Dempsey pipped at the post

RS:Xes decided on the final day of the Olympic test event

Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED), Zofia Klepacka (POL) and Silja Lehtinen (FIN) picked up the first gold medals of the Weymouth and Portland International after a gripping day of sailing on the Nothe in winds in between 15-20 knots.

Van Rijsselberge had been tussling with Great Britain’s Nick Dempsey throughout the week in the Men’s RS:X with the pair locked on equal points after eight races. But the deadlock was broken ahead of the Medal Race after Van Rijsselberge had a better fifth day of sailing than Dempsey to enter the Medal Race with a seven point lead. The Dutchman, who holds the ISAF Sailing World Cup RS:X Men’s title, made hard work of it during the Medal Race after he rounded the first mark in tenth and 51 seconds off the leades, but he fought his way up the fleet to finish in fifth position.

At one stage, it looked as though Dempsey had done enough, but the Greek competitor positioned between the Brit and the Dutchman fell in on a tack, and allowed van Rijsselberge to come back and finish the race in fifth just three places behind Dempsey’s second, instead of the four places the Brit needed to clinch gold, the Dutchman holding on to secure a narrow one point victory.

“It’s been a great week and a lot of emotions and tensions going round. But more positive than negative,” said Van Rijsselberge. “Nick’s been the favourite as it’s his home waters and he shows what he can do. It’s always a healthy competition going on between us, so it’s great. It was a really good race. Before the start Nick didn’t really show anything, so I didn’t really know what to expect. At the start he was right there mixing it up trying to make it as hard as he could, and he really did.  I was really impressed by his skills.”

“This is the most important event of the year for me because this is event that really most resembles the Olympic Games,” said Dempsey of the significance of this Olympic test regatta. “Really, it’s about winning here, about winning under pressure, in the Olympic format so it has been great experience. The organisers have thrown us a few swerveballs this week and I think we’ve dealt with them quite well.

“I am happy, it’s just a shame I did not win. It is very, very difficult to sail someone down the fleet and then sail yourself back up past everyone and that is exactly what happened. I managed to sail him back to last place, so we were effectively ninth and tenth, and then got myself up to second and so that’s all I can ask of myself.”

Jon-Paul Tobin (NZL) won the Medal Race, and the bronze medal went to Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL) whose fourth place in the Medal Race moved him from fifth to third.

Zofia Klepacka claimed the Women’s RS:X gold medal in wonderful fashion after winning the Medal Race by over a minute. The Polish sailor has put together a fantastic race card throughout the week finishing out of the top three just once in 11 races. Spain's Marina Alabau boasted five race wins, but did not show the level of consistency that Klepacka showed. But she walked away with the silver medal and bronze went to Great Britain’s Bryony Shaw.

Shaw didn’t enjoy the best of medal races, finishing seventh after falling in on a tack, but it was enough maintain her overall third. “This is my target regatta for the year, so to medal here I am really, really happy,” she explained. “There’s a year to go and all the preparation is about board speed, and just making sure again that I am minimising mistakes, getting the experience and reeling in the Spanish and Polish girls. I feel like I am so much better than I was in Qingdao. This is about being an all-rounder in Weymouth, so I feel like I am on track. There has been a real buzz, Skandia Team GBR is really tight, building towards next year and so we always try to emulate this [event] as a full dress rehearsal. It is all about preparing for next year.”

It went down to the wire in the Women’s Match Racing final between Silja Lehtinen, Silja Kanerva, and Lucinda Whitty (FIN) and Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Siuzeva and Elena Oblova (RUS).

The match swung to-and-fro; Skudina took the race win in the first race but Lehtinen hit back and went ahead 2-1. Lehtinen had the lead in the fourth race but after a poor mark rounding and with problems displaying her spinnaker Skudina pulled ahead to level the tie.

In the deciding race the lead changed hands throughout with neither side taking the bull by the horns and seizing the initiative. The Finnish girls ran into problems after a poor gybe as Lehtinen, at the helm, almost fell into the water but was saved. And at the finish a Russian penalty enabled Lehtinen to cross the finish line first to take the gold medal.

“What did not happen in the last race?” said Lehtinen. “It was a really exciting match and at the leeward mark we rounded the mark side by side with one lap and it was a good fight.”

Crew Kanerva added, “We gave our souls and everything that was left in our muscles.”

Only two races were possible in the 49er and after 13 races Iker Martinez and Xabier Hernandez (ESP) lead Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen by a single point. In Race 12 the Australians finished a second ahead of the Spaniards to take the bullet but both teams finished out of the top three in Race 13 as Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) took the bullet and sit in third place on 48 points trailing the Spaniards by six.

After the 49ers the Stars, who were abandoned on Wednesday, continued with Race 7 and 8. Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) continue to lead on 12 points. The day’s race wins went to Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in Race 7 and Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria in Race 8. Their first and fourth has boosted Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson into third overall,

No racing was possible in the Finn class and they will race tomorrow as will the 49er and Star fleets.

The Laser, Laser Radial and Men’s and Women’s 470 will take place tomorrow with the first race scheduled to start at 12:00 local time.

For the Brits going into Friday’s medal races, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark will look to protect their overall lead in the 470 women’s event, where they hold a narrow one-point advantage over the Japanese duo Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata going into the final race.  Paul Goodison can’t finish worse than his current position of fourth in the Laser event and will look to push into the podium spots, in the 470 men’s event Nick Rogers and Chris Grube will aim to improve on their fifth place and Charlotte Dobson will hope for a solid Laser Radial medal race to end her regatta with. Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes will need two good results from their expected two races on Friday to keep them in touch of the top three spots.