Skandia Sail for Gold - Weymouth and Portland, Great Britain

Fifty days to go, but more than Fifty Knots

There are just fifty more days until the 2012 London Olympic Games opens, and the British weather made the occasion a notable one.

The weather poured onto the Weymouth and Portland Bay’s race courses causing cancellations, postponements and some full on racing for those classes that did get out there.

The racing schedule had already been moved forward to an early start to try to beat the inbound gale – forecast to arrive in the afternoon. But the weather system hit fast forward and by early morning it was already too windy for any Paralympic racing. The rest of the schedule was rejigged and in the end, all the Olympic classes except the Stars got at least one race in.

The Women’s Match Racing completed both the Repechage and the Gold group round robin, with New Zealand’s Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt and Spain’s Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega and Sofia Toro going through into the quarter finals. Stephanie Hazard commented, “We started the regatta pretty slow but we’ve built up momentum over the last three days, today especially we had to come out strong to secure our spot in the quarter finals. The conditions were tough, pretty wet and pretty cold but it’s just a case of keeping it simple and keeping it fast on the track.”

The Gold Group was won convincingly by Russia’s Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Oblova and Elena Siuzeva – who were unbeaten. Sharing the honours in second were France’s Clarie Leroy, Elodie Bertrand and Marie Riou, and the USA’s Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi returning to their normal form.

Quarter Final Pairings:
QF1: Echegoyen-ESP v. Skudina-RUS
QF2: Hazard-NZL v. Leroy-FRA
QF3: Lehtinen-FIN v. Tunnicliffe-USA
QF4: Macgregor-GBR v. Price-AUS.

The Women’s Match Racing continues tomorrow at 12:00 local time at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy before the Medal Races bring the regatta to a close on Saturday 9 June.

Teams competing:
Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer, Debbie Capozzi - USA [ISAF Ranking = 1]
Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush, Kate Macgregor - GBR [2]
Claire Leroy, Elodie Bertrand, Marie Riou - FRA [3]
Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Siuzeva, Elena Oblova - RUS [4]
Silja Lehtinen, Silja Kanerva, Mikaela Wulff - FIN [5]
Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega, Sofía Toro - ESP [7]
Renee Groeneveld, Annemiek Bes, Marcelien Bos-De Koning - NED [11]
Olivia Price, Nina Curtis, Lucinda Whitty - AUS [13]
Silke Hahlbrock, Vera Dubina, Irina Lotsmanova - GER [17]
Rita Gonçalves, Mariana Lobato, Diana Neves - POR [20]
Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt - NZL [21]
Lotte Meldgaard, Susanne Boidin, Tina Gramkov - DEN [23]
Anna Kjellberg, Malin Källström, Lotta Harrysson - SWE [25]

ISAF Sailing World Cup Website : www.sailing.org/worldcup/home.php
Skandia Sail for Gold Website : www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk