Wind fails to comply

Frustration in Athens on the penultimate day of the 49er Worlds

The weather was not on the side of the sailors today. After a delay, the bronze fleet went out in a really light sea breeze. They tried to do one race but could not finish in time. Wind had dropped - hopeless. Gold fleet went out as well but came back ashore under the rain before thay could do any racing. It was a really nice day! Christoffer Sundby (Nor2) said that by waiting on the course with no wind and a nice swell he was starting to be sea sick.

Alas with no racing results haven’t changed yet.

Sailors just got one more day to catch some places. It will be their last chance...They can be disappointed with a day like that. The ones that didn’t do so good yesterday feel they have no chance of getting better final results. As if victory was slipping away. Some are relieved, others, such as the Polish or Danish teams are still a bit nervous. In fact Mazcin and Kzysztoff from Poland are having their Trials, finish top 17, they go to the Games if not it will be their collegues Pawel and Pawel. While waiting in front of Katikon club, silver fleet was quite relaxed but some were not at ease. Are we talking about the ones that still could qualify their country? Swedish team was a bit nervous because nothing is done yet and if they lose their lead they may miss the last Olympic spot New Zealand, behind is threatening......

Tomorrow will be the last chance for all of them. For the teams and for the countries. So keep crossing your fingers, everything will be concluded tomorrow. Some teams will probably quit after these Worlds. The Russian, Martin packed his boat today, his helmsman being ill. They probably won’t go to next events because of sponsorship issue. They will try to go to the next Worlds that will be in Moscow. But they are from Vladivostok on the other side of Russia...

Sailors gave us their opinion about the last few days and the Games, while we were all waiting on the shore.

Stevie Morrison (GBR): “We tried to keep ourselves out of trouble during the qualifications. Yesterday was hard. With these light winds conditions anyone could win. In last Worlds we hoped to be top 15 and we finished 6th so we reached our goal more than we expected. This year we hoped to be on top 10 to consolidate our ranking. We are doing better now but anything can happen. It goes really quickly...”

Dimitrios Benakis (Greece) “Greek team is not really experimented but worked a lot the last two years. We started six months ago. We lost Gold fleet by capsizing in hard conditions. We didn’t have top quality so we have got to work more. 49er sailing requires to work on specific things. It is really demanding. Concerning the Games, they will make it. I’m living here and I know that everything is ready on time. It will be nice. For Greek people it is a really special moment because of past history. They have to succeed. People are waiting for this worldwide event even though it is difficult financially.”

Thomas Ruegge (Switzerland) “We started training last October. We hadn’t sailed since Sydney, which makes thee years of rest...I had to finish my studies first. I went back on sailing because I want to sail full time before working and especially because my aim is to go to the Games again but it will be difficult as Chris Rast is sailing really well.I went there once and I would like to go again. If Chris doesn’t sail really well then maybe we can do the qualifications. We are going to decide what to do the coming months. I love sports and love sailing. It is good! It was hard to see some friends sailing while I was studying at university.”

To see the report and results from the silver and gold fleets yesterday - click here