Welcome to World Regattas - Sailing and Regatta Event Schedules and Information

A high pressure system has settled over Holland and offered up fair skies, some wispy cirrus clouds and 7-8 knots of breeze in the morning. A haze filled in during the early afternoon and at 4:00 pm, with the RS:X, Tornados and Finns still out on the water, the wind backed a bit and filled making for some interesting racing with boards and hulls skipping over the waves.

Boats that have been atop the leaderboard in all classes continued to accumulate bullets or single digit finishes on their scorecard. Team USA also collected more than its fair share of bullets. Anna Tunnicliffe, Andrew Campbell and Stu Mc Nay and Graham Biehl in the Laser Radial, Laser and 470 Men’s classes, won races today.

Regatta leaders who added at least two bullets to their score today include: Laser Radial sailors Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) and Sarah Blanck (AUS): Yngling sailors Ulrike Schuemann, Julia Bleck and Ute Hoepfner (GER), who are coached by Lee Icyda of US Yngling fame: Tom Slingsby (AUS) in the Laser and Federico Alonso Tellechea and Arturo Alonso Tellechea (ESP) in the 49er class. Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset (FRA) in the 470 Men, Tom Slingsby (AUS) in the Laser, Marina Alabau (ESP) in the RS:X Women, Julien Bontemps (FRA) in the RS:X Men, Gasper Vincec (SLO) in the Finn and Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria (SUI) in the Star added one bullet to their scores. All of these teams are winning their fleets as we pass the halfway mark of the regatta, which will end on Sunday.

Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset (FRA) held the lead for the third day in a row and won their fourth race of the regatta. The pair has had a string of fourth place finishes at Grade 1 events this year, including the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. They are currently ranked third by ISAF. They rebounded from a 26^th in the second race of the day with a third place finish in today’s final race. Their next closest competition has nearly double their points.

Brothers Federico and Arturo Tellechea completely steamrolled the 49er fleet today by racking up a 3,1,1 and surging from 7th at the end of yesterday’s racing to first. Stephen Morrison and Ben Rhodes (GBR) and Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin (AUS) pulled ahead of Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello (ITA) and Jorge Lima and Francisco Andrade (POR). Only three points separate third through sixth place.

Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) celebrated another great day on the water. She posted an 8,1,1 during another light to moderate air morning. Gintare Volungeviciute (BRA) sailed a 5,4,19, with the 19 being her discard for the regatta. She remains in second just 2 points behind Tunnicliffe. Sarah Blanck (AUS) recovered from yesterday’s performance to post two firsts and one second in the split fleet. Larissa Neierov (ITA) had an incredibly consistent day and logged a 2,3,4 to move into a solid third place in the regatta, 20 points ahead of Blanck.

Tom Slingsby (AUS) won the first and the last races of the day out on the Laser course. Other bullets went to Andrew Campbell (USA); Rutger von Schaardenburg (NED); Christoph Battoni (SUI) and Pavlos Kontides (CYP), the youngest sailor on his way to the Games in the split fleet. After racing, Andrew Campbell, who hasn’t been to this Grade 1 regatta since 2003, finds it warmer than he remembered and is enjoying the competition, the efficient race committee and the tremendous sailing facility. Campbell who is focused on growing accustomed to the environment of Grade 1 events and execution is being coached by US Olympian Charlie McKee at this regatta. Campbell with be sailing the European Championships later this season and paying a visit to China before the Olympics.

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) looked as if they had repented for yesterday’s sins and went right off of the starting line and lead the fleet from the right and round the first weather mark with a nice lead that they were able to hold all of the way around the course until almost the very end. 2008 World Champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL), regatta leaders Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria (SUI) and 2007 World Champions Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) chased the Brits around the course. Trying to protect their lane on the final run, the Brits went a little high while a little more pressure filled in low so that Marazzi/De Maria and Kusznierewicz/Zycki, who were closer to the favored pin end, nipped them out in a photo finish.

Scheidt/Prada and Marazzi/DeMaria sailed a very close second race. Scheidt/Prada gained the advantage at the top of the first beat and Marazzi/DeMaria couldn’t muster up enough match racing tactics to catch the Brazilians during the remainder of the race. DeMaria said of the Swiss pair’s performance, “We’re very happy. The sailing is great and it is a tough fleet.”

Flavio Marazzi had the opportunity later in the day to hone his fleet and match racing skills during the Noord Holland Champions Race off. He faced off against Pieter Jan Postma (NED) who was low point in the Finn class for the day. They dueled until the finish line in their Mini 12 Meters, but Postma dove low too late to catch Marazzi who left for dinner with a bottle of champagne clutched under his arm.

Marazzi/DeMaria hold the top position on the leaderboard. Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams (NZL) slipped back today after being late for the start of the first race because they had to repair their jib halyard. They are now in fourth 10 points behind Kusznierewicz/Zycki.

The Dutch spectators and media have been swarming their national sailing heroes and there were lots of spectator boats out on the Finn course and back at the Noord Holland Champions Race at the end of the day. They had their eyes on and their hearts with Pieter Jan Postma (NED). Postma gave them plenty to cheer about with a first in the final race of the day. Not only that, he made it to the final round of the Noord Holland Champions Race. Regatta leader Gasper Vincec (SLO) added a third bullet to his scorecard and has an 11-point lead over Ed Wright (GBR). The Finns had two light air races and came in just as the leading edge of the cold front touched down on Medemblik and the wind came up so that everyone suited up against the cold.

Today, Julien Bontemps (FRA), who has already demonstrated how he can dominate in light air showed everyone what he can do in moderate breeze. Today he out pumped everyone in the first race and extended his 15 second lead around the first top mark to about a minute by the time he finished the slalom at the end of the trapezoidal course. Bontemps, who is ranked 5^th in the world by ISAF and recently finished 11 at the 2008 RS:X World Championships, is counting only firsts and seconds in his scoreline and is more that ten points ahead of Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) in the regatta.

Positions at the top of the RS:X Women’s fleet remained unchanged today as ISAF ranked #1, Marina Alabau’s (ESP) kept up her winning performance by winning the first light air race and placing 6^th as the breeze filled. Barbara Kendall (NZL), who won the silver at the past two world championships, won the second race today. Faustine Merret held her own with a 2,12 and remains in second place, only one point behind Alabau. Kendall is tied on points with Jessica Crisp (AUS). Both have 19 points.

Siren Sundby, Lise Brigitte Fredriksen and Alexandra Koefoed (NOR) set out to reel Mandy Mulder, Farije Faber and Merel Witteveen (NED) and rounded the first weather mark in first by playing the mid-left while the Dutch rounded in fifth. The Norwegians went on to win the first race and they took a second in the second. It looked as if they had the momentum to win the day, but they joined half a dozen other teams in adding alphabets to their scores as seven teams started prematurely and some of them continued around the course because they hadn’t noticed their bow numbers posted on the board at the top mark. The third race went to Ulrike Schuemann, Julia Bleck and Ute Hoepfner (GER).

Schuemann/Bleck/Hoepfner strung together two first place finishes just as they did during the first day of the regatta. As in all of the Yngling races here, the mark roundings are tight, right down to the final weather mark. The Germans rounded the initial top mark of the second race in third and held their position down the run. They chose the right hand mark at the bottom and gained the advantage on their prey on the final beat. Their job in the third race was made all that much easier with a thinned out fleet due to a third of the fleet being on course side at the start. A new Dutch team moved into the top three in the event; NED-I moved into second place and NED-II slid to fifth place.

Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby (AUS) not only went into the day leading the regatta, but they also had enough confidence to ham it up for the film crews while they waited for the Ynglings to finish their final race and clear the course for the Tornados. Bundock/Ashby put a 1,2,5 on the board today and widened their lead on Leigh Mcmillan and Will Howden (GBR) who posted a 2,6,9 for the day.

The Tornado fleet was separated by a wide margin during the first race as a good portion of the fleet sailed into a hole on the right hand side of the first light air beat. The five boats that found and remained in the pressure on the left got an insurmountable lead on the rest of the fleet. Bundock/Ashby rounded the final top mark with more than a ten-boatlength lead over closest competitors. At the finish, there was over a one and a half minute gap between Antonio Rivas and Fabian Escude (ESP), who crossed in fourth place and Oskar Johansson and Kevin Sittle (CAN).

The breeze filled to the mid-teens during the late afternoon so that, between collisions and inexperience in heavy air and waves, some boats returned to the beach and sat the final race out.