Semi Finals underway despite tough conditions in Vladivostok

Sailors and race officials had a long day out on the water on day four of the 2015 ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final with unpredictable wind shifts in Vladivostok, Russia.

Matches were started and abandoned throughout the nine hour race day, but officials did manage to complete all the round-robin matches in the tough weather conditions.

The competitive and hard fought Women’s division kept the race officials on their toes with nearly every match having a penalty awarded. Despite the penalties, the third round-robin finished with USA’s Nicole Breault top of the rankings with ten points from 12 races.

Pushing Breault throughout the round-robin stages was Singapore’s Jovina Choo, who also goes into the semi finals, with France’s Pauline Courtois and Brazil’s Juliana Senftt making up the rest of the draw.

Finishing as top ranked sailor gave Breault the choice of her semi final opponent. The American chose Senfft which meant Choo would face Courtois.

With the semi finals underway, it looked like Breault had chosen wisely as she moved 2-1 up in her match up with Senfft, while in the other semi final it finished all square for the day.

Jovina Choo said, "We completed the round-robins and were chosen for the semi-finals. And for the semi-finals we are 1 -1 now. It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow.”

In the Open division, Russia’s Vladimir Lypavskiy and Australia’s Evan Walker were tied on points after the round-robin stage, but Walker was given top ranking and first choice for his semi final opponent due to his second round win over Lypayskiy.

Walker chose USA’s Russell Silvestri and continued his winning streak to take a 1-0 lead. The other semi final saw Lypayskiy racing against France’s Pierre Rhimbault, and again the winning streaks continued as Lypayskiy also gained a 1-0 advantage.

Pierre Rhimbault said, "It is so good to be in the semi-final, but I think we didn’t sail as well as we could. So, maybe tomorrow it will be better. The main problem was the wind. It was very shifty and light and it was difficult.”

The semi finals continue tomorrow with the final also planned to crown the ISAF Nations Cup 2015 winners.

Results
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Event Website
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Past Results
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The ISAF Nations Cup was first introduced to the world in 1991. Open and Women’s contests are run and it is based on a series of Regional Finals with the top crews meeting at the Grand Final.

Racing at the Regional Finals is preceded by an ISAF Match Racing Clinic, aimed to help develop match racing skills and officiating in that region. The winners of each Regional Final progress to the Grand Final, where they are joined by the defending nation and the host nation.

The aim of the event is to broaden the availability of match racing and provide international match racing competition for national authorities and sailors at a reasonable cost, whilst acting as an incentive for national match racing programmes.

Find out more on the history of the event here
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Images/Video
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(From the ISAF website: www.sailing.org)