Medallists back on the water

Final RYA Olympic Classes ranker sees return of 470 and 49er Athens teams

As predicted, the third and final RYA Olympic Classes spring ranker showcased some competitive and exciting racing. Fuelled by the chance to win grants and to qualify for the up coming championships, the sailors fought hard to finish at the top.

The series consisted of six races completed in changing conditions with strong winds on Saturday and glorious sunshine and ten knots of breeze on Sunday. The weekend also provided a good kick start to the 2008 campaigns for two of the Athen’s Olympic teams starting out on the road to Beijing.

Recently returning from training camp in Holland, Tornado sailors Andrew Walsh and Ed Barney proved that practice really does pay off by winning five out of six races. Walsh and Barney successfully tied up the spring series and took home the grants. “This was an important event for us with grants and our ranking position at stake.” Barney explained, “We are really happy with the outcome and are looking forward to the World Championships in June.” Leo Farrow and Tristan Lamb took second while Simon Northrop and Matt Young’s third place ended their chances of receiving the solitary grant. The two still maintain a second place overall in the national rankings.

A broken boat and injury kept the leaders of both the men’s (Asher/Willis) and women’s (Bassadone/Clarke) 470 fleet on shore. However, the bar was raised as Athens Olympic Silver Medallists Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield made their first outing after a winter sabbatical. Demonstrating they had not lost any of their form, Rogers and Glanfield took five wins. Luke Patience and Chris Grube, part of a new generation of 470 sailors, had a race win and challenged the leaders several times, securing a second place just ahead of seasoned sailors Paul Brotherton and Ian Calder. Joe Glanfield commented, “It’s great to be back campaigning in the 470 again and this weekend provided some good racing with the fleet full of up and coming nippers. We had some close racing.”

In the women’s fleet the racing was always tight. The leading team of Pippa Wilson and Sheena Craig were in the thick of the action and finished first in the women’s fleet and sixth overall in the mixed fleet. Lucy MacGregor with stand-in crew Mary Rook took second, followed by Melissa Heppel and Rebecca Marriott. “We had a mixed weekend of results but are glad to have come out on top.” Wilson explained, “It was also good to line up against Nick and Joe and test ourselves before we move on to the Holland Regatta and Europeans”

After winning medals in Athens and taking a winter break, 49er sailors Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks were hoping to use the National Ranker to kick off their 2008 Olympic campaign. The pair finished first with a comfortable point margin but did not sail unchallenged as Stevie Morrison took a race win and second overall. In third place, Rick Peacock and Dave Evans won the last two races, showing their credentials in the lighter winds. Dave and Rick commented that “It was great have Chris and Simon back in the fleet and it was really encouraging to be mixing it with them today (Sunday). Having these guys in the fleet can only help us improve”

Going into the weekend the Finn fleet had the smallest point spread in the overall standings. The competition remained tight as the fleet hit the race course with four different race winners over the weekend. At the front of the fleet there was a battle between Ed Wright and Chris Brittle which Ed managed to clinch on count back. Nearly as close was the race for third with Matt Howard passing Ed Grieg by a single point.

RYA Olympic Development Squad Manager, Barrie Edgington commented on the weekend “It was great to have some of our Athens Medallists back in the fleet at what was a fantastic weekends racing. The Ranking Series continues to create close and challenging racing all through the levels of the fleet and this weekend rounded off the spring series perfectly.”