Day of two halves

As France's Sarah Steyaert continues to lead at the Laser Radial Europeans in Copenhagen

The second day’s racing at the European Laser Radial Championship in Charlottenlund, Denmark, was - to borrow a well-worn football cliché - a game of two halves. If the super-shifty conditions in the morning race didn’t suit you, maybe the steadier, stronger breeze of the afternoon was more to your liking.

“It was almost as if you were sailing on two different days,” commented Danish sailor Maiken Schutt. Perhaps the schizophrenic day accounted for why so many of the leading contenders in the 96-boat women’s fleet recorded one good score and one bad.

For example the Netherlands sailor Marit Bouwmeester came 16th in her division (which equates to a 32nd when you combine the scores from the two women’s qualifying divisions), but bounced back with a heat win in race 4 in the afternoon. It was a very similar scenario for Finland’s Sari Multala, the defending European Champion, who came 16th followed by a second.

France’s Sophie de Turkheim was doing okay in the first race, lying somewhere in the top 10 but then: “My second beat went pear-shaped and I got on the wrong side of a wind shift. I caught some boats on the last downwind, but still only 14th at the finish.” Some sailors are complaining of not having done enough training leading up to this regatta, but for de Turkheim it might be too much. “I’ve come here from competing in the Med Games, and it’s difficult to be racing very soon after a big event. But I’m glad I won the last heat because between the two races I was asking myself ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ But mentally I feel good again now.”

It’s doubtful that de Turkheim’s compatriot, Sarah Steyaert, is asking herself what she’s doing in Denmark. To her surprise the reigning World Champion finds herself continuing to lead the regatta after another stellar day. Just six seconds separated the top three across the finish of her first heat today, but the French woman took the winner’s gun by a whisker from Sara Winther (NZL) and Paige Railey (USA). Steyaert followed up that race win with a sixth in her next heat, leaving her on top of the rankings with a three point gap (after discard) on Finland’s Sari Multala in second overall. “I’m enjoying it,” said Steyaert, unsurprisingly. More surprising was that she said she’d still be enjoying herself even if things weren’t going so well. After a prolonged break from sailing following a disappointing Olympics, Steyaert is just happy to be back competing in the Laser Radial.

After the fourth race of the series was held this afternoon, the sailors were able to discard their worst score from their points. This will come as a relief to many competitors, although it means the scoreboard disguises an element of reality. Sarah Steyaert would still be leading the regatta even if she was having to carry her sixth place discard, but beyond that the leaderboard would be different if the discard had not come in. For example, Charlotte Dobson (GBR) and Paige Railey are the only other two competitors to be counting all their scores in the top 10 so far.

So while the Briton and American may be lying in 5th and 6th respectively, they would probably rather have their score sheet in preference to the sailors just in front of them, who are all currently discarding a result in the teens. That’s a luxury that they may not be able to hold on to if the next few days prove as tricky as the first two have done. Dobson commented: “Everyone’s putting in some quite big numbers. It’s important to stay out of the big numbers, and not panic if things go against you. You’re going to be on the wrong side of something at some point.”

Australia’s Gabrielle King found herself on the wrong side of something in her second race today after a good first one, following a respectable 5th with a discardable 25th. “A mixed bag,” she laughed. “Every now and then I like to remind myself what it’s like not to get a good start. You just claw your way through, and have a nice little sail.” A nice attitude to dealing with a difficult race. King says she’s having too much fun to get down about a poor result. “Copenhagen’s a really cool city, there’s so much going on, the waters out here are just great, really nice sailing, got a great competition, what more can you ask for?”

In the Men’s 70-boat fleet, two bullets moves Zemke Wojciech to the top of the rankings, but still only two points ahead of yesterday’s leader, the very consistent Greek sailor Michail Aristeidis.

Results:

Pos	Name	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot	Net
1	Steyaert Sarah	FRA	2	1	1	-6	10	4
2	Multala Sari	FIN	1	4	-16	2	23	7
3	Reyes Lucia	ESP	2	-14	4	2	22	8
4	Bouwmeester Marit	NED	5	3	-16	1	25	9
5	Dobson Charlotte	GBR	3	2	-6	4	15	9
6	Railey Paige	USA	-6	4	3	3	16	10
7	Cebrian Alicia	ESP	4	2	-26	7	39	13
8	Winther Sara	NZL	7	-24	2	5	38	14
9	Van Acker Evi	BEL	11	1	-17	3	32	15
10	Drozdovskaya Tatiana	BLR	9	5	-32	4	50	18
11	Deberny Katarzyna	POL	3	5	-21	12	41	20
12	Gjerpen Cathrine	NOR	1	-17	10	11	39	22
13	Brewster Andrea	GBR	6	9	-15	8	38	23
14	Edelman Nufar	ISR	-15	6	4	14	39	24
15	Sch�tt Maiken	DEN	-12	6	12	6	36	24
16	Makowska Ewa	POL	8	-31	3	14	56	25
17	King Gabrielle	AUS	5	15	5	-25	50	25
18	Lindberg Alberte	DEN	9	11	7	-20	47	27
19	Olsson Josefin	SWE	11	-17	2	15	45	28
20	Tenkanen Tuula	FIN	-26	13	8	7	54	28
21	Blom Claire	NED	7	8	-35	13	63	28
22	Mihelic Tina	CRO	-17	17.0 DPI	1	10.5	45.5	28.5
23	Snellgrove Hannah	GBR	-22	8	5	16	51	29
24	Goltz Franziska	GER	10	14	-31	5	60	29
25	de Turckheim Sophie	FRA	(49.0 BFD)	16	14	1	80	31
26	Carmo Sara	POR	(49.0 BFD)	3	9	19	80	31
27	Clapcich Francesca	ITA	-21	7	15	9.5	52.5	31.5
28	Reyes Fatima	ESP	4	-21	20	9.5	54.5	33.5
29	Fasselt Lisa	GER	8	12	-36	15	71	35
30	Fenclova Veronika	CZE	12	19	6	-22	59	37
31	Kravarioti Virginia	GRE	10	18	-25	9	62	37
32	Gunni Sarah	DEN	-28	19	13	10.5	70.5	42.5
33	Young Alison	GBR	17	-20	19	12	68	48
34	Murphy Annalise	IRL	-32	10	31	8	81	49
35	Gallego Duran Marina	ESP	19	-24	8	23	74	50
36	Szymczyk Natalia	POL	20	9	-33	21	83	50
37	Weinzieher Anna	POL	15	15	-27	20	77	50
38	Helbig Anke	GER	14	-27	11	26	78	51
39	Haeger Anne	USA	21	22	9	-31	83	52
40	Sigvardsdotter Sara	SWE	13	27	12	-28	80	52
41	Tylinska Katarzyna	POL	-23	18	17	17	75	52
42	Bauermeister Chris	GER	25	-36	7	21	89	53
43	Bassadone Christina	GBR	(49.0 BFD)	10	18	27	104	55
44	Hall Cathrine	DEN	25	12	-32	18	87	55
45	Lihan Sarah	USA	(49.0 BFD)	13	30	13	105	56
46	Hanna Debbie	IRL	16	-23	22	19	80	57
47	Maes Laura	BEL	18	22	-28	17	85	57
48	Kuikka Fina	SWE	19	11	29	-41	100	59
49	Enger Eide Marthe	NOR	-37	30	10	24	101	64
50	Dennis Claire	USA	-29	28	20	16	93	64
51	Chapman Rosie	GBR	-41	31	11	25	108	67
52	Scheel Julia	GER	27	-35	14	26	102	67
53	Brien Tiffany	IRL	23	26	-34	18	101	67
54	Michon Pernelle	FRA	29	28	13	-30	100	70
55	Mileviciute Ausra	LTU	26	16	-37	28	107	70
56	Ben-horin Souffa	ISR	18	25	27	(49.0 OCS)	119	70
57	Jonsson Cecilia	SWE	14	29	-33	30	106	73
58	Uecker Martje	GER	20	-46	19	34	119	73
59	Uthaug Natcha	NOR	24	-37	21	29	111	74
60	Bolou Marie	FRA	13	29	-40	35	117	77
61	Billing Emily	USA	16	-41	38	23	118	77
62	Murphy Claudine	IRL	-42	21	34	22	119	77
63	B�ckstr�m Lynn	FIN	35	26	18	-44	123	79
64	Plerpaite Saima	LTU	30	30	22	-41	123	82
65	Luther Manon	SUI	27	33	23	-38	121	83
66	Gafenko Anstasiia	UKR	31	(33.0 DPI)	23	31	118	85
67	Kare Reka	HUN	(49.0 BFD)	25	25	36	135	86
68	Diamond Hannah	GBR	-35	35	24	29	123	88
69	Heged�s Fanni	HUN	32	32	24	-37	125	88
70	Riou Am�lie	FRA	34	34	-42	24	134	92
71	Rattemeyer Lisa	GER	-36	36	26	33	131	95
72	Just Emsvang Line	DEN	30	38	-40	27	135	95
73	Ennulat Janine	GER	34	32	-46	34	146	100
74	Luik Anne-mari	EST	22	-42	42	37	143	101
75	Butterfield Sarah	GBR	33	40	28	-42	143	101
76	Maksutova Ksenia	RUS	28	-47	29	45	149	102
77	Shnitko Svetlana	RUS	31	-39	38	33	141	102
78	Fauthoux Sandy	FRA	37	-40	30	36	143	103
79	Benavent Ascension	ESP	38	33	-41	32	144	103
80	Gadel Aliz�e	FRA	39	20	-46	45	150	104
81	Aile Anna	LAT	-36	34	36	35	141	105
82	Righolt Amy	NED	24	43	-44	43	154	110
83	Sassetti Bianca	ITA	41	-44	39	32	156	112
84	Heerkens Debby	NED	39	37	-44	39	159	115
85	Steiner Paula	GER	33	-45	45	39	162	117
86	Bristulf Nor�n Caroline	SWE	-43	41	39	38	161	118
87	Rau Rohini	IND	38	42	-43	40	163	120
88	Abadie Charlotte	FRA	40	38	-43	42	163	120
89	Testuz Fiona	SUI	42	-48	35	46	171	123
90	Dapeci Catherine	AUT	45	39	-48	40	172	124
91	Pohlak Anna	EST	40	-43	41	43	167	124
92	Andrulyte Viktorija	LTU	(49.0 DNC)	46	37	44	176	127
93	Krasevac Marusa	SLO	43	45	-47	46	181	134
94	Marchot Caroline	GER	44	44	-47	47	182	135
95	Gustafsson Johanna	FIN	44	-47	45	47	183	136
96	Stegemann Laura	GER	45	48	(49.0 DNC)	49.0 DNC	191	142

The Laser Radial Europeans is one of a number of high profile sailing regattas taking place in Denmark this summer as part of wider festival of different sports, called Denmark’s Year of Sport. To do their utmost to ensure that their events are held to the highest possible standards the Danish Sailing Association is working with the support of the insurance company CODAN (part of Sun Alliance Group), to provide TracTrac tracking during the Laser Radial Europeans, Finn Gold Cup, EUROSAF Match Racing Europeans and 470 World Championship. The Danish Sailing Association has purchased 150 state-of-the-art GPS tracking devices, allowing races to be followed in real time over the internet.

Last year the TracTrac tracking of the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Aarhus, Denmark was followed by nearly 30,000 viewers from 69 countries all over the world.