AY Olympic Race Report 9

Medals decided in tough conditions...

17:08:2008 What a difference a day makes. As we arrive at the media center there has been a complete turn about from yesterdays drifting conditions. Gray sky and a storm out to sea producing a wet blustery Easterly flow up to 30 knots and extremely choppy seas. Very uncharacteristic for Qingdao. Will they be racing in these conditions? As the white caps are building out to sea the bravest of photographers donned foul weather clothing and plastic wrapped their camera gear. Even the large spectator gallery that stream onto the breakwater each day are learning how to sail with their umbrellas.

Until now the wind has struggled to reach ten knots and changed directions on numerous occasions throughout the day. Very frustrating for the race officers and the competitors alike. The up and down nature of the results reflect this and everyone was warned before they came to expect these conditions. The argument still rages whether this is acceptable for an Olympic event. Several past Olympics have been plagued by light winds. Even in Sydney where they pride themselves as rough and tough sailors that survive the Hobart Race each year was plagued by light winds. Experienced media reps have voted that Savanna was the worst event in Olympic history. Having attended many events where the wind has deserted them, the sailors just have get on with it and make the best of what they get.

The men and women RS:X windsurfers where first cabs off the rank today. At last some conditions they enjoy and the committee fired off two races in quick succession. The strong winds also saw a change in the order as the light wind specialists got bumped down the list. After a string of above 20 placing's Dutchman Casper Bouman won both races which has done marvels for his overall positioning. Eighth and second for Frenchman Julien Bontemps has lifted him to second overall. Israel's Shahar Zubari was the overnight leader but sixth and nineteenth places sees him drop down into third overall. Kiwi Tom Ashley becomes the new leader as he is the only sailor that has scored every race in single digits.

While Ukraine's Olina Maslivets and Poland's Zofia Klepacka showed their heavy weather sailing experience by winning race six and seven respectively, it was Italy's Alessandra Sensini third and second places that moved her up into second overall and dropped Aussie Jessica Crisp down to third. Chinese sailor Jian Yin still holds onto first overall despite scoring thirteenth and seventh places today.

Yngling medal race
After some pre-start cat and mouse games Mandy Mulder's Dutch team with Annemieke Bes & Merel Witteveen crewing came off the start line in front and slightly to windward of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb & Pippa Wilson's British team. Torrential rain made visibility almost zero but as they closed in on the top mark the Brit's had got the better of the Dutch to round the mark first. The Germans briefly took the lead but as the Brit's surfed down towards the finish line they showed their superior boat speed and crossed the line first to wrap up the gold medal. Notably it is also the first race they have won all regatta but by consistently scoring in the top seven places they have maintained the lead throughout. Mandy Mulder's Dutch team finished in fifth place which is enough to secure the silver medal and considered a brilliant effort as they have only formed the team in the last few years. The race for the bronze medal was closely contested and equally exciting with Sofia Bekatorou's Greek team taking the honours. Xiaqun Song's Chinese team finished in a creditable ninth place out of fifteen boats and fourth place was her best individual placing.

Finn
The washing machine like conditions forced the race committee to send the competitors back to shore till conditions improved. The wringing wet press welcomed the decision and quickly returned to the comfort of the media center to watch the live TV coverage. The medal race finally got away in 15-20 knots of wind and very lumpy seas. A slight change in tactics saw Britain's Ben Ainslie line up with the others at the start and race the boat to its full potential. Despite keeping a loose cover on USA's Zach Railey on the first upwind beat, Ainslie rounded the top mark first and surfed away downwind never to be headed, won the race in true style and waltzed away with the gold medal. His nearest opponent Zach Railey finished the race in sixth place and retained second overall for the silver medal. Frenchman Guillaume Florent ended up tied on points with Sweden's Daniel Birgmark which was broken in favour of Florent who celebrates with the bronze medal.

49er medal race of attrition
Trouble started before the race even got underway with the mast breaking on the Danish boat who managed to loan the eliminated Croatian boat and get to the start line within the five minute cut off time. A sign of the thrills and spills to come. The Germans capsized right on start time, just as the French streaked across the line and took a commanding lead up the windward beat. This was short lived as they nose dived on the downwind leg and let the Austrians and Italians through. The Spanish followed suite with yet another capsize and the Brit's did not want to be left out of the fun and also took a spill. The leading positions rapidly changed as the skippers drove their boats on mercilessly in the windy conditions. The Austrian's ran of the course never to return which allowed the Italians to take over the lead for a while and where closely followed by the Aussie's. As if that was not enough action for the day, on the last run to the finish and only needing to hold it all together the Italians nose dived in and left the Aussie's looking famous until they suffered a similar fate. Only moments from the finish line the Brit's had another spill leaving the way open for the Spaniards Iker Martinez de Lizarduy & Xabier Fernandez to do the honours. While all the carnage was taking place the Danes Jonas Warrer & Martin Ibsen on the borrowed boat kept a level head and by crossing the line in seventh place managed to hold onto the points lead and take home the gold medal. For all their efforts the Spanish defending champions take out the silver medal and the Germans taking second today after their double dunking earns them a bronze medal. These positions are only provisional as a Race Committee instigated protest has been lodged against the Danes for not using approved equipment and the medals maybe distributed differently. More on this can be found at: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/racing/decisions.php

After lengthy delays in getting marks laid and anchors to hold including the start boat taking on serious water and sending the Stars and Tornado's back to shore, racing got underway up the coast on areas C and E. The Laser, Laser Radial, Star and Tornado's could only manage one race each. Several protests have been lodged in the Star class which have been upheld.

Star
Former gold medallist Robert Scheidt stuck one in the Star class after two double digit finishes in earlier races. Second place for Poland's Mateusz Kusznierewicz & Dominik Zycki elevates them to the top of the leaderboard. Fourth place for French sailors Xavier Rohart & Pascal Rambeau keeps them in second overall. Third place for Sweden's Fredick Loof & Anders Ekstrom has them rebounding after a race three fifteenth place to put them in third overall. Overnight leaders USA's John Dane III & Austin Sperry dropped down to 5th overall after finishing 12th today.