World Sailing Championships in Cascais, Portugal - GBR Day 3
by Lindsey Bell, RYA 5 Jul 2007 23:52 BST
28 June - 13 July 2007
British Ynglings on top in Cascais
Day three of racing at the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Portugal (Thursday 5 July) saw a number of Skandia Team GBR team sailors up move up the leaderboards, as well as the start of competition in the Finn and Yngling classes.
The much anticipated battle in the Yngling class didn't fail to disappoint in the fleet’s opening race today with Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson leading the pack significantly for the majority of the race, only for double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson and her crew Lucy Macgregor and Annie Lush to then edge in front at the downwind gate. Ayton, Webb, and Wilson fought back at the top mark in the 20 knots of wind on the race course and resumed their lead. But Robertson, Lush and Macgregor, refusing to be beaten, pushed hard to overtake Ayton, Webb and Wilson and took the win in their first race of this regatta
Both of these Skandia Team GBR teams led the fleet by over 300m making for a very promising start to the challenging week ahead. The second race of the day was no less exciting with Ayton, Webb and Wilson coming back well to post a third just behind Robertson, Lush and Macgregor in second. The two British crews are in first and second place going into the second day of racing for the women’s keelboat class.
RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park commented "It was a fantastic first days’ racing making it clear that it's going to be a tight battle between the top two British Ynglings. Today’s opening races were definitely some of the best Yngling racing I've ever seen."
High hopes from the Finn fleet resulted in Ed Wright making an impressive start to his regatta, posting a fourth place and then firming up his position with an impressive first in his second race to see him into second overall. Development squad sailor Ed Greig was close behind with a 6,9, while Matt Howard, racing in a separate fleet, posted a sixth and a 25th, with 2012 hopeful Giles Scott scoring 12,10. Great Britain ends day one of racing in the Finn class with five boats inside the top 20.
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson continued to trouble the fleet in the Star class as they led the fleet in the first race only to be beaten by Mateusz Kusznierewicz (Poland) at the end of the race and falling into 2nd position. In the second race they managed to post another 2nd moving them into 3rd position overall.
Paul Goodison posted a fantastic 2,4 allowing him to maintain his 3rd position overall. The points remain extremely close with Goodison only two points from the German leader.
"It was another really tricky day with difficult sailing conditions on the inner loop. Today was definitely more about staying safe out on the water and not colliding with the other Lasers so I am delighted with my results.” Goodison commented.
The Tornados continued to push up the leader board with Andrew Walsh and Ed Barney posting an impressive 3rd and 8th. Leigh McMillan and Will Howden continued with their success from day two by posting seventh and ninth respectively taking them into fifth position overall. Rob Wilson and Mark Bulkeley regained some lost ground in their second race coming fifth.
With strong wind conditions of up to 22 knots building up in the afternoon, many of the classes found the ever changing winds difficult to deal with.
Skandia Team GBR's Lizzie Vickers struggled in the first Laser Radial race of the day but managed to pull back considerably in the second by posting 7th.
"There were really shifty conditions today and it was important to keep on the right sides of the pressure and keep your eyes out of the boat at all times - this was really difficult at times!"
Other results from the Laser Radials included Penny Clark coming 10th in both her races securing a 15th placing overall. Charlotte Dobson had a flying start in the first race retaining 3rd place throughout the race but following a yellow flag, and a subsequent 720 degree turn punishment, fell back into 5th position. Charlotte still moves up one position overall and remains the leading Brit at 14th place.
Friday 6th July sees the start of racing for the exhilarating 49er classes and the RS:X men and women's windsurfing classes. Olympic bronze medallists Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks will be looking to defend their World Champion status whilst Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes are likely to be pulling out all the stops to mark out their path to Beijing. Nick Dempsey, ranked sixth in the ISAF World rankings, and Bryony Shaw, ranked fourth, are looking forward to getting onto the race course and getting proceedings underway.
Racing at the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais, Portugal, continues through until Friday 13 July.
GBR Results after Day 3: (Top three British boats per class)
Tornado (after 6 races)
5. Leigh McMillan-Will Howden (38pts)
9. Andy Walsh-Ed Barney (53pts)
15. Rob Wilson-Mark Bulkeley (64pts)
Star class (after 6 races)
3. Iain Percy-Andrew Simpson (12pts)
Laser (after 4 races)
3. Paul Goodison (14pts)
40. Robert Godwin (69pts)
42. Dan Ward (69pts)
Laser Radial (after 4 races)
14. Charlotte Dobson (44pts)
15. Penny Clark (45pts)
22. Alison Young (62pts)
Yngling (after 2 races)
1. Shirley Robertson-Annie Lush-Lucy Macgregor (3pts)
2. Sarah Ayton-Sarah Webb-Pippa Wilson (5pts)
15. Victoria Rawlinson-Emma Rawlinson-Sue Monson (30pts)
Finn (after 2 races)
2. Ed Wright (5pts)
10. Chris Brittle (13pts)
12. Ed Greig (15pts)
Full results on the event website.