World Sailing Championships in Cascais, Portugal GBR Day 10

World windsurfing bronze for Dempsey

Nick Dempsey secured Great Britain’s fourth medal at the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais on Thursday (12 July), clinching bronze in a gripping final medal race.

The Athens Olympic bronze medallist went into the final in third place behind Brazilian Ricardo Santos and Polish sailor Przemyslaw Miarczynski, and struggled on the first upwind leg once the race finally got underway in very light and shifty conditions.

Dempsey rounded the first windward mark in seventh place behind his main rivals, and struggled to gain ground. “I wasn’t really that worried that I lost the guys on the first upwind,” the Skandia Team GBR sailor recalled. “If you miss a gust on the upwind leg, you can usually make it back by catching a gust or two downwind.”

The 26-year-old certainly managed to gain ground on the downwind run, but it wasn’t until the very last leg featuring the newly-introduced slalom finish that things really hotted up. Dempsey caught Santos and Miarczynski to push himself into the silver medal position, only for the Polish sailor to pull back at the last gasp to see Dempsey finish with the bronze.

“It was mental!” Dempsey described. “I’m really happy with third though – everyone’s been sailing well all week and has really upped their game for this event, so it’s a good result.”

Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes will be looking to make the most of their golden opportunity to add a world title in the 49er class to their European crown. on the final day of these Championships on Friday. They head into the medal race with an 11 point lead over Austrians Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Leopold, while defending champions Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks made big gains on the penultimate day. They improved from tenth overnight to fifth heading into the medal race, although are out of contention.

Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield saw bitter disappointment in the 470 men’s event today – in second place overnight, their spinnaker ripped on the first downwind leg on the first race of the day. They limped across the finish line in 33rd place, even managing to catch a few boats on the second downwind leg, but after a race retirement from earlier in the week due to a mast breakage they’ve used up their only discard of the series. They head into the final 10-boat medal race in seventh place, 22 points off the bronze medal spot, with 2006 world champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis pulling themselves inside the top ten with the help of a third in the second race of the day.

In the 470 women’s event, Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark are poised in fourth place, and need to finish ahead of Japanese crew Ai Kondo and Naoko Kamata to book their spot on the podium.

Racing at the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais, Portugal, continues through until Friday 13 July.

Results after Day 10:

RS:X Men (FINAL)
1. Ricardo Santos, Bra (30pts)
2. Prezmyslaw Miarczynski, Pol (32pts)
3. Nick Dempsey, GBR (36pts)

RS:X Women (FINAL)
1. Zofia Klepacka, Pol (21pts)
2. Barbara Kendall, Nzl (46pts)
3. Jessica Crisp, Aus (47pts)
Selected GBR
12. Bryony Shaw (93pts)

470 Men (after 9 races)
1. Nathan Wilmot-Malcolm Page, Aus (24pts)
2. Sven Coster-Kalle Coster, Ned (42pts)
3. Alvaro Marinho-Miguel Nunes, Por (43pts)
Selected GBR
7. Nick Rogers-Joe Glanfield (65pts)
10. Nic Asher-Elliot Willis (74pts)

470 Women (after 9 races)
1. Marcelien de Koning-Lobke Berkhout, Ned (11pts)
2. Therese Thorgensson-Vendela Zachreisson, Swe (22pts)
3. Ai Kondo-Naoko Kamata, Jpn (38pts)
Selected GBR
4. Christina Bassadone-Saskia Clark (40pts)

49er (after 12 races)
1. Stevie Morrison-Ben Rhodes, GBR (27pts)
2. Nico Delle-Karth-Nikolaus Leopard, Aut (38pts)
3. Pietro Sibello-Gianfranco Sibello, Ita (44pts)
Selected GBR
5. Chris Draper-Simon Hiscocks (59pts)