Wind, waves and breakages

Tricky conditions challenged competitors on day one of the French Olympic Sailing week in Hyeres

The 40th edition of the Semaine Olympique Francaise in Hyères started with gruelling conditions which tested the sailor’s fitness and equipment! The Easterly wind increased until mid-afternoon up to 25 knots with deep short waves.

The strong winds and choppy waves provided hard sailing conditions for the 49ers sailors split in two fleets. Danish Olympic representatives Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp mastered the tough conditions to lead the Yellow 49er group after consistently racing to fourth and fifth positions. Their team mates, Peter Kruger and Dennis Dengso won the second race. “We started the regatta with a bad race and where very disappointed, we had only three boats behind us! In the second, we managed to sail fast and keep our boat upright.” Third at the top mark, the Danish went on winning the race, after avoiding the race leaders, Jonas Lindberg and Kalle Torlen (SWE) and Ukrainian Rodion Luka and Georgi Leonchuk, who had capsized at the start of the downwind leg. “We had managed a good first race with a second place and were on our way to repeat it.” explained Rodion Luka. “Unfortunately the Swedes just nose dived in front of us, we tried to sail round them but got hit by a big wave and capsized as well. The Athens Silver medallists finished the race in 14th position. It was the same fate for world ranked number three team, Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes who damaged their boat after capsizing. The Brits who had won the race one were among seven boats who failed to finish the second race.

Only seven boats managed to finish the sole race in the 49er Blue Group won by Marcin Czajkowski and Krysztof Kierkowski (POL). This result will not be included in the overall classification until both groups sail an even number of races.

The Finns enjoyed the gruelling conditions with wind reaching 27 knots in their racing area. Pieter–Jan Postma (NED) proved again he likes the breeze. The Dutch who had won the two final fleet races last year in similar conditions won the first race with a huge lead and was among the leading group in the second when a starboard incident forced him to do a 720. Postma recovered from 35th to seventh to place in fourth overall. Chris Cook (CAN) leads the standings after placing second and third. World number one Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (DEN) suffered from a collision at the first top mark and finished race one on sixth place with a big hole on the deck. The Dane kept his concentration to win the second race and secure a second position overall on equal points with 2008 Finn Gold Cup vice-Champion Dan Slater (NZL).

Faithful to their fame, Dutch teams excelled in the breeze in the Tornado and 470 women fleets. Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis took the first bullet in the Tornado opening race and placed fifth in the second. They are on equal points with Carolijn Brouwer and Sebastien Godefroid (BEL) and 2007 World champions Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz (ESP). The second race went to Marcolini and Bianchi (ITA) in fifth place behind the German team of Polgar and Spalteholz who are playing in Hyères their Olympic selection.

Triple World champions, Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout (NED) placed twice second to lead the 470 women fleet. American pair Clark and Mergenthaler won the first race. French Olympic representatives Ingrid Petitjean and Nadège Douroux claimed the second race. The 2007 world silver medallists have kept their potential in the breeze despite having fully started their preparation for China’s light conditions. In the men’s division, the 2008 vice world champions, Alvaro Marinho and Miguel Nunes (POR), who have retrieved their “good” boat from Australia, are leading the rankings with a second and a bullet. They are on equal points with Athens Silver medallists, Nick Rogers and Joe Glandfield (1-2).

The RS:X favourites didn’t perform in the breeze, a sign they could have already set their mind and preparations on China light air. Athens Gold and Silver medallists, Faustine Merret (FRA) and Jian Yin (CHN) placed 21st and 24th respectively! 2007 ISAF world champion Zofia Klepacka (POL) who hasn’t lost her strength in the breeze, was unbeatable with two bullets. Bianca Manchon is in second place.

Close results in the RS:X men with the top ten within within points of each others! Toni Wilhelm is leading the group on equal points with Casper Bouman (NED) second. Julien Bontemps (FRA) is third in front of Dorian Van Rijssel (NED). Hyères is one of the Olympic selections for the Dutch sailboarders and the battle between Bouman and Van Rijssel promised to be intense!

2008 Yngling World bronze medallist, Ulrike Schuemann, Julia Bleck and Ute Hoepfner (GER) have taken the lead in the Yngling fleet, only a point ahead of World number ones, Sarah Ayton, Pippa Wilson and Sarah Webb (GBR).

Evi van Acker (BEL) and Xu Lijia (CHN) first and second in the Laser Radial are among the rare class favourites to have performed well in the first day of racing in Hyères! Mixed results have penalised other class leaders. Despite claiming a race, Sari Multala and Sarah Blanck have also collected top scores to place 15th and 31st respectively. Jo Aleh (NZL) and Paige Railey (USA) good score in the first race is balanced with a disqualification at the start of the second. They are placed in 40 and 42 places!

2007 ISAF World Bronze medallist, Denis Karpak (EST) has enjoyed the strong winds to win both races in a 154 Laser fleet. Current World Champion and World number one, Tom Slingsby (AUS) despite earlier expectations, has made it to Hyères. A first and a Black Flag collected in the second race place him in 74th position overall.

The only race sailed in the 2.4mR saw last years leaders taking the first three places. Athens Gold medallist Damien Seguin (FRA) is in first place in front of Thierry Schmitter (NED) and Helena Lucas (GBR). The Sonar race went to British team helmed by John Robertson. The conditions for the Paralympics classes were on the upper limit. One of the German crew went overboard during the race but was quickly rescued by French coach.

Results:

FINN

1: Christopher Cook (CAN) 5 points
2: Jonas Hogh Christ (DEN) 7 points
3: Dan Slater (NZL) 7 points
4: Pieter Jan Postma (NED) 8 points
5: Gasper Vincec (SLO) 9 points

Laser Standard

1: Deniss Karpak (EST) 2 points (1,1,)
2: Nick Thompson (GBR) 4 points (3,1,)
3: Michael Leigh (CAN) 5 points ( 2,3,)
3: Andrew Murdoch (NZL) 5 points (2,3,)
5: Milan Vujasinovic (CRO) 6 points (4,2,)

RS :X Men

1: Toni Wilhelm (GER) 3 points (2,1,)
2: Casper Bouman (NED) 3 points (1,2,)
3: Julien Bontemps (A S P T T Nantes) 4 points (1,3,)
4: Dorian Van Rijssel (NED) 4 points ( 2,2,)
5: Richard Stauffacher (SUI) 6 points ( 5,1,)


RS :X Women

1: Zofia Klepacka (POL) 2 points (1,1,)
2: Blanca Mari Manchon (ESP) 8 points (5,3,)
3: Flavia Tartaglini (ITA) 12 points (8,4,)
4: Sasa Sun (CHN) 12 points (6,6,)
5: Ling Li (CHN) 13 points (11,2,)

SONAR

1: John Robertson (GBR) 1 points
2: Bruno Jourdren (ENV) 2 points
3: Jostein Stordahl (NOR) 3 points
4: Marco Collinetti (ITA) 4 points
5: Sven Reiger (AUT) 5 points

Tornado

1: Mitch Booth / Pim Nieuwenhuis (NED) 6 points (1,5,)
2: Carolijn Brouwer / Sebastien Godefroid (BEL) 6 points (2,4,)
3: Fernando Echavarri / Anton Paz (ESP) 6 points (3,3,)
4: Johannes Polgar / Florian Spalteholz (GER) 7 points (5,2,)
5: Francesco Marcolini / Edoardo Bianchi (ITA) 9 points (8,1,)

Yngling

1: Ulrike Schü Schuemann (GER) 3 points (1,2,)
2: Sarah Ayton (GBR) 4 points (3,1,)
3: Silja Sofia Lehtinen (FIN) 6 points (2,4,)
4: Sally Barkow (USA) 7 points (4,3,)
5: Siren Sundby (NOR) 13 points (8,5,)

2.4mR

1: Damien Seguin (SNO Nantes) 1 points
2: Thierry Schmitter (NED) 2 points
3: Helena Lucas (GBR) 3 points
4: Megan Pascoe (GBR) 4 points
5: Andre Rademaker (NED) 5 points


470 Men

1: Alvaro Marinho / Miguel Nunes (Portugal) 3 points (2,1,)
2: Nick Rogers / Joe Glanfield (Great Britain) 3 points (1,2,)
3: Sven Coster / Kalle Coster (The Netherlands) 4 points (1,3,)
4: Matthias Schmid / Florian Reichstaedt (Austria) 6 points (3,3,)
5: Carl Evans / Peter Burling (New Zealand) 9 points (8,1,)

470 Women

1: Marcelien de Koning / Lobke Berkhout (NED) 4 points (2,2,)
2: Ingrid Petitjean / Nadège Douroux (SN Marseille) 6 points ( 5,1,)
3: Yineng Huang / Yinjuan Shen (CHN) 11 points ( 6,5,)
4: Ai Kondo / Naoko Kamata (JPN) 14 points (4,10,)
5: Maria Ferna Sesto / Consuelo Monsegur (ARG) 17 points13,4,)

Laser Radial

1: Evi Van Acker (BEL) 4 points ( 2,2,)
2: Lijia Xu (CHN) 7 points (3,4,)
3: Nathalie Brugger () 8 points (5,3,)
4: Solenne Brain (FRA) 10 points ( 7,3,)
5: Elin Maria Samdal () 11 points (4,7,)

49er : No overall results, the groups have sailed a different number of sails

Full results available here .