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Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships - Day 14

by Richard Palfreyman 16 Dec 2011 11:36 GMT 3-18 December 2011

Medal Day for Women’s Match Racing

USA were crowned Women’s Match Racing world champions while Brazil’s Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada are on the brink of taking gold heading into the Star medal races Saturday after Day 15 of the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships on Friday.

Women’s Match Racing

Anna Tunnicliffe and her crew secured the USA team a gold medal with superb sailing against Great Britain’s Lucy Macgregor in the Women’s Match Racing final on Fremantle’s Inner Harbour.

“It’s amazing, we’ve put a lot of effort into this year and had a lot of big events we had to get through and this has really topped off all our hard training,” Tunnicliffe said. “The team sailed really well, it was tricky conditions, conditions that we actually thought we were weakest in so we’re psyched we came out on top.”

Tunnicliffe secured the gold in front of a packed grandstand with four straight wins, despite some very tight sailing from Macgregor who was beset by penalties through the afternoon.

“It was so close, neither team could give up. Everyone was pushing it to the limit,” Tunnicliffe said. “In the last race it was an inch or two to the finish line. That pretty much summed up the racing.”

“We made some monumental mistakes in getting penalties,” silver medallist Lucy Macgregor said.

It was a game of cat and mouse between the two contending world champions and at one point their boats were close enough to touch as they rounded the windward mark, drawing gasps from the crowd.

“It was close all around and Lucy is a great competitor, her team is awesome and we just had so much fun sailing against them,” Tunnicliffe said.

“It was incredibly hard, but a ton of fun,” added USA crew Molly Vandemoer. “It was never over ‘til the very, very end.”

France’s Claire Leroy took out the bronze medal in the petite final against Russia’s Ekaterina Skudina.

After being even on one match apiece and with a number of lead changes between the French and the Russians, Leroy won the next two matches to take the bronze.

Despite some hard fought sailing from Skudina, Leroy never thought she would lose third place.

“We were not worried. We were ready to fight and we just took it match after match,” Leroy said. “We knew at this level all the girls are really, really good so we did what we had to do.”

Star

Unless the unthinkable happens, defending world champions Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) look set to retain their title with an 18 point overall lead going into Saturday’s (17 December) Star fleet Medal Race.

As the rest of the fleet fought for a place in the top 10, Scheidt and Prada placed second and third to tally 35 points overall after Friday’s races at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.

The world number two pair has had a spectacular year, winning six international Star events, including the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta in July.

The top three teams remain unchanged from Thursday, with Americans Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Faith still in second place on 53 points, and German pair Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen only two points behind in third.

Despite retaining their second place, the Americans had a disappointing day on the water, placing eighth and tenth in races 9 and 10.

Big winners on the penultimate day were Polish pair Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki. They won the first race by eight seconds over the Brazilians, but despite leading for most of race 10, they were beaten at the finish by Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen (SWE) by only two seconds.

That result means the Swedish pair stays in fourth position overall, and may challenge for a medal. Kuznierewicz and Zycki move up one place to fifth, but are almost certainly out of medal contention.

The Star world championship will be decided in Saturday’s Medal Race, scheduled to begin at 1500 local time on Centre.

Women’s 470

Fleet leaders Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos (ESP) are ahead by a solid 13 points going into Saturday’s final Gold fleet races at the ISAF Worlds, despite a fair day on the water on Friday.

Japanese duo Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata, on 44 points, have some serious catching up to do for a chance at winning the Worlds and will need to perform strongly on Saturday. Three points behind are Gil Cohen and Vered Buskila (ISR) in third.

Martine Grael and Isabel Swan’s (BRA) had a perfect start to Friday’s racing although were trumped by Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol (ITA) in the second race of Day 14.

Despite being beaten to the fourth mark, Grael and Swan (BRA) maintained sizeable leads throughout race 7, finishing first with a 15 second lead.

Yuka Yoshisako and Noriko Okuma (JPN), Ingrid Petitjean and Nadege Douroux (FRA) and Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (NZL) battled it out from the fifth mark, with Yoshisako and Okuma finishing second closely followed by Aleh and Powrie.

The world number 12 and overall fleet leaders, Pacheco and Betanzos had their worst race so far in the competition in race 7, but this 27th placing is currently their discard.

While Grael and Swan (BRA) lead the charge in race 8, they were overtaken before the last mark and finished 10 seconds behind winners Conti and Micol (ITA).

The surprise of the day went to Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer (DEN), who enjoyed their Perth 2011 ISAF World Championships personal best of third place in race 8.

With only two races to go and a fleet overall placing of 15, World number one duo, Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving (USA), have an almost impossible task ahead of them to secure a place in the top 10 fleet for Sunday’s Medal Race.

The women’s 470 competition is scheduled to continue from 1430 Perth time on the Success course on Saturday, with the top 10 going through to contest the world championship in the Medal Races on Sunday.

49er

John Pink and Rick Peacock (GBR) have held onto their first place overall and are just two points clear as the 49ers head into Saturday’s final day of Gold fleet racing.

The British pair is on 61 points, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) are on 63 with the Toft Neilsen brothers (DEN) on 70. Two points behind them is the New Zealand pair, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.

Friday started with Simon and Emil Toft Neilsen finishing first in race 10, with Mathieu Frei and Yann Rocherieux (FRA) placing second.

Allan Noerregaard Christensen and Peter Lang (DEN) were out front for most of the time in race 11, holding on to finish first ahead of Charlie Enlund Ekberg and Kalle Torlen (SWE).

In the third Gold fleet race, world number two duo Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) scored their first top three finish, taking first place from Peter Kruger Andersen and Nicolai Thorsell (DEN).

Overall leaders Pink and Peacock placed 15th, after starting the race further to the right than the rest of the fleet.

While race 12 was sailed in a sea breeze on the Owens course, the first two races Friday were on the Centre course with shifty, offshore easterlies.

The 49ers Gold fleet has three races scheduled for Saturday (17 December) from 1200 on the Success course, before the top ten go into to contest the World Championship title in Sunday’s Medal Race.

Day 14 Highlights Video:

www.Perth2011.com

Peter O’Leary and David Burrows qualify Ireland for 2012 Olympics (from Rachel Solon, Irish Sailing Association)

Peter O’Leary and David Burrows have officially qualified Ireland for the 2012 Olympics, in the Star sailing discipline. This morning they were the 11th nation, with only the top 11 nations qualifying. They had three races ahead of them and the Italians, Swiss and Spanish all eager to take their position.

A 7th in the first race eased the nerves and gave them some breathing space. However, the second race was where the real drama unfolded. They rounded the first mark in the mid 20's but had an incident with the Spanish boat as they rounded, rather than risk disqualification they opted to take penalty turns. This left them at the back of the fleet with Olympic dreams seemingly in tatters. However, the team dug deep and showed some real grit in making a comeback to finish the race in 13th.

This result lifts them to 12th overall and 9th nation, thus securing Ireland their third boat at the Olympics.

ISA Performance Director, James O'Callaghan remarked “The Star's certainly did not do it the easy way but they showed great character holding their nerve when it looked bleak during that 2nd race“. He went on to say "The programme has delivered on its target with the Irish Sports Council of getting three boats qualified early. A lot of hard work from each of the teams and coaches have made this possible. With our eyes now firmly focussed on the Games we will be working hard with the ISC and OCI to make sure we have a successful Olympics".

Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern, who qualified Ireland in the 49er class two days ago, slipped two positions today to 12th in the leader board. The sailed three races placing 8th, 17th and 12th. They have one final day of racing tomorrow where they will need to place top 10 in order to make the medal race on Sunday.

Ireland’s James Espey had a rest day today. He is currently the 32nd nation in the Laser fleet with the top 35 nations qualifying for London 2012. He will need a good performance tomorrow to ensure Ireland qualify in the Laser class.

Tunnicliffe, Vandemoer and Capozzi win Worlds (from Dana Paxton, US Sailing)

Anna Tunnicliffe’s Team Maclaren of Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi won the the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Women’s Match Racing after defeating Lucy MacGregor (GBR) in four straight matches.

“We’re really excited right now,” said Tunnicliffe moments after getting onshore from the racecourse. Racing took place on Fremantle’s Inner Harbour in front of a large crowd of spectators lining the sea wall.

“It’s amazing, we’ve put a lot of effort into this year and had a lot of big events we had to get through and this has really topped off all our hard training,” Tunnicliffe said. “The team sailed really well, it was tricky conditions, conditions that we actually thought we were weakest in so we’re psyched we came out on top.”

This is the first match racing World Championship title for Tunnicliffe, Vandemoer and Capozzi as a team, although Capozzi won the Worlds three times previous with another team. Tunnicliffe and Vandemoer teamed up to win the Snipe Women’s World championship.

Mark Medelblatt (Miami, Fla.) and Brian Fatih (Miami, Fla.) scored their first double digit result in race 10, a 10th, but will drop that result in their scoreline. They add an 8th in race 9 to hold the second placed overall behind Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA). Mendelblatt and Fatih are the only US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics team to qualify for the medal race. George Szabo (San Diego, Calif.) and Mark Strube (Punta Gorda, Fla.) finished in 11th overeall, just 10 points out of the top 10.

In the 49ers, Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y.) and Trevor Moore (North Pomfret, Vt./Naples, Fla.) climbed back into 5th overall after scoring 9-6-3. The high-performance skiff class will have three races on Saturday before Sunday’s medal race.

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