ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne - Day 4
by Lisa Ratcliff 12 Dec 2015 06:45 PST
7-13 December 2015
An intense fortnight of competition for an international fleet of Paralympic sailors drew to a close today, Saturday December 12, 2015, with the completion of their Sailing World Cup Melbourne race schedule in light southerly winds at the top end of Port Phillip.
Athletes only had a short break between finishing the Para World Sailing Championships and commencing their World Cup campaign on Wednesday at the same venue, the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria.
Celebrations continue for Damien Seguin of France in the 2.4mR and SKUD18 sailors Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) who added World Cup Melbourne gold to their medal haul, having snapped up the world championship title just over a week ago.
In the Sonar, Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden (AUS) made up for their disappointment of silver at the Para Worlds to defeat a competitive fleet, walking away with gold.
Meanwhile over on the St Kilda side of the bay, the top ten sailors in each Olympic class qualified themselves for tomorrow's Medal Races on a cool but magic Melbourne summer's day, in contrast to yesterday's cold and ugly blast from the sou'west that blew out racing. The breeze averaged 10-12 knots S-SE and remnant confused 1.5m seas made the going bumpy.
Organisers have the option of utilising two courses for tomorrow's Medal Races, though the second will only come into play if Mother Nature can't provide enough reliable wind to roll through eight class finals in quick succession.
Variable 10 knot winds becoming south to south-easterly 10-15 knots in the early afternoon before easing is the forecast for Sunday December 13, 2015.
Finns are due to kick off the Medal Race schedule at 11.50 local time and the kiteboards' start at 16:30 is the last on the program. All gold Medal Races will be broadcast live to the St Kilda Sailing Precinct stage as well as on World Sailing's YouTube channel and there will fantastic spectator viewing opportunities from the end of St Kilda Pier.
Sonar
A relieved Australian team of Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden finished their series with a first place after fighting off challenges from France's Bruno Jourdren, Eric Flageul and Nicolas Vimont-Vicary, and Norway's Aleksander Wang-Hansen, Marie Solberg and Per Eugen Kristiansen.
The Aussies began the day's racing after spending last night with Jourdren in the protest room, which resulted in the French team receiving a disqualification. A collision between the two boats required the Australians to patch up some holes with tape in order to race today.
"We put yesterday aside and thought about today as being a new race day," a beaming Harrison said.
SKUD 18
Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) continued their golden world championship form, winning this week's World Cup. Second was Britain's Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell and in third, Poland's Monika Gibes and Piotr Cichocki.
"In the first race we had to sail for position; we had to beat the British team to win the regatta," Fitzgibbon said. "In the second race we were out there just have a bit of fun. This win is a vital step for us; we are trying to get in the habit of winning. It's a really good step to see where we are leading into the Rio games."
2.4mR
The wind was softer today but still shifty, forcing France's Damien Seguin and Australia's Matt Bugg to fight it out to the end. "We had a great battle," Seguin admitted.
He's at the top of his game after this year winning the World Championship and all of his World Cup and EUROSAF events. "With the worlds and this event I have won my qualification to represent France at the Paralympics," the man with the golden touch added.
Seguin walks away with gold, Matt Bugg silver and Bjornar Erikstad (NOR) completes the podium.
Kites
Nothing is going to unseat Germany's Florian Gruber, 21, in his pursuit of a third IKA Formula Kite World Cup Melbourne title. He comfortably leads the series after 15 races.
This is the last event of his racing season before heading back to Europe to join up with Ozone and KiteFoil Australia working on the development of hydrofoils. He hopes the KiteFoil Board will be the equipment choice if kites are included in the 2020 Olympic Games.
"The Formula Board is a great discipline. The foils are the future. They have more speed, more efficient on the upwind and downwind," Gruber said.
RS:X
Joanna Sterling heads into tomorrow's Medal Race the top contender for the RS:X women's windsurfer series after finishing the day off with another two wins to add to her near perfect scoresheet. In second place is Audrey Yong (SIN) and third Lara O'Brien (AUS).
Laser
Six nations feature in the top 10 sailors to move through to the Medal Race. Colin Cheng (SIN) leads the fleet ahead of Mitchell Kennedy (AUS) and Thomas Saunders (NZL). Cheng has a decent lead; behind him the pointscore is tight.
Laser Radial
Ashley Stoddart (AUS) is the top woman moving through to the Medal Race. She leads Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR) and Susannah Pyatt (NZL) and all have sailed consistently throughout their seven race World Cup series.
49er/49erFX
Consistent top three results for the Kiwi pair of Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson has made them 49er front-runners over the first Australian team of Will and Sam Phillips.
It's a double-bunger for the New Zealanders in the big and smaller rigged skiffs, Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland winning the final of today's four 49erFX races to be ahead of Tess Lloyd and Caitlin Elks (AUS) by a single point.
Finn, 470 Men & Women
Alexander and Patrick Conway's (AUS) golden run continues, the talented twins winning all eight qualifying races. In second place is Thomas Klemens and Timothy Hannah (AUS).
Carrie Smith and Jaime Ryan (AUS) hold the lead ahead of Sasha Ryan and Aurora Paterson (AUS) and Pip Pietromonaco and Amelia Catt (AUS) in third.
Croatia's Josip Olujic retains the lead ahead of local sailor, Oli Tweddell (AUS).
Invited Classes
The leaders in each of the nine invited classes are: Bob Schahinger (Liberty), Kurt Hansen and Jim Cooley (29er), Alistair Young (Laser Radial Men), Thomas Needham (Laser 4.7), Nia Jerwood and Lisa Smith (420), Daniel and Nathan Van Kerckhof (Viper), Tom Wright (Open Bic), Anna O'Brien (Minnow) and Alexander Bijkerk (Optimist).
Racing in the invited classes also concludes tomorrow, Sunday.
Results: www.sailing.org/worldcup/results/index.php
Live tracking: www.sailing.org/worldcup/multimedia/tracking.php
Update from Australian Sailing by Cora Zillich
Paralympic gold medallists Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch have won the Sailing World Cup Melbourne in the SKUD18 continuing their unbeaten run since the 2012 London Paralympic Games. The World Cup win comes after the pair successfully defended their title at the 2015 Para World Championships last week.
Australian Sailing's Sonar Team of Paralympians Colin Harris (WA), Jonathan Harris (NSW) and Russell Boaden (WA) followed suit and won gold in the Sonar class. This was one spot up from their silver medal at the World Championships last week.
Paralympian Matt Bugg (TAS) completed the Paralympic class medal haul by adding silver in the 2.4mR class. Bugg won Para World bronze last week, which was his first World Championship medal.
All of Australian Sailing's Paralympic crews contested the Sailing World Cup Melbourne and nine months out from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Australian Sailing Team's sailors are looking strong. The team secured three medals at the worlds on Port Phillip last week, winning the Nation's Cup as the most successful country for the second time in a row, and adding another three, including two gold, at this week's World Cup.
While the Paralympic classes concluded racing today (Saturday, 12 December), it was the penultimate race day for the Olympic classes with the top-ten Medal Races scheduled for Sunday, 13 December.
After a blow-out due to gale force winds yesterday, the race officers ran a full race schedule with additional races across the fleets in breezes of 10- 13 knots out of the south.
Australian Sailing's Olympic classes had a strong day with four crews going into tomorrow's Medal Race in the lead.
"It was difficult backing up after such a big regatta last week, but on the other hand it was good practice. I think everyone was a bit tired out there but it's good to back up and still put out a good performance. The good people were still here this week, we had a strong fleet and it was as competitive as the Worlds. Rio is such a tricky place, we really want to do as much as we can to be dominant there and every racing opportunity we get is a bonus. We love sailing on Port Phillip," SKUD18 winner Dan Fitzgibbon said.
And about the plans ahead he added: "We get to have Christmas off, which is going to be awesome, then we're back to Rio next month for more training on the Paralympic venue and to learn more about the place and the water and wind conditions. We're really looking forward to it and it will be a great learning experience for us. Winning the Worlds last week as well as the World Cup have been encouraging steps towards Rio 2016 and we have shown that we're on the right track."
Once again Fitzgibbon and Tesch displayed a dominant performance on the water, winning four out of seven races and coming second in the other three, including in both races on the final day. They won the series by six points ahead of Great Britain's five time World Champions Alexandar Rickham and Niki Birrell. Poland's Piotr Cichock and Monika Gibes finished third.
"It's been really tough to back up and find the energy every single day this week," Liesl Tesch said. "It was really good to see our teammates Ame and Brett first over the line in today's first race, but the British beat us by just five centimetres. You learn more when you don't win, so we are going away with lot more things to practice over the next nine months."
And about the event and looking forward she added: "I absolutely love sailing in Melbourne. Port Phillip has been beautiful and we have had all sorts of weather out here, which has been challenging. The processes are all in place, but we're still finding lots of things we need to work on and our next step will be Rio in January. We had very different conditions here to what we expect in Rio, so it is going to be a whole new start again."
Australian Sailing Squad's Ame Barnbrook (NSW) and Brett Pearce (NSW), who came sixth at the Para World Sailing Champs, finished the World Cup in overall fifth. The pair had a strong last day winning the first race and finishing off with a third.
In the Sonar, Australian Sailing Team's Colin Harris, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden went into the World Cup with unfinished business after the trio won silver at the Para World Sailing Champs with only one point separating them from the gold medal winning British Crew.
"It was pretty tough because we were a bit disappointed about our final position at the worlds. But at the end of the day the team did really well, refocused, got on with the job and got some really good results this week to put us in the gold medal spot at the end," Colin Harrison said.
"There were a few less teams out on the water this week, but a lot of good quality boats so the competition was tough and we had always tight and very enjoyable racing. I'm really happy with the work on the boat and the team has done really well. And a big thank you to our coach Grant (Alderson) for all his input from the coaching point of view," he added.
And looking ahead he said: "Moving forward, we need to consolidate our position towards the front of the fleet and we need to keep up the podium finishes and look for those small gains that we can make to improve our performances. We need more regattas and just sheer hard work."
The team qualified the Sonar last year for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and have continuously finished on the podium since then.
This was the second World Cup win for the team this year, having won the Sailing Sailing World Cup in Weymouth in June, and the first one on home waters. It finished off a successful season after the team also took home silver at the Sailing World Cup in Hyères in April and gold at the Delta Lloyd Regatta in May.
"We were very happy with our world cup events this year. We do most of them in Europe and this was our first in Australia and it's so good to get a gold on home waters. After coming runner up in the worlds it's nice to make amends to show we can still be on top of the podium."
Paralympian Matt Bugg completed the successful Australian Sailing medal haul with silver in the 2.4mR behind world champion Damien Seguin from France.
"It was a very tiring, but a really good couple of weeks. I won the first race today, which put me into a leading position, but then had a bad first upwind which meant I got behind Damien who eventually won overall," Matt Bugg said.
"Racing was great and I loved it. It's been really nice to win my first World Championship medal last week and to back it up with a silver medal today. I have another racing opportunity coming up at our Open World Champs in my home city in Hobart and will head to Rio at the start of next year for more training," he added.
The World Cup podium completes a successful 2015 season for the Tasmanian who finished fifth in the 2.4mR at last year's IFDS World Championships and has continuously worked his way up the ranks over the international competitions this season. At the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Hyères Matt Bugg won a silver medal and went on to win bronze at the Delta Lloyd Regatta making it his best European season so far.
Australian Sailing Team's Paralympic crews will be heading to Rio de Janeiro in January for a training camp before the European racing season, including the 2016 Para World Sailing Championships in Medemblik, The Netherlands in May.
After another strong day, Australian Sailing's Ashley Stoddart (QLD) leads the Laser Radial, Joanna Sterling (QLD) the Women's RS:X, Patrick and Alexander Conway (NSW) the 470 Men and Carrie Smith (WA) and Jaime Ryan (QLD) the 470 Women going into Sunday's Medal Races.
All three Australian Sailing Laser sailors will be in the Medal race with Mitchell Kennedy (QLD) in medal contention ranked second.
"Today's conditions made it anyone's game. The wind was patchy and it mixed up the results. The fleet is compressed in the top ten but I'm happy to be at the right end of it all. All I can do tomorrow is worry about myself and make sure I beat the rest of the boys," Mitch Kennedy said.
An exciting final day is expected in the double-points Medal Race in the 49er with Victorian's Will and Sam Phillips the top ranked Australian Sailing crew in second behind the leading crew from New Zealand. Australian Sailing Team's David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (VIC) follow in third.