Light wind medal races

Sail Melbourne Olympic classes Regatta has come to a close.

Sail Melbourne came to a close today with Medal Races being held in extremely light airs.

In Brief:

-Tornado Medal Race abandoned due to light airs, leaving Bundock and Ashby winners.
-Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving (USA) take gold in the Women's 470.
-Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield (GBR) win men's 470 division.
-Tom Slingsby (AUS) falls from first to third overal after a seventh in the Laser Medal Race.
-Paul Goodison (GBR) takes overal victory in the Laser.
-Sarah Blanck (AUS) wins Radial fleet by a decisive 21 points.
-Ben Ainslie (GBR) takes victory in the Finn by 22 points.
-Britain puts in a dominant perfromance in the Finn with Ed Wright (GBR) taking second.

Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby (AUS) cemented their status as hot favourites for the March Tornado world title with an emphatic win in the Tornado Class of the Asia Pacific Regatta.

Although their Medal race was abandoned due to light airs and running out of time, the two, following racing yesterday, finished 20 points clear of the their nearest rivals at host venue, Sandringham Yacht Club.

However, a race today would have made little difference to the gold medal result, with Bundock from NSW and Ashby from Victoria enjoying their biggest regatta winning margin to date and one that couldn’t be beaten.

“We’re really happy with how it all worked out, and we were pretty stoked with how we were going in the light wind and the strong winds, so it’s pretty good preparation for getting set up for the World’s in a few weeks time,” Ashby said.

“We’re certainly pretty happy that we’re going down the right path with our sail design program heading towards Beijing,” the 30-year-old added.

And following a second in the pre-Olympic Test Event at Qingdao last year, Bundock, 36, said their light wind training sessions were beginning to pay dividends.

“It (the pre-Olympic event) was a really big step for us I think, showing that we could compete in those sorts of light and tricky conditions, and from then on we’ve been concentrating on light wind conditions,” Bundock said.

“We certainly didn’t have anything this week, like we’re expecting in Beijing, but I think we got glimpses of it,” the World number one ranked skipper added.

Should they win the World title, to be sailed in Takapuna, New Zealand, it will be Bundock’s sixth, and equal record with his former silver medallist crew John Forbes. It will be Ashby’s second, after winning the 2006 World’s with Bundock.

Andrey Kirilyuk and Valeriy Ushkov (RUS) enjoyed a consistent week of racing to consolidate their Silver Medal position with 41 points, followed by Leigh McMillan and Will Howden in the Bronze Medal position, a further six points behind.

The Russians finished second to Bundock and Ashby at the Tornado Asia Pacific Regatta last week and today’s final result has put them in pole position for Olympic team selection.

Just two points out of the medal position were World Champs Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz (ESP), who have not sailed to optimum here in Australia.

470 Women:

Going into today's medal race Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving (USA) were feeling good about their position ahead of Ai Kondo and Naoko Kamata (JPN) in second and Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol (ITA) in third.

"We've been at the top of the score board every day. We're mathematically guaranteed either first or second at an ISAF Grade 1 event," an excited Maxwell said yesterday.

Happily, the US girls who missed out on Olympic selection, took out the gold medal today, their second place in the Medal Race more than enough to cover them, having led the 470 Women’s from day one. A feisty Kondo and Kamata were awarded the silver after their third place finish in the Medal race, while Conti and Micol received the bronze.

Yuka Yoshisako and Noriko Okuma (JPN) won the Medal race today for a fourth in the regatta.

But it isn't over yet, as the ISAF Grade 1 470 Women’s World Championship at Sail Melbourne will be held next week at Mordialloc Sailing Club.

The Americans are feeling confident about next week. "We trained hard this fall, then took a break, so we are well trained and rested."

470 Men:

Yesterday's top three overall place holders managed to stay in their spots after today's close Medal race, with Nic Rogers and Joe Glanfield (GBR) claiming Gold with a convincing first in the Medal race this afternoon in light wafty airs on the course just off host venue, Sandringham Yacht Club.

Athens silver medallists Rogers and Glanfield really enjoyed their week of racing at Sandringham and are looking forward to next week’s ISAF Grade 1 470 World Championship at Sail Melbourne. "It's beautiful here. The best sailing place," Rogers said.

The silver medal went to world ranked number 13 Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) and bronze went to world ranked number four, Mathew Belcher and Nicolas Behrens (AUS), who just missed selection into the 2008 Beijing Games. The pair was extremely pleased, particularly Belcher who has come fresh from winning the Moth Australian title.

Laser:

Australian Tom Slingsby lost his in the Laser Class at the Asia Pacific Regatta today and fell into the bronze medal position, Paul Goodison taking out the Gold.

Slingsby went into the Medal race with the regatta lead on countback to British genius Paul Goodison; who made up ground over the last couple of days, and three points clear of Andrew Murdoch (NZL), who had his own bit of bad luck with an OCS late in the series.

Goodison finished second in the Medal race to win gold, Murdoch was fifth, while Slingsby’s seventh cost him the series.

Goodison’s final points tally was 25 points, Murdoch’s 34 and Slingsby scored 35.

Laser Radial:

Sarah Blanck’s (AUS) gold medal win at the Asia Pacific Regatta was one of the most decisive victories for the whole series, taking the series by a huge 21 point lead ahead of the second place Sari Multala (FIN).

Blanck, who finished third in today's shifty light Medal race, will now head to New Zealand for the Laser Radial Women's World Championship in February with her head held high.

The Victorian, who is in the team for Beijing, recently scored the coaching services of Sydney 2000 Laser bronze medallist Michael Blackburn and the pairing is working just fine.

Multala won silver despite a disappointing ninth place in the Medal race, which was won by top Kiwi sailor and light air specialist Jo Aleh (NZL), who took home the Bronze medal, while Nathalie Brugger (SUI) finished second.

Finn :

As expected, British sailor Ben Ainslie proved his worth as the outstanding Finn Class sailor of his generation with yet another emphatic victory at the Asia Pacific Regatta at Black Rock Yacht Club this afternoon after finishing the Medal race today in second place.

Light and shifty conditions beset all in the Medal race today, and those who read the shifts scored the dividends.

Winner of Gold at Sail Melbourne’s Asia Pacific Regatta, Ainslie will line up again next week at the Finn Gold Cup (the world championship) in a bid to become the first Finn sailor to grab a fifth world title in the class to add to his two Olympic gold medals.

The Brits managed to dominate the Finn class all week, with Ainslie’s nemesis Ed Wright in outright second place following his seventh in the Medal Race. He finished a staggering 22 points in arrears of Ainslie, followed by 2007 World Champion Rafael Trujillo (ESP) on 66 points. Both have a lot of work to do if they are to get close to Ainslie next week.

Ainslie’s form continues to be nothing short of outstanding and heading into next week’s world titles, known as the Finn Gold Cup at Black Rock, is all coming together at the right time.

Ivan Kljakovic (CRO) can go into next week’s event with bragging rights for the Medal race after winning it today, however he finished the regatta seventh overall, well out of medal contention on 103 points. Australia’s Anthony Nossiter was ninth.

Skud 18:

Going into the final day today, son and father duo Morgan and David Staley (AUS) had first place cemented with a four point lead in the Paralympic class Skud 18 Class of the Asia Pacific Regatta.

Second was another son and father duo Duncan and Peter MacGregor (AUS). In third place was Tan Jovin and Desiree Lim (SIN) and in fourth place was Amy Barnbrook and Leigh Dunstan (AUS).

After the day's racing, Morgan expressed his delight with the regatta. "I'm really happy with that (their result)...you just have to try your hardest and go out there and do your best,” Morgan said.

“We were really just out there having fun with everyone else and getting the best result out of ourselves and sailing with my dad was really great pleasure,” the 16-year-old admitted.

Peter MacGregor said he and son Duncan, the 2007 Access 2.3 world champion, had a great time too. “There were massive shifts again today, but the finish was so close; it came down to three boats. Jovin won – he had his first win yesterday, so that’s great for him. We’ve both really enjoyed ourselves here,” he said.

2.4mR:

Australian's Peter Russell and Peter Thompson were on equal points without drops going into today's final race of the 2.4mR Class of the Asia Pacific Regatta at Sandringham Yacht Club.

"The light conditions this morning favoured me, it was light and sloppy and I've always done reasonably well in those conditions," Russell, the overall winner, said.

Up the first beat of the race there was a 40 degree shift to the left and Russell on the favoured side of the course.

"With good boat speed, I achieved a reasonable lead, which extended through the day," Russell said after finishing the race in first place with Thompson in fifth.

"It's always good to win regattas. It would have been nice to have a close battle with Peter, but with that shift, it meant there weren't those strategic options available," Russell said.

Thompson finished the regatta in second place followed by Aaron Hill (AUS) in third. This is the second time Russell has won this event.

Results:

470 Men

Pos	Helm	Crew	Nationality	Points from qualifying	Medal Race	Tot
1	ROGERS, Nicholas	GLANFIELD, Joe	GBR	47	2	49
2	FANTELA, Sime	MARENIC, Igor	CRO	55	6	61
3	BELCHER, Mathew	BEHRENS, Nicholas	AUS	62	16	78
4	ASHER, Nic	WILLIS, Elliot	GBR	76	8	84
5	BARREIROS RODRÍGUEZ, Onán	SARMIENTO PADILLA, Aarón	ESP	77	12	89
6	MARTÍNEZ DORESTE, Gustavo	WOOD VALDIVIELSO, Dimas	ESP	90	4	94
7	EVANS, Carl	BURLING, Peter	NZL	73	22	95
8	OWENS, Ger	LAWTON, Philip	IRL	88	10	98
9	PATIENCE, Luke	GRUBE, Chris	GBR	93	14	107
10	SEKI, Kazuto	YANAGAWA, Syoichi	JPN	93	22	115

470 Women

Pos	Helm	Crew	Nationality	Points from qualifying	Medal Race	Tot
1	MAXWELL, Erin	KINSOLVING, Isabelle	USA	42	4	46
2	AI, Kondo	NAOKO, Kamata	JPN	56	6	62
3	CONTI, Giulia	MICOL, Giovanna	ITA	76	10	86
4	YOSHISAKO, Yuka	OKUMA, Noriko	JPN	85	2	87
5	GALLEGO, Marina	ECHEGOYEN, Tamara	ESP	103	12	115
6	VOGL, Sylvia	FLATSCHER, Carolina	AUT	116	8	124
7	WANG, Xiaoli	HUANG, Xufeng	CHN	110	14	124
8	TABATA, Wakako	KURITA, Naomi	JPN	108	22	130
9	ILIENKO, Vlada	GAPONOVICH, Natalia	RUS	113	22	135
10	ROTHWEILER, Stefanie	KUSSATZ, Vivien	GER	80	22	102

Finn

Pos	Helm	Nationality	Points from qualifying	Medal Race	Tot
1	AINSLIE, Ben	GBR	33	4	37
2	WRIGHT, Edward	GBR	45	14	59
3	TRUJILLO, Rafael	ESP	46	20	66
4	HØGH, Jonas	DEN	62	16	78
5	RAILEY, Zach	USA	88	6	94
6	TILLANDER, Johan	SWE	86	8	94
7	KLJAKOVIC, Ivan	CRO	101	2	103
8	SLATER, Dan	NZL	106	10	116
9	NOSSITER, Anthony	AUS	120	12	132
10	SZUKIEL, Rafal	POL	125	18	143

Laser

Pos	Helm	Nationality	Points from qualifying	Medal Race	Tot
1	GOODISON, Paul	GBR	21	4	25
2	MURDOCH, Andrew	NZL	24	10	34
3	SLINGSBY, Thomas	AUS	21	14	35
4	BULLOT, Mike	NZL	35	2	37
5	LEIGH, Michael	CAN	43	6	49
6	BOUGIOURIS, Adonis	GRE	30	20	50
7	VUJASINOVIC, Milan	CRO	45	8	53
8	LUTTMER, Bernard	CAN	42	12	54
9	GRABOWSKI, Maciej	POL	43	16	59
10	SCHADEWALDT, Tobias	GER	45	18	63

Laser Radial

Pos	Helm	Nationality	Points from qualifying	Medal Race	Tot
1	BLANCK, Sarah	AUS	12	6	18
2	MULTALA, Sari	FIN	21	18	39
3	ALEH, Jo	NZL	38	2	40
4	ELIAS CALLES, Tania	MEX	34	14	48
5	XU, Lijia	CHN	37	12	49
6	BALDWIN, Laura	GBR	59	10	69
7	BRUGGER, Nathalie	SUI	69	4	73
8	FENCLOVA, Veronika	CZE	74	8	82
9	TUNNICLIFFE, Anna	USA	63	20	83
10	SZOTYNSKA, Katarzyna	POL	72	16	88

Tornado

Pos	Helm	Crew	Nationality	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot	Net
1	BUNDOCK, Darren	ASHBY, Glenn	AUS	1	-11	1	4	6	1	1	1	1	5	32	21
2	KIRILYUK, Andrey	USHKOV, Valeriy	RUS	4	3	-12	3	2	7	3	9	8	2	53	41
3	MCMILAN, Leigh	HOWDEN, Will	GBR	-11	2	4	6	11	2	4	2	7	9	58	47
4	ECHAVARRI, FERNANDO	PAZ, ANTON	ESP	3	5	8	-12	5	8	5	3	4	8	61	49
5	POLGAR, Johannes	SPALTEHOLZ, florian	GER	-10	4	6	9	10	5	6	7	5	6	68	58
6	MITTELMEIER, Tino	MITTELMEIER, Niko	GER	6	-15	2	7	12	4	12	13	3	1	75	60
7	BOOTH, Mitch	NIEUWENHUIS, Pim	NED	5	1	14	13	1	3	2	8	-17	14	78	61
8	WALSH, Andrew	BARNEY, Edward	GBR	8	13	3	-18	7	9	9	4	15	3	89	71
9	CAROLIJN, Brouwer	SEBASTIEN, Godefroid	BEL	12	9	9	5	4	-13	10	6	12	13	93	80
10	PASCHALIDIS, Iordanis	TRIGKONIS, konstantinos	GRE	-25	7	18	1	8	10	16	15	6	4	110	85

Skud

Pos	Helm	Crew	Nationality	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot	Net
1	STALEY, Morgan	STALEY, David	AUS	1	1	-4	3	1	1	1	2	2	2	18	14
2	MACGREGOR, Duncan	MACGREGOR, Peter	AUS	-3	2	1	2	3	3	2	1	3	3	23	20
3	JOVIN, Tan	LIM, Desiree	SIN	-4	4	3	4	2	2	3	3	1	1	27	23
4	BARNBROOK, Amethyst	DUNSTAN, Leigh	AUS	2	3	2	1	4	-5	4	4	4	4	33	28

2.4mR

Pos	Helm	Nationality	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot	Net
1	RUSSELL, Peter	AUS	1	2	1	-3	2	2	3	2	2	1	19	16
2	THOMPSON, Peter	AUS	2	1	4	1	1	1	1	4	4	-5	24	19
3	HILL, Aaron	AUS	4	3	2	2	3	3	5	1	3	-6	32	26
4	LEYDON, Michael	AUS	3	6	6	6	6	-7	2	5	1	3	45	38
5	LEMON, Michael	AUS	6	-9	5	5	4	4	4	7	6	4	54	45
6	BUGG, Matthew	AUS	5	4	-9	9	5	9	6	3	7	2	59	50
7	BROWN, Colin	AUS	-8	5	3	4	8	5	8	8	5	8	62	54
8	MURRAY, Pamela	AUS	7	-9	7	7	7	6	7	6	8	7	71	62