (provisional) top five results after 7 races

1st NZL Tom Ashley - 25 points
2nd FRA Julien Bontemps - 30 points
3rd ISR Shahar Zubari - 31 points
4th GBR Nick Dempsey 11 - 33 points
5th HKG King Yin Chan - 40 points

WOMEN’S RS:X

Barbara Kendall was strong in the breeze today as well, continuing her climb up the standings in the women’s RS:X improving from 6th to 5th overall after today’s racing. Kendall, like Ashley is showing consistent results finishing within the top four in her most recent four races, her worst result so far coming in her first race of the regatta.

Points are close around her. Kendall is four points adrift of Marina Alabau ESP in 4th and three points ahead of Bryony Shaw GBR. China’s Jian Lin of Qingdao is China’s biggest hope for a sailing medal continuing to lead the Women’s RS:X ahead of three time Olympic medalist Alessandra Sensini of Italy.

Both RS:X medal races are scheduled for Wednesday 20th so there is time in the schedule to complete the ten race series to decide the top ten. They will be back on the water again tomorrow.

Women’s RS:X top six results after races

1st CHN Jian Yin - 16 points
2nd ITA Alessandra Sensini - 23 points
3rd AUS Jessica Crisp - 26 points
4th ESP Marina Alabau - 28 points
5th NZL Barbara Kendall - 32 points

STAR

The Star fleet had a long day on the water, despite this they only managed to sail one race, and have now completed four. Set for an early start to racing at midday the sailors on course area E (Star and Tornado) found their racing held up while the Committee boat recovered from a potential sinking.

Finally underway at 3:40pm in the afternoon, Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams returned their poorest race yet, coming home in 11th and slipping back to 6th place overall in a day which saw much shuffling of positions on the leader board.

Points remain tight at the top and the Kiwis are only five points behind the Polish pair who have taken the lead today. The last class to get underway at the Games regatta, the Stars will see plenty more water under the bridge before the medal race next Thursday.

Read Carl Williams' blog for his view of the day's racing.

Star top six (provisional) after 4 races

1st POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz & Dominik Zycki - 21 points
2nd FRA Xavier Rohart & Pascal Rambeau - 22 points
3rd SWE Fredrik Loof & Anders Ekstrom - 23 points
4th GER Marc Pickel & Ingo Borkowski - 25 points
5th USA John Dane & Austin Sperry - 26 points
6th NZL Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams - 26 points

LASER RADIAL

Just one race was sailed for the Laser Radial fleet in today’s conditions which were at the other end of the extreme to what’s been seen during the opening week of the Olympic sailing event.

Jo Aleh wasn’t able to continue her streak of 2nd places finishing 14th in today’s race. After today Aleh lies 3rd overall, just one point behind Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA.

Click here for Jo Aleh's own view of the day's racing.

The Laser Radials will be back on the water on Monday.

Laser Radial top five (provisional) after 6 races

1st LTU Gintare Volungeviciute - 17 points
2nd USA Anna Tunnicliffe - 23 points
3rd NZL Jo Aleh - 24 points
4th CHN Lijia Xu - 26 points
5th FRA Sarah Steyaert - 37 points

LASER

Back in form after suffering at the mercy of Qingdao’s light and shifty wind over recent races, Andrew Murdoch finished 5th in his only race of the day – race six for the 43 strong Laser fleet. The improved result improves his overall standing in the fleet and the 26 year old gains one place to 12th overall.

Murdoch was disappointed that just one race was sailed today, three were scheduled but course officials struggled with sea conditions and had difficulty setting courses and getting the fleet started.

Laser top five (provisional) after 6 races

1st GBR Paul Goodison - 34 points
2nd SLO Vasilij Zbogar - 37 points
3rd ARG Julio Alsogaray - 38 points
4th FRA Jean Baptiste Bernaz - 38 points
5th SWE Rasmus Myrgren - 38 points

12th NZL Andrew Murdoch - 56 points

Yachting New Zealand

ISAF Olympic website results Clicking on a race gives more information on weather, course and mark rounding positions.

Sunday 17 August 2008

BlackMatch Report on Day Two at the Baltic Match Cup, Helsinki

from David Swete

Saturday was day two of the Baltic Match Cup in Finland and although there was plenty of action on the water in an attempt to finish off the first round robin, we were only involved in three races, winning 2 from 3. We still have 3 races on the final day, Sunday, to see if we will proceed through to the semi-final stage of the regatta and we are currently looking ok, lying in 2nd position to Australian Evan Walker, who only has 1 loss.

Our loss today came against world #4 and Baltic Match Cup regular, Bjorn Hansen. It was however an extremely close race and we took many positives out of it that we are hoping to take into the final day. We are gaining confidence now in the J-80 boats and hope we can win through to the final on Sunday.

We would like to extend a special thank you to our sponsors FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, also to our yacht club the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. To our friends and family back home we also thank you for all of your support.

BlackMatch Racing

Baltic Match Cup, Helsinki: Day Two


Light winds for the second day of the Baltic Match Cup in Finland. Image copyright Rainer Luojola.

by Niklas Lindqvist

The Baltic Match Cup 2008 is run by the Match Race Center at the Nyländska Jaktklubben in Helsinki. Competition in this Grade Two event is in the club's J80 yachts.

Ten flights were sailed on day one (Friday) and the aim for Saturday was to sail the 12 remaining flights of the round robin.

However, light winds and some issues early in the day meant that we only got through 9 flights. This means that for tomorrow (Sunday) we have 3 flights left from the round robin. If there is time and wind, semifinals and finals will also be sailed.

The weather was rainy and cloudy today, the total opposite of yesterday when we had a nice steady breeze and sun. However, the day was good and many exciting matches took place on the water.

Results at the end of Day Two (skipper, number of wins, number of losses):

1. Jacopo PASINI (ITA): 9 - 2
2. Björn HANSEN (SWE): 8 - 3
3. Evan WALKER (AUS): 7 - 1, 3 matches remaining
4. Adam MINOPRIO (NZL): 6 - 2, 3 matches remaining
5. Pierre-Antoine MORVAN (FRA): 6 - 5
6. Michele PERRIS (MON): 5 - 6
7. Jon ERIKSSON (FIN): 4 - 4, 3 matches remaining
8. Rasmus VILTOFT (DEN): 4 - 4, 3 matches remaining
9. Lauri Kääpä (FIN): 3 - 8
10. Mati SEPP (EST): 2 - 6, 3 matches remaining
11. Antti LUHTA (FIN): 2 - 6, 3 matches remaining
12. Markus Hellström (FIN): 1 - 10

NJK Match Race Center