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News Archive
August, 2011
Winners crowned in the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship The 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship has come to an end following the completion of the fourth and final event, Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, with three national Audi IRC Australian Champions crowned in 2011. Heavy winds tested the crews from all three classes of the championship at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week with many in IRC Classes A, B and C pushed to their limits in the Whitsunday’s. Racing in the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship kicked off with Audi Victoria Week back in January before the crews headed north for the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta in March.
Round three had the yachts racing north in the 384 nautical mile Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race before the final hit-out on the waters around Hamilton Island.
The crews competing in the Audi IRC Australian Championship were split across three classes with the use of a new Audi A1 for a year on offer for the three national champions.
Marcus Blackmore’s TP52 Hooligan won Class A, an impressive result in its first season racing in Australia. Blackmore and his crew were consistently at the front of the fleet with their win at Hamilton Island complementing their victories in Victoria and Sydney, and their fourth place in the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race.
Hooligan was pushed all the way by Stephen Ainsworth and Loki, who finished three points behind in second overall. Ainsworth was second at Hamilton Island with the result complimenting his second places in rounds two and three, after starting the series with a third in Victoria.
Third place was claimed by Living Doll, owned and skippered by Michael Hiatt, with the Victorian based boat finishing just a point behind Loki after four rounds.
Class B was won by Darryl Hodgkinson’s Victoire with the crew finishing with a comfortable five point victory over Robert Reynolds’ Exile. Victoire was the leading boat in rounds three and four and was not outside the top three in any of the four events.
Third place in Class B was claimed by Paul Clitheroe’s Balance, who finished the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship with their best result of the year, a second place at Hamilton Island.
The Philosopher’s Club, owned and skippered by Peter Sorensen claimed Class C, with the second at Hamilton Island giving the crew a three point series win over Andy Kearnan’s L’Altra Donna, with Andrew Hurt’s Onya third.
All three national champions were awarded their Audi A1 vehicle at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011. Audi’s managing director, Uwe Hagen, made the presentation to each of the winning crews.
“For Audi, it was a great championship. The crews were highly competitive, highly focused and very competent. It’s exactly the kind of spirited competition that we love to encourage. It makes the events exciting to watch and you always appreciate a win much more if you have to fight for it,” Mr Hagen said.
With racing in the Audi IRC Australian Championship now finished for the year, it’s the perfect time to settle in and relive all of the action.
An eight-part TV series covering the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship begins this Saturday, 3 September, on ONE HD at 6pm. The 8-part series runs every Saturday until 22 October 2011.
If you miss the action on Saturday, all eight episodes will be repeated at 5pm on Sundays, with the first episode an ideal way to wrap Father’s Day this Sunday.
For more information on the Audi IRC Australian Championship visit www.irc.yachting.org.au.
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Bronze medal for Australian match racers in Wisconsin Australian sailors Nicky Souter, Jessica Eastwell and Katie Spithill have won Bronze on the final day of the Buddy Melges Challenge in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Souter, Eastwell and Spithill, competing in their first regatta together, took on the French crew lead by Julie Bossard in the best of three petit-final. The Australians had defeated the French during the opening round robin, one of 15 straight wins on their way to the finals, with Souter and crew taking the Bronze medal with a two-nil victory.
“We finished a solid third position today after winning both of our races by a comfortable margin over Julie Bossard from France,” said Souter. “Overall, myself, Jess and Katie sailed what we thought was quite well in a variety of conditions.
“In the last few regattas we’ve had some small issues getting off the start line but this week we seemed to nail the majority of our starts,” she said. “Our crew work was great especially seeing as Katie has just joined our team on the bow.
“We had a great time here in America and are having a week off before heading to New Zealand for some training then back to Sydney for our final preparations before the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships in December,” she said. Fellow Australians Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty finished the regatta sixth overall after being defeated two-nil by American Genny Tulloch in the fifth and sixth playoff.
The two Australian Women’s Match Racing Team crews had some great race wins in Sheboygan with Souter and crew going through the round robin undefeated while Price and crew won 13 out of their 15 races.
For more information on the Australian Women’s Match Racing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Aussie Match Racers to fight for Bronze medal at Buddy Melges Challenge The Australian Women’s Match Racing Team crew of Nicky Souter, Jessica Eastwell and Katie Spithill are set to race for a Bronze medal on the final day of the Buddy Melges Challenge in Sheboygan, Wisonsin. The trio started the day locked one-all in their quarter-final matchup against Renata Decnop of Brazil with the Australians coming out firing, winning the next two races to progress to the semi-finals three wins to one. Souter and crew took on the French team skippered by Anne-Claire Le Berre in the semi-final coming back from two-nil down to take the semi to a fourth race, with the Australians eventually losing three wins to one.
Souter, Eastwell and Spithill will take on Julie Bossard of France in the Bronze medal playoff on Saturday.
“This morning we won our last two quarter-final matches off the line and held the lead around the course against Brazil to progress through to the semi-finals three-one,” said Spithill. “This meant we came up against Anne-Claire Le Berre of France in the semis.
“Races one and two of the Semis were won by the French in a very stable breeze leaving no shifts or opportunities, with a small lead and power of the right being enough to secure the wins for the other team,” she said. “We got a prestart penalty on them in race one and were close behind around the course but it wasn’t enough, with a very close finish and Le Berre completing her penalty on the line the race was awarded to her.
“By races three and four we had more air and an extremely choppy race course,” said Spithill “We won race three with a strong pre-start and lead off the line and around the course. Race four was a split tack start and a very close downwind with us rounding just ahead at the bottom after a very busy rounding. They were then able to hold us to a layline, allowing them to maintain a small lead to the finish and take the semi three-one.
“We had a lot of close and exciting racing today and are looking forward to fighting for third place tomorrow,” she said.
Fellow Australians Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty faced an uphill battle on the penultimate day of racing, starting the day two-nil down in their quarter-final against Julie Bossard of France.
Price and crew started in the best possible way, winning the first race of the day to take the quarter-final to a fourth race but ultimately lost to the French three wins to one.
The Australians then progressed to the first fifth to eighth place playoff where they came up against Ru Wang of China. Price, Curtis and Whitty won the playoff two-nil, moving through to take on American Genny Tulloch in the fifth and sixth playoff.
The Americans came out on top two-nil with the Australian crew finishing the regatta sixth overall.
For more information on the Australian Women’s Match Racing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au.
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Women’s Match Races storm into quarter-finals at Buddy Melges Challenge Australia’s two Women’s Match Racing crews have won their way through to the quarter-finals at the Buddy Melges Challenge in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, following another impressive day on the water. The two crews finished the round robin phase of the regatta first and second with Nicky Souter, Jessica Eastwell and Katie Spithill at the top of the table with Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty just behind in second. Souter and crew continued their dominant form from the opening two days, finishing with an impressive 15 wins from 15 starts.
Price, Curtis and Whitty were not far behind, with 13 wins from their 15 races, with their only losses against Souter and American Genny Tulloch.
Both crews qualified for the quarter-finals and at the end of day three are in tight battles to progress to the semi-finals.
Souter, Eastwell and Spithill are currently tied one-all in the best of five quarter-final with Brazilian Renata Decnop while Price and crew will be pushing hard on day four to overcome their current two-nil deficit to France’s Julie Bossard.
“Today we finished off the round robin with four more wins to complete the round undefeated with 15 wins and take first place,” said Spithill. “Nicky has been doing a great job getting off the start line which has made the tactics easier.
“This afternoon we started sailing the quarter-finals against Brazil,” she said. “We lost the first race due to an unforced error, and in a dying breeze and short course we never got the lead back.
“In the second race we won off the line and kept our lead around the course just before the breeze disappeared altogether and they called it a day,” said Spithill. “We’ve had some great races so far and are looking forward to finishing the quarter-finals tomorrow.”
Price, Curtis and Whitty will be looking to push their quarter-final to five races on Friday after falling two-nil behind the French crew lead by Julie Bossard.
“We had a strong finish to the round robin winning the final four races,” said Curtis. “This placed us second overall in the round robin just behind our fellow Aussies. We ended up on the same points as American Anna Tunniclife however we won the race against her during the round robin so this seeded us ahead of her in the overall placing.
“Being in second place we were to race off the seventh place getter Julie Bossard in the quarter-finals for a place in the semi,” she said. “In a dying sea breeze of between two and five knots and extremely choppy conditions we unfortunately lost the first two races, however we managed to take away some valuable lessons in the specific conditions. “Tomorrow we’ll be finishing off our quarter-finals against Julie, it is a best of five series so we have three races to win first up tomorrow to advance to the semi finals,” she said. Racing continues in Wisconsin on Friday with the Buddy Melges Challenge to conclude on Saturday 27 August.
For more information on the Australian Women’s Match Racing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au.
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Aussie Match Racers continue to lead the way in the US Australia’s Women’s Match Racers have continued their great start to the Buddy Melges Challenge with race wins all around on day two of racing in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Nicky Souter, Jessica Eastwell and Katie Spithill continue to lead the way and are so far undefeated, winning all 11 races they have contested, while fellow Australians Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty are hot on their heels with nine wins and two losses. Souter, who won this event in 2010, has recently teamed up with Eastwell and Spithill with the trio’s results so far in Wisconsin showing they have gelled well as a crew.
“Today was another great day for us in a variety of conditions,” said Souter. “In the morning we had so much fog we couldn’t see the course but that cleared quickly and we started the day off with four wins out of four races.
“We had a close and exciting race with the Chinese team resulting in them getting two penalties on the final downwind run,” she said. “We then had a break and raced three races in the afternoon with the breeze increasing with some gusts reaching 25knots.
“In the afternoon we dominated the starts and lead every leg in every race scoring another three wins out of three races and are now undefeated after day two with 11 wins.
“We’re looking forward to racing tomorrow, especially against the two American crews of Anna Tunnicliffe and Genny Tulloch,” said Souter.
Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty also had a strong day on the water, picking up another four wins with just a single loss on day two.
“Today's conditions were really volatile, meaning that big leads were hard to defend,” said Price. “We had five races this afternoon, with one loss to American Genny Tulloch, bringing our overall scorecard to nine wins and two losses.
“We had a very exciting race against Anna Tunnicliffe of the US, where we were trailing by quite a way until we got in touch with her up the second work,” she said. “Down the final run we forced three separate penalties on her for luffing, gybing too close and then breaking proper course restrictions, which enabled us to take the race win.
“It was a long day on the water in very hot and dry weather, but we’re looking forward to another full day tomorrow where we’ll finish the round robin and then start the quarter finals in the afternoon.”
The Buddy Melges Challenge runs until Saturday 27 August.
For more information on the Australian Women’s Match Racing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au.
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Nominations for 2011 Australian Yachting Awards close Monday 5 September Nominations for the 2011 Australian Yachting Awards close on Monday 5 September, with the event recognising outstanding achievements in the sport of sailing during the last year. The winners will be announced at the 2011 Australian Yachting Awards at Luna Park in Sydney on Friday October 28 with nominations set to close on 5 September 2011. The 2011 Australian Yachting Awards categories are as follows:
- Male Sailor of the Year
- Female Sailor of the Year - Sailor of the Year with a Disability - Youth Sailor of the Year - Sport Promotion Award - Lifetime Achievement Award - Sport Professional Award - Volunteer Award Anyone in the sailing community can make a nomination with forms and criteria available on the Yachting Australia website via the following link Yachting Awards Information. Nominations for the awards may be made in respect of achievements during the period 16 August 2010 and 31 August 2011 with clubs, class associations and the general sailing community asked to look closely at who they would like to see nominated for an award.
Specific details regarding the venue and ticket sales will be announced shortly.
For more information visit www.yachting.org.au.
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Silver medal for Australian sailors at Summer Universiade in China Australian sailors have won a Silver medal at the 26th Summer Universiade in Shenzen, China, finishing behind the United States in the Laser Radial team racing class. The Australian trio of Alex South, James Burman and Tristan Brown finished the round robin second overall with a six wins and four losses, progressing to the final against their American competition. South and Burman, members of the Australian Sailing Squad, and fellow Australian Brown were defeated two-nil by the Americans in the final, bringing home the Silver medal.
The sailors also competed in the fleet racing component of the event with Burman and Brown contesting the Laser Standard class and South the Laser Radial.
Burman and Brown finished 19th and 20th respectively in the Laser class with both sailors picking up a top 10 race finish along the way.
In the Laser Radial class South finished 18th overall.
The three Laser sailors were joined in China by fellow Australians Aurora Patterson and Tara McCall who contested the 470 open class.
Patterson and McCall, competing in their first international regatta together, finished 14th after 10 fleet races, including two top 10 race finishes.
The Summer Universiade attracts over 8,000 athletes and over 4,000 officials, support staff and volunteers.
Australia has a team of 230 athletes, officials and staff, across 16 sports, the largest team ever assembled by Australia for a Universiade.
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Audi IRC Australian Championship set for exciting finale as racing heads north The battle for the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship is set to get right down to the wire with the final round currently underway in Queensland. Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is the fourth and final round of the 2011 championship with tight battles for the title in all three IRC classes. The three class winners in the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship will be crowned following the final day of racing at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week on Saturday 27 August.
Audi Australia’s managing director, Uwe Hagen, says the battle for the championship lead has been great to watch, right from the first event.
“The spirited competition that we are seeing in this national championship highlights the competitive nature of sailing in Australia. All three IRC classes have been challenging for the crews and we are excited to see how this final round plays out this week. At this stage, it is anyone’s race to win an Audi A1 for a year,” Mr Hagen said.
Audi Hamilton Island Race Week marks the culmination of a national championship which began with Audi Victoria Week back in January before the action headed north for the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta in March.
Australia’s leading keelboats got back into action last month with the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race with the competition tight at all events across all the three classes.
Heading into the final round, Marcus Blackmore’s TP52 Hooligan leads in Class A the way by just a single point, ahead of Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki.
Third placed Living Doll, owned by Michael Hiatt, is just two points further back setting up an exciting finale in the Whitsundays.
After the opening three rounds Class B is led by Darryl Hodgkinson’s Victoire, five points clear of Robert Reynold’s Exile with Paul Clitheroe’s Balance a further four points behind.
In Class C Peter Sorensen’s The Philosopher’s Club leads the way, ahead of Andy Kearnan’s L’Altra Donna while Peregrine, skippered by owner Ryan Walker, third overall.
Racing at Audi Hamilton Island Race week is a mix of windward –leeward courses and passage races, with crews having to be consistent throughout the week to ensure they’re in the mix at the end of the regatta.
For more information on the Audi IRC Australian Championship visit www.irc.yachting.org.au and for details on Audi Hamilton Island Race Week visit www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au.
The winner of each Class of the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship will receive the sporty and compact Audi A1 for a year.
Audi IRC Australian Championship TV coverage
The 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship will go to air on ONE HD from Saturday 3 September at 6:00pm. This year's series will comprise of eight 30 minute episodes. The TV series is produced by Audi Australia and Fuzzy TV. Network Ten sports presenter, Rob Canning, is the host of the series and will be joined by expert commentators, Will Hagon and Neville Wittey.
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Australian sailors excel at 420 and 470 Junior European Championships Australian youth sailors Angus Galloway and Alex Gough have won the 420 Junior European Championships in Belgium, capping off a great European season for the Queensland based pair. The win in Belgium for Galloway and Gough follows their Bronze medal at the 2011 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Croatia last month and their earlier win at Kieler Woche in Germany. The pair was at the head of the fleet in Nieuwpoort for the entire regatta, finishing in the top 10 in all but one race, picking up four race wins along the way.
The 420 Junior European Championships featured 101 crews from 21 nations with close racing throughout the fleets across all 10 races on the North Sea.
Galloway and Gough went into the final race in the light conditions just one point ahead of French crew Guillaume Pirouelle and Valentin Sipan with the Australians keeping a close eye on their competition throughout the race and bringing home the Gold medal.
Fellow Australians Alec Bailey and Douglas Shephard finished 26th with three top four finishes during the regatta.
Meanwhile Australian crews also had strong results at the 470 Junior European Championships being held at the same venue.
Australian Sailing Squad members Matthew and Robert Crawford ended the regatta fourth overall, just six points off the podium following a highly competitive week of racing.
The Crawford brothers were in the mix all regatta, consistently finishing at the front of the fleet in the challenging conditions.
Sasha Ryan and Squad member Chelsea Hall finished fifth in the women’s class, with the pair in the middle of a tight group just outside the medals.
The leading Australian crews competing at the 420 and 470 Junior European Championships have received support from Yachting Australia’s High Performance Program, either as part of the Australian Sailing Squad and or the Youth Bridging Program.
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Outteridge and Jensen win Olympic test event 49er Gold by the closest of margins Australian sailors Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen have won Gold on the final day of the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, following the closest of finishes in the 49er class. Outteridge and Jensen ended the regatta tied on points with the Spanish crew of Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez, winning the Gold medal thanks to their fourth place finish in the final 10 boat medal race, while the Spanish were sixth. The medal race was an up and down affair with the third placed New Zealanders running away with the race win meaning that the Australians had to ensure they stayed in the top eight to keep the Kiwis in the Bronze medal position.
The Australians and the Spanish both spent time at the front and the back of the fleet and when the dust settled Outteridge and Jensen finished the race fourth to the Spanish sixth and had their fourth straight win at the venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
“Things didn’t really go our way at the start and the Spanish got out to the right and got ahead of us but surprisingly we were coming through on port and they didn’t tack on us and we managed to lead around the top mark,” said Outteridge. “From there we just tried to stay at the front and hope that they stayed at the back but somehow we dropped to seventh and they clawed back up.
“We got some nice shifts on the upwind and managed to get a couple of boats between us and them and thankfully the Brits got in between us and them,” he said.
Jensen was impressed with the performance of the Spanish who have only recently returned to the class with the two crews neck and neck all week.
“They’ve done a really good job considering they’ve been out of the boat so long and it’s a bit of a worry because it will be interesting to see what they can do once they’ve done a bit of work,” said Jensen. “It’ll be all on come this time next year.”
Outteridge and Jensen, the 2009 49er World Champions, have been unstoppable at the Olympic venue, adding the test event victory to their three consecutive Gold medals at the Sail for Gold Regatta.
“We never would have expected to win four in a row here and the fact that we’ve done it is amazing,” said Outteridge. “There’s one more event here before the games next year and hopefully we can keep the winning streak going and hopefully we haven’t used up all our luck.
“We had a tough week and fought all week long and today was the most difficult day of them all and we’re just happy to come out on equal points and get the win on a count back, we’ll take that for sure,” he said.
The Gold medal for Outteridge and Jensen capped off a strong week for the Australian team with Tom Slingsby winning Gold in the Laser class while 470 crew Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page won Silver.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Gold and Silver for Aussie sailors at Olympic test event Australian sailors have won a Gold and a Silver medal on the penultimate day of racing at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Tom Slingsby won Gold in a dramatic Laser medal race while Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page were forced to fight their way from the back of the fleet to take the Silver medal in the 470 men’s class. Slingsby went into the final 10 boat medal race second overall, just one point behind New Zealand’s Andrew Murdoch and one ahead of Dutch sailor Rutger van Schaardenburg, with Olympic champion Paul Goodision of Great Britain just behind in fourth.
The scenario was simple for the triple World Champion, finish ahead of Murdoch and van Schaardenburg and within a couple of boats of Goodison.
“Rutger and Paul both got a really good start and were first and second most of the time,” said Slingsby. “I didn’t get a good start and just tried to be patient, some of me was screaming to tack and take a big risk and go to a side but I decided to stay patient and try and chip away and in the end I just got there.
“Coming into the last mark before the short reach to the finish Rutger and I were right alongside each other, he called that he had room, I said that he didn’t and he called a protest,” he said. “I knew I was about a metre clear and luckily the jury saw it the same way. He led me the whole way around and I only got him at the last point, you can’t ask for anything more than that.
Slingsby’s last gasp win made it four Gold medals from four regattas at the venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and just a year out from the main event the current ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year is progressing well.
“It’s always good to win at the Olympic venue, Goodison won all of the test events before China and my goal was always to stay undefeated leading up to the Olympics, and obviously the Olympics themselves,” he said. “It doesn’t mean anything but it’s good for the confidence and shows your competitors that this is a venue that you like and you’re going to be hard to beat.”
Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page went into the 470 medal race 14 points off the leading French crew of Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos and with plenty of work to do to snatch the Gold medal away.
The pair found themselves at the back of the fleet at the top mark and were forced to fight their way back to eventually cross the line fourth and secure their Silver medal.
“The race started off dramatically, obviously due to the points it was hard to get to first and hard to lose third, we thought we started ok but got what we thought was a bogus penalty that we didn’t agree with but that’s just the way it is,” said Belcher. “We found ourselves dead last at the top mark and then knew that we had the speed and had the experience and slowly chipped back and got back to fourth so we’re happy with the result.”
Page said that the pair kept things calm when they were at the back of the fleet and let the race play itself out.
“We kept saying to each other that we had to keep it simple and keep working on the little things and chip away a boat at a time,” said Page. “We managed to do it which is always nice and were actually all but a boat length off second but by that stage we just said lets keep our noses clean and not get another foul and bring our other competition back into the race.
Belcher said that they were pleased with how they fought back from a tough start to the regatta.
“We started off a little slow and would have liked to have started this regatta a little better but it’s also nice to know you can come back from a difficult situation as we lost 30 odd points to the French in the first three races,” he said. “We clawed our way back the best we could and had a few things go our way and a few things didn’t, we’ll take that into next year and get them then.”
Krystal Weir finished eighth in the Laser Radial class following a seventh place finish in the medal race.
Weir had some great results during the week, including four top 10 finishes in the 10 fleet races.
“I had a good start to the medal race and was doing really well at the end of the first lap but unfortunately the last downwind was a bit tough and I got passed by a few boats which was a bit disappointing but overall it wasn’t a bad race,” she said. “I had some really good moments in this regatta and it gives me a lot of confidence, I’ve got a year now to iron out a few little things and be ready to go next year.”
Brendan Casey finished 15th in the Finn fleet following a fourth and a 10th in the final two races.
In the Star class Australian sailors Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth finished the regatta 16th after crossing the line 14th and 19th on Friday.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Top 10 finish for windsurfer Jessica Crisp following strong final race in Weymouth Australian windsurfer Jessica Crisp has finished eighth in the RS:X women’s class at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, following a strong finish in the final medal race. Crisp went into the final 10 boat medal race in eighth overall, in a close group of athletes and needed a good result to maintain her position. The three time Olympian had a slow start and was forced to play catch up but came home strong, passing two of her competitors in the final slalom to finish fifth and hold onto her eighth overall.
“I started pretty badly as I didn’t want to get in the way of the top three who were fighting it out for the medals,” said Crisp. “I had the worst start, they planed off and I was left standing there even though it was blowing 20 knots.
“I worked my way back through the fleet and coming into the slalom at the end I was seventh,” she said. “The British sailor Bryony Shaw spun out into a mark and I passed her and then on the last reach in I came up on Spain’s Marina Alabau and got her on the line in a good finish.”
The 49er fleet completed two races on Thursday with Spanish pair Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez taking the regatta lead back from Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, and are ahead by just a single point.
The two crews have gone back and forth all week, and New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke now are just five points adrift of Outteridge and Jensen, setting up a great finale to the event.
The fleet will return to the water on Friday for two final fleet races before the 10 boat medal race on Saturday.
“We had a good race one and were in the pack around the first mark,” said Outteridge. “We managed to get into the lead and kept swapping with the Spanish the whole way round but ended up getting them by a pole length on the line coming in at about 20 knots, it was a good finish between us again.
“In race two we were in the pack again and couldn’t find a gap on port coming into the top mark and then the Austrians ahead of us did a bad tack and the only option was to run over the back of their tiller so then we had to find the spot to do a penalty turn,” he said. “We eventually got it done after going around the mark and from then on were just playing catch up, luckily there was a bit of carnage at one of the bottom marks and we managed to get around and got back to eighth, saving the day again, it seems to be what we’re doing everyday here.”
Outteridge is looking forward to the challenge the final two fleet races and the medal race will pose over the next two days.
“We need to get out there and do some more racing and claw some more points back,” he said. “The forecast is a little more sailable, 15 knots or something like that. We’re looking forward to it, we’ve got the smallest drop out of everyone so hopefully we can post a couple of good races, or at least one good one and we might be able to sail someone back into the fleet, we’ll see how it goes.
“The points are so close and there’s more than one boat to worry about now so it’ll be all on tomorrow,” said Outteridge.
Strong conditions on Weymouth Bay kept the Finn class on shore for the day while the Star class managed to go racing in the harbour in the early evening with Australians Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth still on the water at 8pm local time.
Friday is set to be a busy day in Weymouth with the 49er, Finn and Star classes returning to the water for their final fleet races while the Laser, Laser Radial and 470 classes will contest their medal races.
Australians Tom Slingsby, Krystal Weir, Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page will all compete in the medal races on the Nothe course, the spectator venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Slingsby is in a tight battle for the medals in the Laser class, heading into the final race just one point off the lead and one ahead of third position.
Weir is eighth overall in the Laser Radial class and will be keen to push her way up the leader board in the final race of the regatta.
In the 470 men’s class Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page are 14 points behind the leading French crew and will be pushing hard to turn their current Silver medal into a Gold one.
The pair has recovered well from a dramatic final race which saw them collide with the New Zealand crew coming into the finish, causing damage to the two boats and also Page.
Page was cleared of any serious injury to his arm and the pair is set to contest their fourth straight medal race on the Olympic course.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Aussies in the mix as big breeze keeps crews on their toes at Olympic test event Strong winds have played havoc with racing at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, with a number of Australian crews excelling in the breeze. Crews were tested by winds gusting to 30 knots with Australian Laser sailor Tom Slingsby, 49er crew Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen and 470 men’s pair Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page putting themselves in the picture for medals with race wins in Weymouth. Tom Slingsby is set for a four-way showdown in the Laser medal race on Friday, the three-time World Champion heads into the race second overall.
Slingsby opened the day with a race win before finishing eighth in race two to be just one point behind the overnight leader Andrew Murdoch of New Zealand, with Dutch sailor Rutger van Schaardenburg one point behind Slingsby and 2008 Olympic Games champion Paul Goodison six points adrift in fourth.
“I had a pretty good day with a win and an eighth,” said Slingsby. “The first race all went to plan but in race two I was in about fourth and told myself that I’ve just got to keep it upright and get through here and the next thing I capsized it.
“Sailing is one of those sports where if you take your foot off the pedal for a second things go wrong, after the capsize I dropped to 12th or 14th but was able to catch back up a bit by the end.
Slingsby is looking forward to the challenge of the double-point 10 boat medal race, any one of the top four able to take home the Gold medal.
“Who knows who’s going to win it,” he said. “I haven’t had a medal race scenario like this before and I’ve been doing them for quite a while, I think it’s quite fitting for the Olympic test event.
“More than anything it’ll be a really good experience, there won’t be the Olympic Games pressure that there will be next year on this race but it’s still good to go through the steps of a close medal race and we’ll see who comes out on top,” he said.
Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen have retaken the lead in the 49er class after only two of their scheduled three races were completed due to the breeze getting up towards 30 knots.
Outteridge and Jensen opened the day in style with a race win before finishing race two fifth, opening up a two point lead over the Spanish crew of Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez who finished with an eighth and a fourth.
“It was pretty fresh today with race three being cancelled due to the strong winds but we managed two good results,” said Outteridge. “We had a swim in the second race but managed to climb back to fifth which made it a good day for us after a race one bullet.”
Jensen said that the pair had a lot of work to do after capsizing at the top mark in the second race.
“We found ourselves in the high teens, early 20s and just tried to stay composed and not try to do anything special and minimise the mistakes,” he said. “We figured it was fresh enough that other people would fall down and make mistakes and we worked our way back up.”
The 49er fleet returns to the water on Thursday for a minimum of three races before the final medal race on Saturday.
“There’s plenty more racing to come and plenty more breeze due as well so it’s going to be a good finish to the regatta,” said Outteridge.
470 men’s sailors Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page are second overall heading into the final medal race following a day of highs and lows in the blustery conditions.
Belcher and Page won the opening race of the day, showing good speed to round the top mark in fifth and following some up and down positional changes had the lead by the following lap, with the pair not looking back from then on to take the win.
In race two the reigning World Champions were in ninth position coming down the final reach, just 20 metres from the finish when the New Zealand boat ahead of them spun and half capsized.
Belcher and Page were just a boat length behind and traveling at around 15 knots, giving them nowhere to go. Belcher bore away but the boats collided, with Page also making contact with the Kiwi’s boat, doing a full 360 degree spin and landing in the back of the boat, breaking the Australian’s tiller and leaving them without steering.
The pair then capsized and was unable to finish the race, after returning to shore they sought redress from the race committee and given a ninth place finish, leaving them 15 points off the leading French crew of Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos with just the medal race remaining.
“We were flying in to the finish when the Kiwis went over right in front of us leaving us with nowhere to go to avoid hitting them,” said Page. “The hit was pretty big and I slammed into their boat and landed back in ours, doing a bit of damage to myself and our boat.
“I took a hit to the arm but after getting it checked out it will be fine for the medal race on Friday, just plenty of swelling,” he said. “There’s no way I was going to miss the medal race, I’d be out there tomorrow with a cast on my arm if I had to.”
Australia’s Women’s Match Racers Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty have finished fifth overall after the strong winds kept them onshore.
The trio had taken a one-nil lead in the first to three wins sail-off against the Dutch crew lead by Mandy Mulder on Monday evening, with Thursday’s cancellation securing them their fifth position.
Krystal Weir heads into Friday’s Laser Radial medal race in eighth overall, just 10 points off fourth in a tight group of boats.
Weir had a 21st and an 11th in the day’s two races on Weymouth Bay and will be keen to push her way back up the leader board in the final race.
In the Finn fleet Brendan Casey is 16th overall following a 14th and a 17th, with two final fleet races scheduled for Thursday.
470 women’s sailors Tessa Parkinson and Belinda Stowell ended their regatta 24th overall following a pair of 23rd place finishes.
The Star fleet was unable to complete a race due to the strong breeze, with the crews making their way to the race course only to be send back to shore.
Australians Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth are 15th overall in the highly competitive fleet.
The 49er, Star and Finn classes return to the water on Thursday, along with the RS:X fleets for their final medal race, with Jessica Crisp set to race in the women’s final.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Windsurfer Crisp shoots up the leader board to book herself a spot in Olympic test event finalAustralian windsurfer Jessica Crisp has secured herself a position in the RS:X women’s medal race following a strong final two fleet races at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta. Crisp started the day 12th, needing two good races to get herself into the final 10 boat medal race and the three time Olympian excelled, finishing fourth and fifth to leapfrog her closest opponents and move up to eighth overall. “Today panned out pretty well and I had my best day of the regatta so far,” said Crisp. “Anything could have happened today as there were a lot of people vying for those final spots in the medal race, I can’t believe that I jumped up four positions in a day. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the medal race, the top three are pretty secure and they’ve been on fire here so I’ve got a lot of work to do and a year to do it.
“The wind was lighter than expected and we were racing on the Nothe course which is shifty like Sydney harbour, so you can see what’s happening and I enjoyed that,” she said. “We had a long day out there and ended up moving back into the harbour for our second race with the sun setting directly down on the water and I managed to pick it right and did well.”
The RS:X fleet now has a lay day on Thursday before the final double-points medal race on Friday.
Australia’s 470 men’s crew of Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page have had another solid day’s racing in Weymouth, ending the day second overall, behind the leading French crew of Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos.
Belcher and Page had an eighth and a third on Tuesday, though the French had a better day with a fifth and a win to extend their lead to 17 points with two fleet races and the final medal race remaining.
“We were back outside again but this time on a course we hadn’t raced on before this week,” said Belcher. “The breeze was sort of coming off the cliffs and it was similar to sailing in Sydney in a westerly, very shifty, very sporadic and you just had to keep your head out of the boat.”
Page said that the French pair had showed the way all week but they would continue to chase them hard until the final race.
“The French haven’t had a bad race yet and with only two more fleet races remaining they only need one more good race and the way they’re sailing at the moment they look like doing it,” said Page. “I’m sure with us second they’ll put a bit of attention on us in one of the races tomorrow.
“They sail very well here and have done it again this week, they’re showing the fleet the level they need to get to,” he said. “Every day and every minute that we spend here is helpful for next year, you’ve got to make it natural in the environment and instinctive when sailing. We’ve just got to keep working on ourselves over the next year, we can be as good as anybody and I like to think that they’ll be chasing us in a year’s time.”
Tom Slingsby had a tough day by his high standards in the Laser class and is currently second overall behind New Zealand’s Andrew Murdoch.
The three-time World Champion had a 17 and a 19 to end the day just three points behind Murdoch with another two fleet races and the 10 boat medal race left to contest.
Slingsby will also have to keep an eye over his shoulder with the third placed Cypriot sailor just one point behind him, with the fourth and fifth placed Dutch and British crews a further four points behind.
In the Laser Radial class Krystal Weir crossed the line 10th in race one and 32nd in race two to be fourth overall, just one point behind the third placed American sailor.
Tessa Parkinson and Belinda Stowell are 24th in the 470 women’s class after crossing the line early in race one and then finishing 23rd in race two.
West Australian RS:X men’s competitor Tim Gourlay finished his regatta 26th, after a 22nd and a 25th in races nine and 10.
The majority of the fleets are in action on Wednesday with the 49er, Finn and Star classes back on the water following their lay day.
They will be joined on the water by the 470 men and women, Women’s Match Racing, Laser and Laser Radial sailors.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Aussie Women’s Match Racing and 49er crews stay strong as breeze batters the fleets in Weymouth Breezy conditions have again tested the sailors at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, with Australia’s Women’s Match Racing and 49er crews have strong days. After narrowly missing out on a place in the semi-finals, Australia’s Women’s Match Racing crew of Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty took on Great Britain’s Lucy Macgregor in the first round of the fifth to eighth sail off. The Australians started exceptionally well against their higher ranked opponents and quickly raced out to a two-nil lead, with the first team to get to three wins progressing to the fifth and sixth sail off.
The Brits fought back well, winning the next two and forcing a fifth and final race. Price and crew found themselves on the back foot in the fifth race but stormed home to take the win and a well deserved spot in the sail off against Mandy Mulder of the Netherlands.
The first race in the match up against the Dutch took place in the early evening on Monday with Price, Curtis and Whitty again forced to come from behind, taking the win on the final downwind to lead one-nil. The final races will be sailed on Wednesday.
“Today was tough, with really tricky conditions,” said Price. “The breeze was shifty all over the place, with the pressure being up and down but we had a good day, we came up against the British team and won the first two, lost the next two but came back well to take the overall win.
“To us today felt like a semi-final,” she said. “We were racing against really tough competition and we’re happy to get in such good racing in a great venue like this,” she said.
Crew member Nina Curtis said that the trio pushed hard in the final race of the day to get the one-nil lead over their Dutch opponents.
“We came from behind on that last downwind which was really good for us,” said Curtis. “We were strong downwind which is a massive leap forward for us compared to the other day and we’re continuing to learn all the time and are loving the racing here.”
In the 49er class Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen had another solid day and currently sit second overall, just four points adrift of the leading Spanish crew.
The 2009 World Champions had a second, a seventh and a fourth in the strong breeze, and are currently the only team in the fleet to have finished inside the top 10 in every race.
“We toughed it out a bit today,” said Outteridge. “We had a good first race with a second but then capsized while doing a penalty turn in the middle one, managing to catch back up to fourth before more equipment failure. We ended up seventh which wasn’t too bad and then in the last race we clawed our way back to fourth after being a long way back, all in all a pretty solid day but not as good as the Spanish who have taken over the lead.
“The Spanish look really solid in the windy, shifty stuff, it’s quite amazing given their last regatta was the World Championships January last year, we’ve definitely got a boat to catch now,” he said. “It’s great to have the Spanish back, their raised the level of the whole competition and for us it’s definitely good to have to top boats to race against and they are showing how to do it at the moment.
“We’ve got a lay day tomorrow to think a bit more about it and hopefully we can claw them back over the next few days,” he said.
Jensen said that the pair is placed well but with six fleet races plus the final medal race left to contest the regatta is still anybody’s.
“There’s plenty of racing left in this one and we’re just trying to stay consistent, make sure we don’t have any high scores and hopefully when we get to the pointy end there’s not much between us and the Spanish,” he said.
Jessica Crisp currently sits 12th overall in the RS:X women’s class following a 17th and a seventh on Portland harbour.
The three-time Olympian is six points off 10th position and a spot in the final medal race with two fleet races left to contest.
Fellow windsurfer Tim Gourlay is 25th following a 31st and a 27th in the day’s two races.
Brendan Casey had a tough day in the Finn class, getting a black flag in the opening race and then crossing the line 22nd in race two after a capsize and finds himself 17th overall.
In the Star class Australians Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth are 15th following a 17th and a 14th.
The 470 men and women, Laser and Laser Radial classes all return to the water on Tuesday for two further races.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Aussie sailors hit the front as breeze picks up at Olympic test event Australian sailors have reveled in strong winds at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, with four crews ending the day in the top three of their respective classes. With the breeze getting up above 25 knots at times, a number of Aussie crews were in their element. Laser sailor Tom Slingsby and 49er crew Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen took the lead in their classes, while Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page have moved into second in the 470 men’s and Krystal Weir into third in the Laser Radial. Outteridge and Jensen started day two of the 49er competition second overall, just behind the leading German crew after the opening three races.
The Australians sailed consistently well in the strong winds to finish the day with a fifth, a seventh and a first, and now lead the regatta by three points, the 2009 World Champions are the only crew to have finished all six races in the top 10.
“It was a good day for us today, really windy and we were racing on the Nothe course with very flat water,” said Outteridge. “We managed to stay out of trouble most of the time today, I fell off the boat a few times and cost us some points but it was nothing major so we’re pretty happy with the day.
“It was one of those days we knew it was going to be about fighting all day long, not just against the competition but against the weather itself and to come away with the results that we did was great,” he said.
Jensen said that the breeze picked right up for the final race, with a number of crews spending time the wrong way up.
“The last race was definitely about survival,” said Jensen. “We rounded the top mark third and had the Spanish and the British go down in front of us, so from there we thought we’d take it easy. Even if we had to sacrifice a few points to make sure we stayed upright, it was about getting around the course to finish in the top three and we eventually came out with the win.”
Tom Slingsby built on his strong first opening races in the Laser class with a race win and a second on Sunday moving him into the overall regatta lead.
The triple World Champion heads into the Laser class lay day with an eight point lead over New Zealand’s Andrew Murdoch, and is a further seven ahead of the third placed Dutch sailor.
“It was definitely my kind of conditions out there today,” said Slingsby. “I felt great and went the right way, sailed well and came away with a good day with a first and a second.
“It’s all coming together well so far, there are another two days of racing before the medal race so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and see how it all adds up before the last race,” he said.
470 men’s sailors Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page had a perfect day on the water with a pair of race wins on Portland harbour.
The reigning World Champions continue to move up the leader board, with Sunday’s two wins leaving them second overall behind the first placed French crew.
“Today was a lot better day for us,” said Belcher. “We were racing back in the harbour and it was nice to have that experience again. We came away with two wins which is all you can ask for and we’re happy with the way we sailed in some tricky conditions.”
Page said that the pair felt better racing on the harbour course than they did on the opening day.
“It felt more like our boat today,” said Page. “I suppose we didn’t have the mojo early on, not to say that we’ll have it for the second half of the regatta either but certainly today it felt normal.”
Krystal Weir continued her solid start in the Laser Radial class, with a second and a sixth moving her up to third overall, just one point behind the second placed Irish sailor.
“Things were a bit exciting today with the most wind we’ve had for the whole regatta,” said Weir. “I picked up a second in the opening race with a really tight battle with Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands. I led the whole way round; it was only on the last half of the last downwind that she got past me heading into the finish.”
“I was really please to be consistent on a day like today where it was pretty tricky on the course,” she said.
In the Finn class Brendan Casey has moved his way up to 12th overall, just two points outside the top 10.
Casey had a 15th in the opening race before a strong race two, picking up his best result of the regatta so far, a fourth place finish.
Tessa Parkinson and Belinda Stowell sit 24th in the 470 women’s class, following their best results of the week so far with a 19th and an 18th.
Star sailors Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth are 14th in the Star class, crossing the line 20th and 13th in the day’s two races.
The RS:X and Women’s Match Racers had a lay day on Sunday, with Jessica Crisp currently 10th in the RS:X women’s while Tim Gourlay is 25th in the RS:X men’s.
Australia’s Women’s Match Racers, Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty will be back in action on Monday in the fifth to eighth place race off.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam. Video highlights, including the latest Ask the AST segment with 49er sailor Iain Jensen will be available at www.youtube.com/YachtingAUS.
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Two wins for Outteridge and Jensen on opening day of 49er racing at Olympic test event Australian 49er sailors Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen have made a solid start to the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, ending their opening day of racing second overall. Outteridge and Jensen started the regatta in style, winning the first two races before finishing race three ninth overall, leaving them one point off the leading German crew. The pair are undefeated after three regattas over the last three years in Weymouth but haven’t always had the best opening day at the Olympic venue, making their two race wins and a ninth all the more impressive.
“To be honest it was a bit of a shock for us to do so well on the first day here,” said Outteridge. “Obviously we’re very happy with the results as we tried to keep away from the big pack and ended up sailing our own race and getting some nice shifts to find our way to the front in the first two races.
“At this regatta we’ve got 15 fleet races and the medal race and on day one you don’t want to have any bad races so to have two firsts and a ninth is pretty good as I’m fairly sure we’ll carry all of those, we’re bound to be outside the top 10 at some stage,” he said.
Tom Slingsby sits second in the Laser fleet, six points behind regatta leader Andrew Murdoch of New Zealand.
Slingsby started day two as he left off on Friday with a race win on Weymouth bay before finishing 13th in the second race.
“In both races today I rounded the top mark a bit back in the fleet,” said Slingsby. “In race one I had speed to burn and made my way through the fleet but in race two I couldn’t quite get it together, but I’m looking forward to another two races in some good conditions tomorrow.”
In the Laser Radial class Krystal Weir is currently fourth overall following a fourth and a 20th place finish. Weir finds herself just six points off the podium after the opening four races.
Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page have moved up to fourth in the 470 men’s class with an opening race 10th and a second on day two of racing for the class.
“We found more of a groove today and settled down after the opening day,” said Belcher. “We were offshore today and the conditions were more difficult and it became more about strategy than yesterday in the harbour.
“It was good to crack the top 10 for the first time this regatta and move ourselves up to fourth overall,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a high scoring regatta so it’s about minimising mistakes and making the most of opportunities.
“Yesterday we made a slower start than we would have like but they’re the cards we were dealt and now we’re working our way back,” he said.
Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty lined up against the Russian crew led by Ekaterina Skudina in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Match Racing.
The Australian trio lost the opening two races before fighting back to win race three convincingly and take the first to three-wins quarter-final to a fourth race.
Unfortunately the Russians, who topped the leader board after the round robin won race four and progressed to the semi-finals, with the Australians to race in the fifth to eighth place round.
“The wind came in today and we had a ball while racing,” said Curtis. “Obviously we’re a bit disappointed to lose three to one but we raced our hearts out and learnt some great lessons.”
Price said that the team was looking forward to the challenge of the fifth to eighth place race off.
“We’ll be up against some big names in the race off including the British team and the Swedes so it’s definitely going to be a tough round and we’re looking forward to the challenge,” she said.
In the RS:X women’s class Jessica Crisp remains 10th overall after the first six races, finishing with a 19th and a seventh on Saturday.
Fellow windsurfer Tim Gourlay is 25th in the RS:X men’s after a 31st and a 25th in the day’s two races.
Tessa Parkinson and Belinda Stowell ended their second day of racing in 23rd position, following a 23rd and a 22nd.
The Finn class got underway on Saturday with Australian Brendan Casey ending the day 16th overall. The Gold Coast based sailor finished the opening race 17th before crossing the line 16th in race two.
In the Star class Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth are 12th after a 13th and a race two ninth and are just three points outside the top 10.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Slingsby starts in style at Olympic test event Australian sailor Tom Slingsby has picked up where he left off in Weymouth, leading the way in the Laser class at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, after the opening two races. Slingsby, a three-time Laser World Champion, has had great success in Weymouth, winning all three regattas that he has competed in at the Olympic venue, the most recent in June this year. Slingsby opened his regatta with a fifth place finish in the shifty conditions on Weymouth bay, backing the result up with a solid victory in race two.
The results have given the Australian a three point lead at the top of the table but Slingsby knows that there’s plenty of racing left in the event.
“Today was a good way to start the regatta but it’s going to be a long week and we’ll see what happens as we go through the races,” said Slingsby. “I learnt how not to do it at the Games in 2008 I guess, there’s a saying that you learn more from losing than winning, I don’t know if it’s true but I’ve definitely got a lot more experience now so I think I’ll take that into this campaign.
“It was quite tricky today, especially in that first race,” he said. “I haven’t been doing too well in training, hadn’t won any of the training races so it was good to come away with the results from today.”
Fellow Australian Krystal Weir had a solid day in the Laser Radial class with a fourth and an 11th leaving her fourth overall, just one point behind third and three off second.
“My first race today was solid with a fourth, it’s a long regatta and only day one so a fourth and an 11th are keepers cause it’s incredibly tight racing out there,” said Weir.
This is Weir’s second Olympic campaign after competing in the three person Yngling class at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
“I really liked having the girls with me in China, it was nice to be able to experience the nerves of race one together, having someone to talk to out there,” she said. “Now it’s all on me, I’ve been doing single handed sailing for a long time and am getting use to being by myself again.”
Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page had a tough opening day by their high standards with a 12th and an 11th leaving them ninth overall in the 470 men’s fleet.
“We struggled a little bit today,” said Belcher. “Six of our 10 races are inside the harbour which we haven’t really raced on before, it’s almost dead flat water and very shifty, we didn’t quite find the right way to go and ended up with two mid-fleet results which isn’t ideal but tomorrow is another day.
“Inside the harbour it’s very tight and everything is extremely close, you have to take any opportunity that you can and guys are fighting for inches the whole way through the race,” he said.
Tessa Parkinson and Belinda Stowell ended day one of the 470 women’s regatta in 22nd position, following a 23rd and an 18th on Friday.
“We’re continuing to learn a lot and are up there playing the game,” said Parkinson. “We’ve improved since Kiel and are racing with the pack, I’m still learning the ropes as skipper and we’re working on our communication in the boat but the signs are good.”
In the RS:X women’s class Jessica Crisp has worked her way up to 10th with a 10th and a sixth on her second day of racing, while Tim Gourlay is 22nd in the RS:X men’s after a pair of 22nds.
Racing continues at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta on Saturday with the 49er, Finn and Star classes commencing racing.
Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen will contest the 49er class, while Brendan Casey is racing in the Finn and Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth are in the Star.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Young Australian sailors have success on international waters A number of young up-and-coming Australian crews have had success at recent World and European championships. Australian crews have finished in the top 10 at the 470 Junior World Championships in Holland, the 29er European Championships in Switzerland and the Laser Radial Men's, Youth and Laser Youth Standard World Championships in France, competing against top crews from across the globe. At the 470 Junior World Championship Sasha Ryan and Chelsea Hall finished the week third overall, bringing home the Bronze medal in their first World Championship together.
Ryan and Hall were in the mix the whole way through the regatta, finishing behind the first placed German and second placed British crews.
The pair finished in the top 10 in seven of the 11 races, including a seventh place finish in the final medal race.
In the men’s fleet Matthew and Robert Crawford were 25th, picking up four top 10 finishes along the way.
The same week in Switzerland Victorian teenagers James Sly and Tom Dwyer were competing at the 2011 29er European Championships, finishing with the Silver medal.
Sly and Dwyer finished five points behind the winning crew from the United States in the 155 boat fleet, and were two ahead of the third placed Spanish crew.
The pair had a race win and three second place finishes in an impressive display in the highly competitive fleet.
Fellow Australians Tess Lloyd and Lewis Duncan were 22nd overall in the Gold fleet.
In France, five Australian sailors were in the top 18 at the Laser Radial Men's World Championship, with Australian Sailing Squad member James Burman topping the list, finishing second overall.
Burman won five out of 11 races and was in the top six in every race of the regatta on his way to the Silver medal.
Tristan Brown finished the week fourth overall, ahead of Mitchell Kennedy in seventh, Jeremy O'Connell in 11th and Mark Spearman in 18th.
Queenslander Mitchell Kennedy was also second overall in the under 19 category.
Following the Laser Radial Men’s World Championship was the Laser Radial Youth World Championships with Australian Mitchell Kennedy finishing seventh, Jeremy O'Connell 13th and Mark Spearman 14th, along with being second under 17.
The regatta featured an impressive 271 entries from all corners of the globe.
In the girls class Caitlin Elks finished the regatta 10th, including seven top 10 finish out of 11 races n the 99 competitor strong fleet.
France also hosted the Laser Standard Junior World Championships with Ki-Raphael Sulkowski finishing fourth, including 10 top five finishes, with fellow West Australian Luke Elliott sixth out of 147 boats.
At the Laser 4.7 World Championships in San Francisco Milly Bennett was ninth in the girls event, ahead of Sophie Chesterman in 22nd, Emma Barton in 30th and Emma Vaughan in 40th, including a race victory.
In the boys class Nicholas Connor from NSW was 23rd and third in the under 16 category, with Benjamin Walkemeyer was one place further back in 24th.
Many of the sailors excelling at the highest level are a part of the Australian Sailing Squad, including 470 sailor Chelsea Hall and James Burman in the Laser Radial class, while others such as 29er crew James Sly and Tom Dwyer, 470 sailor Sasha Ryan and Laser Radial sailor Mitchell Kennedy have benefited from the Youth Bridging Program
For more information visit www.yachting.org.au.
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Light winds test crews during round three of the Audi IRC Australian Championship The penultimate round of the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship has been run and won with crews making a slow trip north in the annual Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race. Light winds ensured that the race record set in 1999 by Brindabella remained intact for another year with 51 boats contesting the three IRC classes.
The battle for Class A was won by Michael Hiatt’s Living Doll, taking the Round 3 class victory ahead of Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki and Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin.
Marcus Blackmore and his TP52 Hooligan continues to lead the way overall in Class A though Loki has closed the gap to be just one point behind heading into the final round of the 2011 championship, Audi Hamilton Island Race Week at the end of August.
Living Doll’s win in the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race leaves this crew just two points further back, setting up an exciting finale in the Whitsunday’s. Just four points now separate the Top 3 contenders.
Class B was taken out by Darryl Hodgkinson’s Victoire, with Exile, skippered by Robert Reynolds, and Paul Clitheroe’s Balance, second and third respectively.
The same three boats top the Class B overall leaderboard with Victoire holding five point lead over Exile with Balancefour points further behind.
The race to the Gold Coast saw Anthony Paterson’s Aroona bring home the trophy in Class C, with Colin Kimmorley’s Argus second and Andy Kearnan’s L’Altra Donna third.
The Class C overall Top 3 however, is a different story with Peter Sorensen’s The Philosopher’s Club in first after finishing the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race fifth, while L’Altra Donna is second and Ryan Walker’s Peregrine, who did not contest round three, third overall.
The 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship concludes at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, with racing set to begin on August 20 and run through until August 27.
The winner of each Class of the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship will receive the sporty and compact Audi A1 for a year.
For more information on the Audi IRC Australian Championship visit www.irc.yachting.org.au.
Audi IRC Australian Championship TV coverage
The 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship will go to air on ONE HD from Saturday 3 September at 6:00pm. This year's series will comprise of eight 30 minute episodes. The TV series is produced by Audi Australia and Fuzzy TV. Network Ten sports presenter, Rob Canning, is the host of the series and will be joined by expert commentators, Will Hagon and Neville Wittey.
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Light winds test crews during round three of the Audi IRC Australian ChampionshipThe penultimate round of the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship has been run and won with crews making a slow trip north in the annual Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race. Light winds ensured that the race record set in 1999 by Brindabella remained intact for another year with 51 boats contesting the three IRC classes. The battle for Class A was won by Michael Hiatt’s Living Doll, taking the Round 3 class victory ahead of Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki and Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin.
Marcus Blackmore and his TP52 Hooligan continues to lead the way overall in Class A though Loki has closed the gap to be just one point behind heading into the final round of the 2011 championship, Audi Hamilton Island Race Week at the end of August.
Living Doll’s win in the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race leaves this crew just two points further back, setting up an exciting finale in the Whitsunday’s. Just four points now separate the Top 3 contenders.
Class B was taken out by Darryl Hodgkinson’s Victoire, with Exile, skippered by Robert Reynolds, and Paul Clitheroe’s Balance, second and third respectively.
The same three boats top the Class B overall leaderboard with Victoire holding five point lead over Exile with Balancefour points further behind.
The race to the Gold Coast saw Anthony Paterson’s Aroona bring home the trophy in Class C, with Colin Kimmorley’s Argus second and Andy Kearnan’s L’Altra Donna third.
The Class C overall Top 3 however, is a different story with Peter Sorensen’s The Philosopher’s Club in first after finishing the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race fifth, while L’Altra Donna is second and Ryan Walker’s Peregrine, who did not contest round three, third overall.
The 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship concludes at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, with racing set to begin on August 20 and run through until August 27.
The winner of each Class of the 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship will receive the sporty and compact Audi A1 for a year.
For more information on the Audi IRC Australian Championship visit www.irc.yachting.org.au.
Audi IRC Australian Championship TV coverage
The 2011 Audi IRC Australian Championship will go to air on ONE HD from Saturday 3 September at 6:00pm. This year's series will comprise of eight 30 minute episodes. The TV series is produced by Audi Australia and Fuzzy TV. Network Ten sports presenter, Rob Canning, is the host of the series and will be joined by expert commentators, Will Hagon and Neville Wittey.
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Aussie Match Racers win their way through to Olympic test event quarter-finals Australia’s Women’s Match Racing crew of Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty have won their way through to the quarter-finals of the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, following a tense final day of round robin racing on Portland harbour. The Australian trio went into Thursday’s final four races in a three way tie for eighth, knowing that they would have to win at least two races to progress to the knock-out stage of the competition. Price and crew opened the day with a win against the German team skippered by Sikle Hahlbrook, before narrowly losing to Lotte Meldgaard. The Australians then lost a hard fought race against Mandy Mulder of the Netherlands before fighting back with a final race win against their Finnish opponents, led by Silja Lehtinen.
“We had two wins and two losses, so it was a 50/50 day, but we sailed well and are through to the quarter-finals,” said Price. “It all came down to the last race against the team from Finland which we won and then we needed the Portuguese to beat the Danish crew which happened so it’s all smiles at this end.”
Nina Curtis said that the crew were in the mix in all four races, even the two that they lost.
“We had a tough race against the Dutch where we led off the start and had a penalty on them but they applied the pressure which we’ve got to expect at this level,” she said. “We learnt some really valuable lessons in that one, it was good to learn them before the quarter-finals and hopefully we can now bring out the goods when it counts.”
The Australians are competing in only their second regatta together with Lucinda Whitty commenting that they are developing with every race they contest.
“As a crew we’re building and bonding every day,” she said. “We’re learning something about each other in every race and with every mark rounding.”
Price, Curtis and Whitty have a day off on Friday before lining up against the top ranked Russian crew, skippered by Ekaterina Skudina, in Saturday’s first to three wins quarter final.
The RS:X classes got underway on Thursday with Jessica Crisp and Tim Gourlay in action.
Crisp had a mixed opening day with an opening race 11th and then a 17th leaving her 15th overall in the highly competitive fleet.
“Today wasn’t the best start, if I was there it wasn’t the place to be, if I went right it was better going left and if I went left it was better going right,” said Crisp. “It took a bit of getting use to, we’re out on a really far away course which is unusual for windsurfers as we’re normally right off the beach.
“It’s totally different out there to what we’re use to in the harbour, there are no waves inside the harbour and out there the swell doesn’t run in the same direction as the wind so it’s really different,” she said. “Tomorrow we’re on a different course again, the Nothe course, which I think will be more like Sydney harbour so I’m looking forward to that.
“Even with two tough races I took a lot away from today, everyday here is about learning and you’ve just got to get it together by next year when it really counts,” said Crisp.
West Australian Tim Gourlay is making his debut at an Olympic test event and finished day one 22nd overall following a 21st and a 23rd.
“I beat a few guys that I haven’t before so it was a pretty good day,” said Gourlay. “I’m pleased with my performance in the two races, I had a bad start each time but managed to make it, in the first race I was third last around the top mark.
“Having only one entry per country is fantastic and a new experience,” he said. “You know who everyone is and every position counts.”
The RS:X classes return to the water for races three and four on Friday and will be joined by the Laser, Laser Radial, 470 men and 470 women who will be beginning their regatta.
Tom Slingsby will contest the Laser class, Krystal Weir the Laser Radial, Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page the 470 men and Tessa Parkinson and Belinda Stowell the 470 women.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Women’s Match Racers notch up wins on day two of Olympic test event Australia’s Women’s Match Racers have gotten off the mark at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, with two races wins on the second day of racing. The Australian trio of Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty put a tough opening day behind them and started day two in style with a win over Tamara Echegoyen of Spain. Price and crew lost their next two races against teams from Russia and Great Britain before bouncing back in the final race of the day, beating Rita Goncalves of Portugal.
Even in the two losses the Australians were well in the mix, being beaten by the Russians by just six seconds and the British by nine.
“Today was a better day than yesterday,” said Price. “We had variable conditions in the morning resulting in us finishing three races where we won one and lost two, then we had another race this afternoon in about 15 knots and we won against the Portugese so it was a better day.
“It was really good to take the new boats for a spin in some heavier air,” she said. “After today we should be about mid fleet and with four more races tomorrow to finish off the round robin they’re all pretty important, we’ve just got to go out and show them what we’ve got.
“There’s a lot to play for tomorrow and still heaps that could go wrong for the other teams so we’re just going to take it as a brand new day,” said Price.
After the opening seven races the Australians find themselves in a three way tie for eighth position with two wins and five losses.
With the final four round robin races scheduled for Thursday Price, Curtis and Whitty will be pushing hard to book themselves a place in the quarter-finals.
The RS:X classes are set to hit the water for the first time on Thursday with two races scheduled.
Three-time Olympian Jessica Crisp will represent Australia in the women’s class while Tim Gourlay will line up in the men’s fleet.
For more information on the Australian sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingteam.
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Women’s Match Racers kick off competition at Olympic test eventRacing is underway at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, with Australia’s Women’s Match Racers the only crew in action on day one. The Australian trio of Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty contested three races on Tuesday, unfortunately coming away without a win in the light conditions. Skipper Price, who turned 19 on the opening day of racing, said that the team took a lot away from the first three races and are keen to hit the water again on Wednesday.
“Day one was an interesting one, we had quite light conditions and were postponed first up in the morning,” said Price. “We had three races and the wind was maybe four knots and quite shifty.
“It was a fairly tough day, we came up against Claire Leroy of France first up and she was quite tough, then against Sally Barkow of the USA we did quite well in the prestart of that race but were still trying to find our rhythm,” she said. “Our final race of the day was against Anna Kjellberg of Sweden and the lead changed quite a few times but she ended up getting us on the final downwind.
“We had some very close racing and definitely learnt a lot from today about the conditions, about the boats and about ourselves and we’ll take those lessons into tomorrow’s races,” said Price. “We’re quite excited to get straight back into it tomorrow morning.”
Price, Curtis and Whitty are a relatively new combination, with this event only their third together since teaming up at the end of June.
The trio will be back into racing on Wednesday morning with four races scheduled.
The remainder of the Australian team spent the day preparing for competition, with the crews taking the opportunity to train in the light conditions.
The Match Racers will again be the only crew in action on day two, before the RS:X women and men, including Australian representatives Tim Gourlay and Jessica Crisp, begin racing on Thursday.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Aussie sailors ready for action at London 2012 Olympic Games test event Australian sailors are busy making final preparations for the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The regatta is designed to mirror the conditions that sailors will face both on and off the water during the London 2012 Olympic Games as closely as possible, including having just one entry per class per country. Racing begins on Tuesday for the Women’s Match Racing competition with Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty set to represent Austral
The match racing trio will be competing in only their third regatta together following a Bronze medal at the final round of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Germany and a seventh place finish at the 2011 European Championships in Finland.
The RS:X classes are the next to hit the water on Thursday with Jessica Crisp and Tim Gourlay flying the Australian flag.
Crisp is campaigning for her fourth straight Olympic Games appearance and heads into the regatta off the back of a win at round seven of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in June.
Western Australia’s Tim Gourlay is aiming for his first appearance at an Olympic Games with this event an important stepping stone on the way to London 2012.
The action heats up on the water on Friday with the 470 men and women, Laser and Laser Radial classes all getting their racing underway.
Reigning World Champions and current world number ones Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page will compete in the 470 men class with Page looking to make it back-to-back Gold medals in 12 months time.
“We feel like in the last few weeks and months things have come together really well,” said Page. “Our development and education has really clicked and our results have been really good of late, I see no reason why we can’t be fighting for a medal at the end of the regatta.
“This regatta is different in many respects, especially with just one entry from each country per class, but it’s a good opportunity for Mathew and I as a team to get the feeling of what it will be like at the Games,” he said.
470 women’s sailors Tessa Parkinson and Belinda Stowell have both had experience at the Olympic Games, though sailing with different partners, with Parkinson winning Gold at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Stowell winning Gold in Sydney in 2000.
The pair only teamed up in May this year with the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta only their third event together.
Current Laser World Champion and ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Tom Slingsby will be racing in the Laser class with the Gosford based sailor undefeated after three years of racing at the Olympic venue.
Krystal Weir is set to race in the Laser Radial class and had recent success at the World Cup event in Germany where she won Silver.
The 49er, Finn and Star classes are the last three to begin racing with their first races set down for Saturday.
Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen will be out to make it four wins from four starts in Weymouth in the 49er class.
“We’re looking forward to going racing here, we’ve had a good year so far but this is probably our most important regatta and we’ll be looking to show that we can perform at our best when we need to,” said Outteridge. “It’s quite a different regatta for us with two lay days in the middle and less boats than usual so it will be interesting to see how it pans out.
“With a much smaller fleet every race counts and there are no easy races so we’ve got to be ready to go from the start of day one,” he said.
Gold Coast sailor Brendan Casey will compete in the Finn class and will be competing in his third event in Weymouth, Casey also had success this year at the World Cup round in Holland in May with a Bronze medal.
The final Australian entry racing at the test event is the Star class crew of Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth who are set to race in their first regatta together since the French World Cup round in April.
Australian Sailing Team High Performance Director Peter Conde said that the team is progressing well with a year to go until the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
“We’ve had some really good success on this venue in recent years, with some teams going undefeated in three events. They will be looking to continue that and we have a number of crews building well towards London 2012. This is a key opportunity for them to spend time at the Olympic venue, which is critical,” said Conde.
Racing continues in Weymouth until Saturday 13 August.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam.
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Australian Sailing Team offering fans the chance to interview the team online The Australian Sailing Team is giving sailing fans the chance to interview the athletes during the upcoming Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The team has launched the ‘Ask the AST’ campaign and is offering sailing fans the chance to get an insight into what makes the athletes tick during a major regatta via Facebook and Twitter. Each day during racing a different athlete’s name will be put up on the Australian Sailing Team’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/AustralianSailingTeam, and Twitter account, www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam, with fans able to send through any questions they may have for the athlete.
Through Facebook individuals can post their questions below the daily story and via Twitter with the hash-tag #AskTheAST.
Then at the end of the day’s racing the Australian Sailing Team will film a number of questions with the athlete and post the video on Facebook and the team’s YouTube channel www.youtube.com/YachtingAUS.
Racing begins at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta with Women’s Match Racing on Tuesday 2 August with the 49er, Finn and Star medal races finishing off the event on Saturday 13 August.
The Weymouth and Portland International Regatta 2011 is an important milestone on the road to London 2012 as it will give the sailors an opportunity to experience conditions, both on and off the water, which will most closely represent those they will face at the Games.
The event is unique with just one crew per country per class, meaning that the best of the best will race against each other every day.
Australia will have representatives in all 10 classes with Tom Slingsby racing in the Laser class, Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page in the 470 men’s, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen in the 49er, Brendan Casey in the Finn, Jessica Crisp in the RS:X women’s, Tessa Parkinson and Belinda Stowell in the 470 women’s, Krystal Weir in the Laser Radial, Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty in the Women’s Match Racing, Tim Gourlay in the RS:X men’s and Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth in the Star.
The team has already had great success at the London 2012 Olympic Games venue with Laser sailor Tom Slingsby and 49er crew Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen yet to be beaten there in three outings.
For more information on the Australian Sailing Team visit www.australiansailingteam.com.au and follow the team on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AusSailingTeam
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