Australian Sailing Team at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres - Overall
by Cora Zillich, Yachting Australia 27 Apr 2014 08:12 BST
19-26 April 2014
The Australian Sailing Team raced to two Olympic class gold medals in the 470M and Laser at ISAF Sailing World Cup in Hyeres, France. Laser sailor Tom Burton repeated his gold medal win from ISAF Sailing World Cup in Palma while Mat Belcher and Will Ryan returned to their winning ways.
The Australian medal count was lifted to a total of five by bronze medals wins in the Nacra 17 by Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis as well as in the 49er fleet by Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, adding to the Paralympic Sonar Bronze won yesterday.
More than 1,100 sailors from 59 nations raced at the final ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta of the 2013-2014 series and were treated to exceptional race action. Medals across the Olympic events were decided on the final day with a 10-12 knot westerly breeze on flat water bringing a superb week to an end.
470M
The Day at the French Riviera kicked-off well for the Australian Sailing Team when Olympic Champion Mat Belcher (QLD) and crew Will Ryan (QLD) brought home the first gold medal in the 470M fleet.
After consistently strong results during the week the duo went into the 10-boat Medal Race with a 17 points lead where they finished fifth ahead of their main rivals and won the overall count by clear margin of 23 points ahead of Greece and France in third.
"It was quite close with the Croatian team on the line. But for us it was just a matter keeping in check with the Greeks who were the only boat that could have passed us for today. We tried to stay out of trouble. Like with every medal race, it's complicated, you make one mistake and you find yourself at the back and we're pretty happy. We had quite a clean race, did what we needed to do and are happy with the outcome." said Mat Belcher after the race.
Belcher, who is managing an America's Cup campaign as the skipper of Team Australia with his Olympic 470 campaign, believes it's just a matter of timing to combine the two.
"For us the timing is important. The focus is the Worlds and obviously the Test Event in Rio is quite important. We're trying to use these events to develop our team and ourselves individually and this week we ticked off a few boxes and are pretty happy on where we are at. We'll have a bit of time out of the boat now and I'll be doing some AC45 stuff in Australian during May. But we're looking forward to our preparations in the lead up to the Europeans, the Test Event and then the Worlds later in September."
Laser
The second gold medal for the Australian Sailing Team was won by Tom Burton, who made it his second Sailing World Cup win in a row after having won the World Cup in Palma a couple weeks ago as.
New Zealander Andy Maloney (NZL) led Tom Burton (NSW) by three points going into the Medal Race and it was Burton who came out on top in a thrilling conclusion.
"It was a bit surreal," said an ecstatic Burton after racing. "I think that was one of the closest races I've done in a long time, if not ever. It was pretty exciting."
Burton finished fifth to Maloney's seventh which handed him gold "I'm pretty stoked. I won here last year and the goal was to come and win again after winning last week in Palma. It was a close race but I'm happy to take the win."
Winning Gold was the reward of a consistent week for Burton: "It all fell into place quite nicely in the end today. I was really happy with the way I sailed all week and I think I sailed a lot better than I did in Palma and was a lot more comfortable in the boat, which showed in my race results."
49er
Olympic Champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen had the come back of the day and will go home with a bronze medal.
It was the first Olympic event for the two Artemis America's Cup sailors since the World Championship and Melbourne World Cup last year and the duo pushed hard on the final day to climb up the results board after an accident yesterday had put an unexpected hold to their medal hopes.
As Outteridge described the week had been really tough for them "We really haven't had one day that's gone our way. We started out ok and then dropped down the leader board. We then started to sail really well again in Gold Fleet and to then get taken out in race two yesterday and not be able to finish the racing was tough. A bit of redress by the jury put us back in a position to work towards a medal today and we got a bronze so we are really happy with that."
Nacra 17
There were plenty of permutations possible in the Nacra 17 with ample medal opportunities across the top five racers. Olympic medallists Darren Bundock (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) went into the medal race as the leaders and had the advantage in the fleet with a seven-point lead over France.
Unfortunately the Australians made an error on the race course as Bundock explained,
"We had to finish within three boats of French or within four boats of the Italians. We were doing that midway through the race but then they shortened the course and we stuffed up basically."
"We headed to the wrong mark and we ended up finishing second last and let the other guys get away. It's a silly mistake on our behalf. They halved the length of the leg and we weren't expecting that at all. By the time we tacked and looked back it was all over. It was beginners mistake."
A mistake that taught them a lesson as Nina Curtis added "It was a big unforced error for us which is a shame. It was a good lesson to learn under pressure. As a new combination it's really good to see these things early and we won't be making that mistake again."
And from a positive point of view Curtis said "we've breached a massive gap from Palma to here and we're actually really happy with our progression. Leading into the regatta we ticked a lot of boxes and we've got another massive list now to go and attack before our next regatta at Delta Lloyd."
"Hyères has been a physical regatta with lots of wind and good waves and it's really pushed a lot of the female Nacra crews throughout the week. It's been testing but really exciting. The boat just continues to impress and we had a really good week."
The medal race was won by Australian Sailing Team crew of Olympic medal winning coach turned athlete Euan McNicol (NSW) and Olympic Match Racing silver medallist Lucinda Whitty (NSW). After climbing up the results ladder over the week the duo finished in overall fourth position.
Laser Radial
Australian Sailing Squad's Laser radial sailor Ashley Stoddart (QLD) finished a strong fourth in what was a new performance level for the twenty year old.
In Friday's Paralympic Fleets, Australia Sailing Team's Sonar crew added a bronze medal to the overall Australian medal count of two gold and three bronze medals across the ISAF Sailing World Cup events in Hyeres.
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