Final stages

Sail Melbourne nears conclusion for Olympic classes

A very sunny, shifty light breeze day on Port Phillip Bay as competitors raced on day four at Sail Melbourne today.

In the first upset of the day, 470 world champions Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page (AUS) were beaten to the finish line by Japanese girls Yuka Yoshisako/Noriko Ohkuma in Race 8, the last of the day. It is rare for a Women’s team to beat their male counterparts, but the light and tricky conditions today provided just the right ingredients.

“We’ll never live this down,” said skipper Wilmot. Up till today, Wilmot/Page were the only world champion Men to be unbeaten by a Women’s crew. “Not anymore. We caught them on the run home, but then we stuffed up a gybe – we begged them to let us past them, but they just laughed at us. To make it worse, when they came ashore, they parked their boat right next to us and they keep laughing,” said a bemused Wilmot.
“Of course we are happy to beat them,” said Yoshisako. The girls, a new pairing in the early stages of their Olympic campaign, are having their first trip to Sail Melbourne.

Leaders throughout the 470 competition, Mat Belcher and Nick Behrens crossed the start line early so were scored an OCS. This result puts them on equal points for first place.

Local Olympic hopeful, Krystal Weir (AUS) has extended her Laser Radial lead to four points, with Czechoslovakian Veronika Fenclova second placed. Weir, despite normally struggling in light breeze, won Race 8 – their last for the day.

China’s Shen Xiaoying is third placed overall, but it was Singaporean Manyi Lo who also enjoyed the light stuff, winning the earlier Race 7.

“We got up to about 8 knots out there, but at one stage it was only around 1 knot,” said New Zealand Radial sailor, Sara Winther.

Athens Olympian Anthony “Nocka” Nossiter had a return to form with bullets in Races 7 and 8, to lead the Finn class from Melbourne 20 year-old Ricky Ironmonger.

Time out with a shin injury has not done much to dampen the enthusiasm of Tom Slingsby (AUS), who scored a bullet in Race 8 to extend his lead over Matias Del Solar (CHI) to five points, with Britain’s Mark Howard still third.

Darren Bundock with rent-a-crew Josh Fugill scored a 2-1 result to extend their lead of the series by eight points. Fugill, a former Youth champion, has picked up the ball nicely, replacing Bundock’s injured crew member Glenn Ashby, at short notice.

Olympic Mistral medal collectors, Aaron McIntosh and Bruce Kendall have moved into second place following 1-2 results in their early foray in the Tornado class, finishing 1-2 results as they come to grips with sailing on the Bay.

ISAF ranked No. 4 in the world, Leigh McMillan and Will Howden, suffered in the conditions today and have dropped to third overall. “Really light, really tricky and really shifty,” said a frustrated Howden.

Nicky Bethwaite/Julie Grimshaw/Petronella De Jong (AUS) remain unperturbed by the competition in the Yngling keelboat and now lead the competition by six points with 2-1 results today. The brand new combination of Nicky Souter/Angela Farrell/Sarah Willmot remains second. The mixed crew Jean-Claude Strong/Nev Wittey/Ruth McCance moved into third place today, following their first win of the series in the earlier Race 7.

The 49er competition is tight, with Victorian sailors William Phillips/Jon Newman leading on countback from the Japanese pair of Kenjiro Todoroki/Kenji Takahashi, with Nathan Outteridge/Ben Austin hot on their heels just two points away, while Peter Russell has reclaimed his lead of the 2.4mR class which features both able-bodied and disabled sailors.

China continues to dominate the RS:X Women’s; Chen Qiubin leads following two third places, from Duan Mingli who won Race 7 and placed fourth in Race 8. Hong Kong’s Wai Man Chan makes up the top three, on equal points with Mingli, but relegated to third on countback.

In the Men’s, the Dutch are showing the way. Casper Bouman (NED) has streaked ahead in the Mens, although he posted his worst result of 18th in Race 7, which he subsequently used as a drop. New Zealand’s JP Tobin is second overall on 20 points with Joeri Van Dijk (NED) third, only two points away. Both Dutchmen contested the Sail Melbourne Formula Worlds in December where Bouman finished 15th and Van Dijk finished 19th.

The Invited Classes held their first races today, with a Thomas Burton the leader in the OK Dinghy class from his father Peter Burton, Hugh and Bronwyn Ridgway lead the Tasar from Paul Ridgway and Andrea Chong.

Sail Melbourne is made possible by the support of event sponsors: Sport & Recreation Victoria, Collex, Parks Victoria; associate sponsors Bayside City Council and Menere's BMW Brighton and support sponsors Ronstan International, Schenker Australia, City of Kingston and the City of Port Philip.

Racing continues tomorrow on Port Phillip.

	470 Men
	Skipper	Crew	From	Pts	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8
1	Nathan Wilmot	Malcolm Page	AUS	12	3	2	[5.00]	2	2	1	1	1
2	Mathew Belcher	Nick Behrens	AUS	12	1	3	2	1	1	2	2	[14.00O]
3	Kazuto Seki	Syouichi Yanagawa	JPN	17	2	1	[3.00]	3	3	3	3	2
4	Geoffrey Woolley	Mark Overington	NZL	29	4	4	4	[6.00]	4	4	5	4
5	Dylan Clarke	Ayden Menzies	AUS	39	5	7	6	[8.00]	5	5	4	7
6	Roy Tay	Peiming Chung	SIN	43	6	5	1	7	[11.00]	7	8	9
7	Mathieu Higgins	Timothy Lynch	AUS	51	7	[10.00]	8	9	8	10	6	3
8	Yuanzhen Xu	Terence Koh	SIN	54	10	[11.00]	9	4	9	6	10	6
9	Luc Tasker	Brett Sharpe	AUS	54	8	9	7	5	10	[11.00]	7	8
10	Keith Swinton	Darren Palmer	AUS	61	[12.00]	6	12	11	7	8	12	5
11	Shane Hughes	Andrew Hughes	AUS	61	9	8	[10.00]	10	6	9	9	10
12	David Von Felten	Adam Martin	AUS	82	11	12	11	[14.00R]	12	14.00F	11	11
13	Daniel Vaughan	Todd Cousens	AUS	89	13	13	13	12	13	[14.00O]	13	12
	470 Women
	Skipper	Crew	From	Pts	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8
1	Yuka Yoshisako	Noriko Ohkuma	JPN	15	4	[5.00]	5	1	2	1	1	1
2	Chizuko Ijima	Sayaka Kato	JPN	18	1	[6.00]	1	3	4	4	2	3
3	Elise Rechichi	Tessa Parkinson	AUS	19	2	2	[4.00]	4	1	2	4	4
4	Ai Kondo	Naoko Kamata	JPN	21	3	3	2	5	[6.00]	3	3	2
5	Lauren Jeffries	Rike Ziegelmayer	AUS	28	5	4	3	2	3	[6.00]	5	6
6	Liying Toh	Lee Ching Tok	SIN	38	7	1	[10.00O]	8	5	5	7	5
7	Stacey Omay	Rayshele Martin	AUS	46	6	8	6	6	[9.00]	7	6	7
8	Natalie Dewing	Catherine Shanks	AUS	53	8	7	8	7	7	8	8	[9.00]
9	Yuen Wa Eva Leung	Sze Kei Ck Cheng	HKG	59	[9.00]	9	7	9	8	9	9	8
	Finn
	Skipper	N/A	From	Pts	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8
1	Anthony Nossiter		AUS	8	1	1	1	1	[2.00]	2	1	1
2	R Ironmonger		AUS	12	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	[3.00]
3	William Wild		AUS	20	[4.00]	3	3	3	3	3	3	2
4	John Shallvey		AUS	27	3	[4.00]	4	4	4	4	4	4
5	Brian Reynolds		AUS	40	[6.00C]	6.00C	6.00C	6.00C	5	5	6.00C	6.00C
	Laser
	Skipper	N/A	From	Pts	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8
1	Thomas Slingsby		AUS	11	1	[7.00]	2	1	2	1	3	1
2	Matias Del Solar		CHI	16	2	[5.00]	1	2	1	3	5	2
3	Mark Howhard		GBR	37	6	[8.00]	3	3	3	8	7	7
4	Michael Leigh		CAN	39	[13.00]	2	7	6	6	6	9	3
5	David Wright		CAN	40	3	[26.00Q]	6	14	5	4	2	6
6	Kevin Lim		MAS	48	4	9	9	8	[14.00]	7	6	5
7	Hisaki Nagai		JPN	49	5	4	[14.00]	7	11	9	1	12
8	Henrik Boquist		SWE	55	12	6	5	13	4	5	10	[18.00]
9	Marc De Haas		NED	58	[26.00Q]	10	4	4	8	2	20	10
10	Josh Junior		NZL	65	10	[26.00B]	8	12	12	11	4	8
11	Martin Trcka		CZE	67	11	3	13	11	10	10	[26.00Q]	9
12	Borde Mickael		FRA	77	8	11	12	9	9	16	12	[26.00F]
13	Dan Ward		GBR	81	9	[26.00B]	11	5	13	14	8	21
14	Malo Leseigneur		FRA	85	16	1	15	17	[21.00]	15	17	4
15	Yoichi Iijima		JPN	102	7	[26.00R]	26.00O	10	7	12	26.00O	14
16	Warwick Hill		AUS	111	[21.00]	12	19	15	15	18	15	17
17	Joshua Chant		AUS	111.5	14.5	14	17	24	[26.00Q]	13	16	13
18	Timothy Castles		AUS	118	[22.00]	19	10	21	17	20	11	20
19	Aaron Heritage		AUS	120	18	18	[20.00]	16	16	17	19	16
19	Ryan Hannan		AUS	120	17	13	16	[20.00]	18	19	18	19
21	Tom Chisholm		AUS	124	19	15	21	[22.00]	20	21	13	15
22	Matthew Steven		NZL	130.5	14.5	[26.00B]	18	19	22	24	22	11
23	Cameron Ewers		AUS	142	20	17	22	18	19	[23.00]	23	23
24	Tony Manning		AUS	144	23	16	23	23	23	22	14	[26.00O]
25	Aaron Wilson		AUS	167	[26.00C]	26.00B	24	25	24	25	21	22
	Laser Radial
	Skipper	N/A	From	Pts	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8
1	Krystal Weir		AUS	22	7	1	4	[13.00]	1	6	2	1
2	Veronika Fenclova		CZE	26	6	[8.00]	5	4	3	2	4	2
3	Shen Xiaoying		CHN	30	1	10	[13.00]	2	2	5	5	5
4	Corinne Meyer		SUI	34	4	7	6	6	4	1	6	[14.00]
5	Shen Huanqi		CHN	35	5	6	1	3	6	[7.00]	7	7
5	Xu Lijia		CHN	35	2	4	2	[11.00]	5	8	3	11
7	Sara Winther		NZL	36	3	2	8	7	9	3	[11.00]	4
8	Laura Baldwin		GBR	38	[19.00Q]	3	7	1	8	4	12	3
9	Manyi Lo		SIN	54	[14.00]	13	3	10	10	11	1	6
10	Nathalie Brugger		SUI	62	8	5	12	9	7	9	[15.00]	12
11	Su Zhen		CHN	66	10	12	11	5	11	[19.00O]	9	8
12	Megan De Lange		AUS	70	9	9	10	8	12	12	10	[19.00F]
13	Anna Patterson		AUS	84	16	[19.00C]	16	12	13	10	8	9
14	Satoko Hasegawa		JPN	95	13	11	[17.00]	16	14	14	17	10
15	Madeline Deppeler		AUS	97	11	16	9	[17.00]	17	15	13	16
16	Stephanie Styring		AUS	99	12	15	14	15	15	13	[16.00]	15
17	Kaori Takahashi		JPN	101	15	14	15	14	[16.00]	16	14	13
18	Sarah Blanck		AUS	133	[19.00F]	19.00C	19.00C	19.00C	19.00C	19.00C	19.00C	19.00C
	Tornado
	Skipper	Crew	From	Pts	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8
1	Darren Bundock	Josh Fugill	AUS	9	1	[2.00]	1	1	2	1	2	1
2	Aaron Mcintosh	Bruce Kendall	nzl	17	[4.00]	3	3	3	1	4	1	2
2	Leigh McMillan	Will Howden	GBR	17	3	1	2	2	[4.00]	2	4	3
4	Carolijn Brouwer	Sebbe Godefroid	BEL	27	[6.00]	4	4	4	5	3	3	4
5	Andrew Macpherson	Greg Lynch	AUS	33	[5.00]	5	5	5	3	5	5	5
6	Rohan Langworthy	David Hart	AUS	40	2	[7.00]	6	6	6	7	7	6
7	Matthew Punch	Jack Punch		46	[7.00]	6	7	7	7	6	6	7
8	David Rutledge	Hugh Rutledge	AUS	61	[9.00F]	9.00F	9.00C	9.00C	9.00C	9.00C	8	8

	49er
	Skipper	Crew	From	Pts	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8	Race 9	Race 10	Race 11	Race 12
1	Kenjiro Todoroki	Kenji Takahashi	JPN	25	2	2	1	1	2	1	1	[13.00Q]	10	1	1	3
2	William Phillips	Jon Newman	AUS	25	[6.00]	1	2	2	1	5	3	1	1	4	3	2
3	Nathan Outteridge	Ben Austin	AUS	27.1	3	3	4	3	[5.00]	2	2	3.10G	2	2	2	1
4	Jake Bartrom	Craig Prentice	NZL	58	1	4	7	8	[9.00]	3	6	2	8	7	7	5
5	Scott Kennedy	Scott Illingworth	NZL	58.5	4	5	5	4	4	7.5	[13.00O]	3	5	10	5	6
6	Euan Mcnicol	Seve Jarvin	AUS	63	5	6	3	[13.00O]	3	4	13.00S	13.00O	3	3	6	4
7	Paul Newman	Christopher Maxted	Aus	75	[13.00O]	7	8	5	7	6	8	13.00O	4	6	4	7
8	Tom Clout	Marcus Ashley-Jones	AUS	76	9	9	[13.00C]	7	6	10	4	4	6	5	8	8
9	Peter Vaiciurgis	Andrew Baglin	AUS	90.5	[13.00O]	10	9	9	8	7.5	5	5	11	8	9	9
10	Peter Wilson	Alex Godina	AUS	99	[13.00O]	11	10	6	10	9	7	6	7	9	11	13.00O
11	Michael O'shea	Nick Daly	AUS	101	7	8	6	10	11	11	9	7	9	11	12	[13.00F]
12	Kynan Wall	Brent Kincade	AUS	120	8	12	[13.00C]	13.00C	13.00C	12	10	8	12	12	10	10

	Yngling
	Skipper	Crew	Crew.	From	Pts	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8
1	Nicola Bethwaite	Julie Grimshaw	Petronella De Jong	AUS	7	1	[2.00]	1	1	1	1	1	1
2	Nicky Souter	Angela Farrell	Sarah Willmot	AUS	13	[3.00]	1	2	2	2	2	2	2
3	Simone Deane	Lisa Sims	Nicole Follington	AUS	22	[4.00]	3	3	3	3	3	4	3
4	Patricia Warn	Joyce Warn	Tneal Kawalla	AUS	25	2	[5.00F]	4	4	4	4	3	4