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Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships - Day 8

by Richard Palfreyman 10 Dec 2011 15:07 GMT 3-18 December 2011

Day 8 of the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships finished with high drama on the seas in the Finn class with Great Britain’s Ben Ainslie involved in a confrontation with a television boat as he crossed the line in the second last qualification race ahead of Sunday’s Medal Race.

The incident is now before the regatta Jury (2100 Perth time).

Finn

To compound his problems, Ainslie was then promptly black-flagged in the final race 10 but sailed on with the fleet despite the disqualification.

Ainslie’s bad day started with the finish of Race 9 when he was being headed by Pieter-Jan Postma (NED).

Crossing the line second, after almost being swamped by the TV boat’s wake, Ainslie swung his boat into the wind, jumped into the water and swam over to the offending boat. Having hauled himself on board, Ainslie was seen to be angrily confronting the crew before swimming back to his un-manned boat and sailing away.

Ainslie, a triple Olympic gold medallist, was behind rival Postma as the Dutchman rode the wake of the television boat just ahead of crossing the finish line. As Postma kept momentum toward the line, Ainslie was left floundering and almost swamped in the wake’s turbulence.

The drama played out in front of spectators close by in the grandstand, who watched in astonishment as the British sailor abandoned his boat immediately after crossing the line to make his protest. With Postma first and Ainslie second, third place in Race 9 was taken by Giles Scott (GBR).

Problems for Ainslie continued into the 10th and final race when he was black-flagged at the start. The British sailor continued to sail despite the disqualification. The race was won by Rafael Trujillo (ESP) in a return to form, with Zach Railey (USA) second and Jonas Hoeg-Christensen (DEN) third.

In the final fleet rankings ahead of the gold medal race, Ainslie leads countryman Giles Scott and Dutchman Pieter-Jan Postma.

The provisional medal race qualifiers (subject to protest) are:
1. Ainslie (GBR), 2. Scott (GBR), 3. Postma (NED), 4. Wright (GBR), 5. Hoeg-Christensen (DEN), 6. Trujillo (ESP), 7. Lobert (FRA), 8. Mills (GBR), 9. Railey (USA), 10. Karpak (EST)

The Medal Race for the Finn class is scheduled to start at 1610 local time on Centre Course.

Men’s 470

Defending world champions, Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page (AUS), did enough on the penultimate day of the Men’s 470 to put them in the box seat in Sunday’s Medal Race off Bathers Bay.

The pair picked up sixth and fifth placings on Saturday for an overall 20 points, well clear of Great Britain’s Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell, and Croatia’s Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic, who are both on 37 points.

All three crews are guaranteed medals.

The mathematics are clear. With double points on offer on the final day, the British or the Croatians would need to win and the Australians finish last in the 10-boat medal fleet, something that might be unusual given the Aussies have won six races and finished no lower than sixth of the nine counting races.

The Croatian pair had a stellar day, winning the ninth race and taking third in the 10th while Great Britain’s Luke Patience finished eighth and ninth to slip six crucial points behind the Australians going into the Medal Race.

Two of the biggest movers in the final two races were Israel’s Gideon Kliger and Eran Sela and Greece’s Panagiotis Kampouridis and Efstathios Papadopoulos.

The Israelis finished fifth and first to go from 17th to a medal-race sixth while the Greeks were third and second, lifting their final ranking from 22nd to 12th.

Men's 470 crews contesting the Medal Race (subject to protest):
1. Belcher and Page (AUS), 2. Patience and Bithell (GBR), 3. Fantela and Marenic (CRO), 4. Charbonnier and Mion (FRA), 5. Leboucher and Garos (FRA), 6. Kliger and Sela (ISR), 7. Snow Hansen and Saunders (NZL), 8. Rogers and Grube (GBR), 9. Mantis and Kagialis (GRE), 10. Barreiros and Sarmiento (ESP)

The men’s 470 Medal Race is scheduled to start at 1410 on the Centre course on Sunday.

Women’s RS:X

The competition between Israel’s Lee Korzits (ISR), Marina Alabau (ESP) and Zofia Noceti-Klepacka (POL) went up a notch in the RS:X on Saturday with the three leading sailors even closer on points after the final two Gold fleet races.

Just eight points separate the three athletes, ensuring each is guaranteed a medal as well as a place in RS:X history.

Korzits placed fourth and third in the final Gold fleet but remains on top overall, closely followed by Alabau with Noceti-Klepacka third.

Despite Korzit’s overall lead, Saturday’s racing belonged to Noceti-Klepacka, the Polish sailor winning both race 9 and race 10. The solid sea breeze also helped Olha Maslivets (UKR), who finished third.

The women’s RS:X Medal Race is scheduled to begin at 1510 on Sunday Perth time on the Centre Course.

Laser Radial

On the eve of the all-important Medal Race, world number one Marit Bouwmeester (NED) overtook Evi van Acker (BEL) to take the overall lead by six points with Paige Railey (USA) third on 53 points.

Annalise Murphy (IRL) moves up to fourth place despite dominating Saturday’s Gold fleet racing with two wins.

Race 9 was delayed initially, but kicked off when the sea breeze settled in at 12 to 18 knots. It later strengthened to 17-20 knots, building up waves and swell, perfect downwind conditions for the Laser Radials.

Annalise Murphy sailed her own race, leading from start to finish to win race 9 without much competition from the rest of the fleet.

Marit Bouwmeester came back strongly to finish seventh after rounding the top mark in 31st place on the Centre course.

Bouwmeester’s consistency saw her take a fifth finish in the final race of the day – securing her the overall points lead – while former competition leader Evi van Acker suffered her worst result for the second time, a 19th.

Prospective Laser Radial sailors in Sunday’s Medal Race (subject to protest):
1. Bouwmeester (NED), 2. van Acker (BEL), 3. Railey (USA), 4. Murphy (IRL), 5. Scheidt (LTU), 6. Fenclova (CZE), 7. Young (GBR), 8. Drozdovskaya (BLR), 9. Winther (NZL), 10. Multala (FIN)

Sunday’s Medal Race for Laser Radial is scheduled to begin on Centre Course at 1310.

Women’s Match Racing

The repechage component of Women’s Match Racing began on Fremantle’s Inner Harbour Saturday.

With a fairly consistent sea breeze blowing in the afternoon, nine flights were completed on the first day of repechage competition, which will determine the final list for the quarterfinals.

Day 8 Highlights Video:

www.Perth2011.com

Annalise shows the world how it’s done with 2 race wins (from Fiona Bolger, Irish Sailing Association)

Stunning performance by Laser Radial sailor Annalise Murphy with two wins on Day 6 in Perth at the ISAF World Championships. In classic sea breeze conditions blowing 15-18 knots, Annalise sailed two faultless races to narrow the point’s gap going in to the Medal Race tomorrow and the final days racing for her.

‘She has a tough task tomorrow to win a medal and needs to beat USA sailor Paige Railey by at least 4 places to win bronze however she has put herself back in serious contention.’ Stated ISA Performance Director, James O’Callaghan.

Also in Perth Ger Owens and Scott Flanigan in the 470 class did not achieve Olympic qualification and will have to travel to Barcelona for the 470 Worlds in May 2012 for qualification. The event in May is the second and final opportunity for the 470 to qualify.

Peter O’Leary and David Burrows in the Star and Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern in the 49er will begin racing on Sunday and Monday respectively. Laser sailor, James Espey, will also begin his qualification process on Monday.

Raileys Advance to Medal Race (from Dana Paxton, US Sailing)

It was do or die in the fleet racing classes for US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics athletes competing in the Finn, Laser Radial and Men’s 470 classes as well as Women’s Match Racing at the ISAF Sailing World Championships. Paige Railey, who turned in a 10-12 to hold onto her third place overall in the Laser Radial fleet, advances into the Medal Race on Sunday, Dec. 11. Also advancing is Zach Railey, who finished 13-2 in the Finn, for 9th overall.

“I feel really good about today,” said Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.). “It’s good to get into the top 10. It was on the line going into today and I think it came down to that last race and whether I had a good race of not. I was, again, cautious on the starting line as I’m carrying the black flag from earlier in the week. I had two decent starts and I tried two settings on my boat, so we definitely improved my speed over the last two races. We feel really good about where we’re going. We’ll look at the points tonight and see if we can move up.”

Paige Railey maintained her third place overall by scoring a 10-12, but drops the 12th as her throwout. She stands 12 points out of first place. With only 10 competitors in Sunday’s medal race and double points on the line, she will go out and challenge for a podium finish.

Sunday’s medal races will be held on the spectator-friendly Centre Course, which is a U-shaped bay surrounded on two sides with rock jetties and a sandy, shallow beach front. A large grandstand area has been erected at one end of the farthest tip of one jetty, making it a prime location for racing fans.

“Racing is right in front of the grandstands,” explained Zach Railey. “It’s definitely fun finishing on the reach and coming into the break wall. It’s a unique set up and fun to race there. The medal race will be a shorter race course and only 10 boats. I will be a little less hectic.”

Stu McNay and Graham Biehl had a disappointing day, scoring 21-16 and finishing in 13th, and ending their medal race and World Championship podium chances.

“We went into the day in 10th overall and we knew we had to have a good day to stay in it,” said Biehl after racing. “We struggled a bit coming off the (starting) line and really had to fight our way through the races. At the end of the day we didn’t have the results we wanted. We are disappointed; we know we can sail much better than that, but at the end of the day we’re going to the Olympics and we’re pretty psyched about that.

Genny Tulloch’s (Houston, Texas/Sausalito, Calif.) “Team GETSailing” ended Group B’s round robin with 7 wins, 6 losses and will go into the Women’s Match Racing repechage round.

Stu McNay (Boston, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) now find themselves in 11th overall. The Perth 2011 Race Committee staged today’s races on Centre Course, which is inside a U-shaped beach area, lined on both sides by a rock jetty.

“It was really cool to be on the media course and see the spectators in a grand stand,” said Biehl after racing.

“In the first race, we lost two boats on the final run and came 12th, and we were pretty happy with that. Then, in the next race, we had about 7 or 8 general recalls. We got lost with the wind and fell back; it was not a very good race for us. We still have two races tomorrow and we’ll try and do well and make the medal race.”

The Men’s 470 class will hold two final races on Saturday. “It is tough racing,” said Biehl. “There are easily 10-20 teams who could win a race. We’ll try to get two good races.”

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