NZ lead Volvo rankings

News from Tuesday's racing at the Volvo Youth Sailing Worlds in Canada

Competitors settled back into the race groove Tuesday at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship after a day off in historic Lunenburg. There are clusters of sailors in the top positions, but three race days remain so there is still room for change.

Wind for the first races were light at about 6 to 8 knots, but built to 15 knots for the final race of the day. Mistral competitors sailed three races to make up for only completing two on Sunday, the other classes raced two.

So far, New Zealand is in the lead for the Volvo Trophy, which is based on team results across all racing classes. Last year, France won it for the sixth time, when a Kiwi competitor was disqualified for an administrative matter. In the preliminary standings Canada has its best showing ever, standing in sixth place, up from 18th last year in France.

The unofficial standings after Tuesday's races are as follows:

In the Boys 29er class there was no change among the top ranked teams. France's Guillavme Vigna and Thibaut Gatti are in first place while the New Zealand team of Geoff Woolley and Mark Overington are in second. Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Ayden Menzies performed consistently to hang onto third over-all.

Team GBR sailors Jonny Marshall (17, Lymington) and Tom Smedley (15, Langstone, Hants) had their best day of the regatta so far, they were looking set to take third place in the first race of the day, but got caught the wrong side of a wind shift and dropped to ninth overall in the competitive fleet. In the second race they held onto their third place finish, which maintains their position of seventh overall.

In Girls 29er class, the teams from Britain, New Zealand and Australia continue to finish in the top three. Britain's Pippa Wilson and Jenny Marks are in first place, with Australia's Elise Rechichi and Rashele Martin in second and New Zealand's team of Rachel O'Brien and Kelly Riechelmann are in third. Team GBR sailors Pippa Wilson (16, from Lymington, Hants) and Jenny Marks (17, Northampton) are on top form showing good boat speed and tactical ability. They continue their domination over the class after scoring a second and a first place, and now hold a six point margin over the Australian duo.

Elise Rechichi said the racing was very close Tuesday, with the lead switching back and forth at every mark. "We read the wind shifts right in the first race to get in front of the fleet and come first," said Rechichi who helmed the 29er to a first and a third place finish in the day's racing. "But what we did to the British team in the first race, they did to us in the second."

Canada's 29er girls team Maddy Purves-Smith of Calgary and Cassidy Richardson of Winnipeg stayed at ninth over-all, but their 5th place finish in the second race of the day was an improvement over Sunday's finishes.

In Boys Laser, Tobias Schadewaldt of Germany is in first place after seven races, but stands a mere one point in front of second place Andrew Campbell of the United States. New Zealand's Michael Bullot is in third.

Schadewaldt says he's having far more success in this championships compared to last year in France when he placed eighth over-all.

"I was very nervous in France," said the 17-year-old. "But I seem to have been able to overcome that mentality. Also, the sailing organization and the food at this championship are excellent and that makes a difference."

Canada's Mike Leigh finished fourth in the first race and seventh in the second, and is now sixth overall.

In the Girls Byte Class, Paige Railey of the United States climbed up to top spot from third, after first and fifth place finishes in Tuesday's races. Canada's Jen Spalding is in second spot and Karin Soderstrom is in third. "I'm excited but I'm not going to let it get to my head," said the 15-year-old Railey. "It's early going and the other girls are really strong and anything can happen."

Spalding finished second in the first race Tuesday despite capsizing once and having to do a penalty turn for hitting the windward mark. The 16-year-old also capsized in the second race, but finished sixth. "I'm sort of surprised that I'm doing so well," said the Vancouver native, who credits her starts for her good position. "Being in the lead is way better than being in the pack because you don't have to fight for fresh air."

Britain's Colette Blair (16, Bewl Valley) scored two ninth places, leaving her in ninth place overall.

In the Boys Mistral class, Byron Kokkalanis of Greece is in first, New Zealand's Thomas Ashley is second and Switzerland's Jan Schenck is in third. Canada's Mike Hayes slips to 11th from seventh. Dan Binney (17, Cumbria) slipped down to fourth overall in the boys Mistral class, after scoring a 7,7,10 score line, and was a little disappointed with his performance in the last race.

Poland's Zofia Klepacka has taken over top spot in the Girls Mistral series with first and second place finishes in Tuesday's races. Blanca Manchon of Spain slipped to second place and Wai Man Chan of Hong Kong remains in third. Lisa McKenzie of Canada is ninth. Team GBR sailor Catherine Potter (18, Nottingham) is still suffering with her elbow injury but managed to score a bullet in the second race of the day in the windier conditions, which has moved her up to seventh place overall, and given her a necessary confidence boost.

Team GBR Manager Mark Barron commented, "Pippa and Jenny had another storming day, showing the 29er girls fleet how to do it. The boys improved on their performance to score a better day and stay in touch with the fleet. Catherine gave herself a boost of confidence with a bullet, even with her injured elbow. The rest of the team were a bit disappointed with their results, but there is still time to put a good series together with three more race days left of the championship."

The overall standings for the Volvo Trophy, which is based on team results across all racing classes, remain the same, with New Zealand leading from the United States of America and France. Great Britain is in fourth place.


29er boys

Pos	Cntry	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot
1st	FRA	Guillavme Vigna	Thibaut Gatti	5	2	1	2	1	4	6	15
2nd	NZL	Geoff Woolley	Mark Overington	2	1	2	6	7	1	4	16
3rd	AUS	Nathan Outteridge	Ayden Menzies	1	4	7	5	4	3	1	18
4th	USA	Alex Bernal	Tedd White	4	6	OCS/22	1	3	8	2	24
5th	JPN	Shohei Ichiyama	Takuya Okamoto	9	5	6	12	5	2	7	34
6th	CAN	Trevor McEwen	Chris Hewson	3	OCS/22	4	10	9	6	5	37
7th	GBR	Jonny Marshall	Tom Smedley	6	7	9	13	6	9	3	40
8th	ARG	Micael Sielecki	Tigris Martirosian	13	3	3	4	8	11	14	42
9th	SWE	Magnus Baltscheffsky	Fredrick Toll	12	OCS/22	8	3	2	10	9	44
10th	DEN	Christian Christensen	Simon Nielsen	7	10	OCS/22	7	14	7	10	55

29er girls

Pos	Country	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot
1st	GBR	Pippa Wilson	Jenny Marks	1	5	1	2	2	2	1	9
2nd	AUS	Elise Rechichi	Rashele Martin	2	1	11	3	4	1	3	14
3rd	NZL	Rachel O'Brien	Kelly Riechelmann	DSQ/15	4	2	1	1	3	4	15
4th	USA	Molly Carapiet	Mallory McCollum	3	3	OCS/15	7	3	6	2	24
5th	GER	Franziska Hellmuth	Antje Struckat	4	2	8	4	8	4	8	30
6th	JPN	Asami Taniguchi	Rie Hirakawa	7	8	3	5	5	5	6	31
7th	FRA	Delphine Macaire	Stephanie D'agata	10	6	5	6	6	10	11	43
8th	DEN	Henriette Koch	Annemette Groenkjaer	5	7	7	8	10	9	7	43
9th	CAN	Maddy Purves-Smith	Cassidy Richardson	6	9	4	9	11	13	5	44
10th	POR	Mariana Freitas	Carmo Bustorff	8	13	10	10	12	7	10	57

Lasers

Pos	Country	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot
1st	USA	Andrew Campbell	3	1	4	2	4	1	8	15
2nd	GER	Tobias Schadewaldt	8	2	2	9	1	2	1	16
3rd	NZL	Michael Bullot	1	6	1	17	2	12	4	26
4th	CRO	Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic	6	3	5	4	5	9	6	29
5th	BRA	Eduardo Couto	OCS/25	5	3	1	6	5	20	40
6th	CAN	Mike Leigh	OCS/25	4	13	5	8	4	7	41
7th	POR	Francisco Lobato	OCS/25	7	7	3	10	6	9	42
8th	DEN	Nicolai Thorsell	4	13	10	DNF/25	7	3	13	50
9th	IRL	Matt McGovern	2	9	12	13	12	7	DNC/25	55
10th	AUS	Tom Slingsby	7	11	OCS/25	7	11	16.5	3	55.5

Byte girls

Pos	Country	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot
1st	USA	Paige Railey	1	OCS/21	5	1	2	1	5	15
2nd	CAN	Jennifer Spalding	7	3	DSQ/21	3	1	2	6	22
3rd	SWE	Karin Soderstrom	4	2	2	2	12	6	8	24
4th	FIN	Silja Lehtinen	5	6	1	4	5	5	15	26
5th	FRA	Sarah Steyaert	3	1	13	8	6	DNC/21	1	32
6th	AUS	Krystal Weir	6	11	9	13	4	3	4	37
7th	NED	Maike Landman	11	4	6	5	8	14	7	41
8th	NZL	Kate O'Brien	9	OCS/21	3	10	3	15	2	42
9th	GBR	Colette Blair	2	8	7	9	7	9	9	42
10th	POL	Katarzyna Rudawska	10	7	4	6	11	10	16	48

Volvo Trophy

1st	New Zealand	228
2nd	United States of America	189
3rd	France	180
4th	Great Britain	172
5th	Australia	152
6th	Canada	142
7th	Germany	141
8th	Poland	117
9th	Spain	102
10th	Japan	72