Skandia Team GBR at Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing Worlds - Day 14
by Lindsey Bell, RYA 16 Dec 2011 12:47 GMT
3-18 December 2011
GBR Match Racers settle for silver
Hailed the ‘comeback queens’ after their dramatic semi-final turnaround on Thursday, Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor couldn’t quite find the same magic in Friday’s women’s match racing final at the Perth 2011 Sailing World Championship.
The British trio had to settle for silver at the hands of USA’s Anna Tunnicliffe, Debbie Capozzi and Molly Vandemoer, with a 0-4 scoreline that belies the closeness of the racing out on Fremantle’s Inner Harbour course.
Macgregor, Lush and Macgregor – the defending World Champions and seemingly crowd favourites – were put on the back foot in the opening race when they picked up two penalties allowing Tunnicliffe to take an early lead, and were handed a further penalty in the pre-start of the second race to leave them chasing the world number one-ranked crew.
The Skandia Team GBR trio put up a determined fight, even when faced with 0-3 deficit but the tough USA team edged the win in each match to be crowned 2011 World Champions.
“I think we have pretty mixed emotions right now,” said 25-year-old helm Lucy, whose team had to come through an epic 43 matches over 14 days in Fremantle – the most of any crew – to claim their Championship silver.
“We were really pleased with the fight that went on out on the water and there was some really close racing. We made some big mistakes getting some penalties but without them we’d have been looking very strong today and the scoreline could have looked quite different.
“It’s certainly been some good training for the Olympics!” said Lush of their intensive schedule at these World Championships.
“We’ve had quite a lot of different conditions and we’re really pleased with how we’ve been sailing. I think everyone saw our speed out there was good, we’re sailing the boat well and there are just a couple of mistakes to iron out before next year but we’ve got a few months.
“Just a little bit more and we’ll take her!”
The 31-year-old Lush, who was bidding for a record-equalling fourth World Championship win here in Perth, was satisfied with silver after a challenging year for the 2012-selected crew.
“It’s been a good year for us but a difficult one. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs starting with me being out of sailing injured at the beginning of the year, a new coach and a lot of new things this year and I think that’s all really come together [here].
“It was just so much fun sailing today, we were so excited to be out there and I can’t wait to see where we can get to for next year.”
The match racing trio’s silver takes Skandia Team GBR’s medal tally at these World Championships to four – one gold, two silver and one bronze – with two days of competition still to go.
John Pink and Rick Peacock are still in the overall lead in the 49er skiff class, although their points cushion was narrowed to just two ahead of Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen after the third of three races on Friday.
The 2009 silver medallists saw a solid first two races of 4,9 before a slight delay in proceedings and a change of course ahead of the third race in which they placed 15th.
"I did really want to stay with the fleet in a clear lane but we kind of got bounced from it," explained Peacock.
"After that we thought the best way to get a clear lane was to split from the fleet and stay away from trouble, but not knowing that maybe shifts had a bigger input."
Dave Evans and Ed Powys remain in the medal race positions, in seventh overall, with three more fleet races scheduled for Saturday before the final double points-scoring medal race on Sunday.
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are the leading British crew in the 470 women’s event after two races on a testing Centre Course today. They posted a steady 12,8 to see them into fifth overall and raring to “step up a gear tomorrow”, while Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes had a solid first race before penalty turns in the second for a port-starboard infringement saw them finish in 30th and end the day in seventh overall.
The Laser and RS:X men’s classes will return to action for their final day of fleet racing on Saturday before Sunday’s finals.
Paul Goodison and Nick Thompson, currently in second and third overall in the Laser class, will be hoping to reel in the Australia World Champion and series leader Tom Slingsby ahead of Sunday’s medal race, while Nick Dempsey will need some low scores tomorrow if he’s to make the ten-boat finale for the windsurfers on Sunday.
He’s in 15th overall, with development squad sailor Elliot Carney in 11th.
For the latest news and information from the Skandia Team GBR British Sailing Team at the Perth Worlds visit www.skandiateamgbr.com or follow us on Twitter (@SkandiaTeamGBR).