OLYMPIC SAILING THREAD...!

[maestegmafia]

Sailing over the last decade and a half has reaped e rewards of the fantastic coaching and encouragement that the Royal Yachting Association and their many member clubs and People have worked hard to perfect.

Team GBR has dominated the medal table in sailing for the last three Olympics.

Today two of our best sailors start their campaigns to add to their collection of gold medals.

Ben Ainlslie is racing singlehanded in the Men's Finn Class, a tough and technical boat designed for the larger sailor. Iain Percy and his crew Andrew "Bart" Simpson start in the Star Class, a tecnical two sail, two-man keel boat, that they won gold in in Beijing.

Later today the women's match racing starts with the McGregor sisters and Annie Lush in a three person keel boat. These girls are full of talent though are at their first olympics.

Match racing is a boat vs boat disciplin as opposed to the Fleet racing that the Finn and Star class competitors take part in.

We stand a great chance of a medal haul and likely a number of golds. It all starts today at 12.

[maestegmafia]

By Gael Pawson of Yachts and Yachting

Ben Ainslie is favourite for gold in the Finn class. It would be his fourth consecutive Olympic gold, making him the most successful Olympic sailor the world has ever seen. It's a brave man who dares to get in his way...

When you meet Ben Ainslie he comes across as your archetypal polite Englishman. Slightly rough and unshaven if you greet him off the water, perhaps, but ever the gentleman. The years in the professional spotlight have made him more at ease with the media attention, but he retains some of the shy, unassuming manner of his early career.

On the racecourse, however he's a completely different beast. Unrelenting, unforgiving and relentless in his pursuit of Olympic gold. He has the iron will that top athletes need to crush their opponents, and he's not afraid to use it.

Sometimes it's not just about sailing as fast as you can in a straight line, sometimes you need t be really sure of victory, and on occasion that means using the rules and your superior knowledge of them to disadvantage your main rival.

Ben learnt this lesson well, when, at the age of 19 he was denied gold in the 1996 Atlanta Games by Brazilian legend Robert Scheidt. He was forced to settle for silver not because of straight-line speed, but because he was out-manoeuvred in the final race. In sailing it's perfectly legal to ruin an opponent's race, as long as you sail within the racing rules. While the 'sporting' attitude of old might have led some to feel in the past that this wasn't the right way to behave, it's simply become part of the sport.

At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, once again Robert Schiedt was the only sailor with a chance of denying Ainslie gold going into the final race. This time the tables were turned, and it was Ainslie focussed on ensuring his opponent had a poor race, the most certain way of ensuring victory. As the five minute warning signal for the start sounded, Ainslie started to hunt his prey. 'About 20 seconds before the start Robert went into a gap to line up and there was room for me to come into leeward so I could luff Robert up head to wind. I really parked him up so when the [start] gun went he was really in a bad situation - slow and no speed. We ended up having contact - which was his foul - and he ended up having to take a 720 penalty.'

Ainslie's opponent might be at the back of the fleet, but it didn't stop there: 'With a sailor the calibre of Robert Scheidt, you just can't afford to leave it with him having a bad start, because most probably he's going to catch up through the fleet. So I had to stop and wait for him.' An amazing cat-and-mouse duel ensued, with Ainslie eventually securing the gold medal on the water – but only just! Schiedt was subsequently disqualified from the race for a foul, but the episode proved Ainslie had come of age. He had found his killer instinct.

This is where Ben Ainslie excels. He seems to have a switch. Ashore he's 'mr nice guy', afloat he shows no mercy. His match racing skills are outstanding, if he wants to put you the wrong side of the line before the start he will. He'll only do it if you have the potential to deny him victory, but when needs must his iron will rises to rule the fleet.

Just as I wouldn't want to get between a hungry lion and his dinner, nor would I want to get between Ben and that fourth gold and it will be a brave man who does so.

[maestegmafia]

Andrew Simpson, crew in the Star Class blog


After an amazing welcome for the British sailors by 12,000 people on Weymouth beach last night, followed by a team BBQ and watching the awesome Opening Ceremony in London Perce and I are now really excited about getting our Olympic regatta started.

It’s going to be a tough event with definitely some tough competitors. The forecast is looking good for the first few days at least, and I think we’re in good shape. The team has helped us out and done a really great job in terms of getting the boat ready. Measurement was pretty straightforward this time around.

A quick four years of life have just gone by – now we’ve just got to make sure we get on and do our best. That’s the key thing – you can’t guarantee anything, but for sure we’ll work our hardest. For everyone who supports us from sponsors, and team and family – we’ll do our best, so give us some good luck vibes and we’ll see what we can do!

We’re a bit nervous and I think everyone will be nervous at the end of the day. It’s the Olympic Games so it’s a big event and you’re always nervous. I think the more you practice, the more nervous you get as you kind of put an expectation on yourselves with that, that you’ll go out there and do it as you’ve done in practice. So for sure there will be a few nerves, but it’s a sailing event at the end of the day so you’ve just got to get on with and focus on trying to do what you do every other time.

We’re in a good spot, Perce is in good shape and, touch wood, his body’s in good shape as well. That’s the key part from the issues we’ve obviously had over the past 12 months. We seem to be going well so we’ll see what we can do and hopefully it’ll be as it’s been in training.

Thanks for all your good wishes!

[Guest]

Cheers for the information. Sailing is one of Britains strongest events

[djlovesyou]

I'm a bit of once every 4 year sailing fan, but I loved waking up at 5am during the Beijing Olympics and putting the sailing on my TV while I laid in bed. It was very relaxing.

Even better that we're so good at it and could win a bunch of medals.

[eirebilly]

This is what i love about the Olympics and this forum. So many sports that i know nothing about but come the Olympics i watch these sports and there are always posters ready to explain things for people like me

[Guest]

I heard that Britain once "ruled the waves".

I think with sailing you have to be actually sailing to appreciate it (tacking and all that). I don't have much knowledge of sailing, I couldn't tell my aft from my elbow, but I do know Ben Ainslie is supposed to be a sailing genius and is a bit of a hard man. The British women are also pretty good at it.

[maestegmafia]

The women's 470 double handed performance class starts next week.

Here is a preview

Could British Olympic sailing fans dare hope that in Weymouth this August, Skandia Team GBR might score its first ever medal in the 470 Women's event? Following Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark's victory at the 470 World Championship in Barcelona last weekend, such hopes of the British women claiming not just a medal, but the gold itself, is now very much alive. The duo of Mills, 25, and Clark, 32, who were only united in the 470 14 months ago, didn’t make life easy for themselves at the Worlds being OCS in the first race. But they fought back, as Mills explains: “We are very good at dealing with the unexpected or unprecedented things that happen and we really had to pull together for the next day’s racing to make sure we were back on our game and not be too stressing about it too much.” Unfortunately there was only one discard at the Worlds, so they had to keep their noses clean from then on. Mills continues: “With another 12 races to go, we had a long week ahead of us, but we know we are good at overtaking boats and we are quite a consistent team, and we knew we had it within us to get the results and keep chipping away at the other boats and wait for them to mess up and they did eventually and it gave us the opportunity to pounce.” Matters were made no easier when on the second day when the Dutch double world champions, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout, scored three straight bullets. “It is hard when another team comes out and does something like that but you can’t control it if anyone else does it,” says Mills. “You just have wait for your conditions.”

[maestegmafia]

Conditions in Weymouth have been quite windy today, 20 plus knots on average 25 in the gusts (up to thirty mph). Average and favourable conditions are around 15 Knots (18mph).

Probably conditions that suit our sailors more than others.

No reports on results as yet.

[maestegmafia]

Glad this thread has generated some interest for you. I hope that it enthuses more.

If you have any questions about Sailing, drop a post and I'll try my best to answer them in a clear and concise way

[maestegmafia]

Coverage starts at 12:00 on the red button option on bbc digital..

Three events. Finn - men's single hander Ben Ainslie
Star - Iain and Bart men's two man keel boat

Women's match racing...

[maestegmafia]

Ben had a great start but the Danish sailor has pulled ahead ona great wind shift. Ben is battling for third on the final leg of the first race with Croatia.

[maestegmafia]

Gybed on to port to gain a better shift downwind and has gybed back into second place...

[maestegmafia]

Place Name Time Race Pts +
1 HOGH-CHRISTENSEN Jonas 52:37 1 +
2 AINSLIE Ben +0:17 2 +
3 KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan +0:25 3 +
4 MITAKIS Ioannis +0:57 4 +
5 POSTMA Pieter-Jan +0:59 5 +
6 RAUDASCHL Florian +1:09 6 +
7 SLATER Dan +1:30 7 +
8 ZBOGAR Vasilij +1:49 8 +
9 LOBERT Jonathan +1:56 9 +
10 RAILEY Zach +2:00 10 +
11 NIRKKO Tapio +2:04 11 +
12 TRUJILLO VILLAR Rafael +2:10 12 +
13 SKORNYAKOV Eduard +2:13 13 +
14 KARPAK Deniss +2:16 14 +
15 ZARIF Jorge +2:20 15 +
16 DOUGLAS Greg +2:25 16 +
17 BIRGMARK Daniel +2:25 17 +
18 KAYNAR Alican +2:30 18 +
19 MAIER Michael +2:37 19 +
20 BALDASSARI Filippo +2:54 20 +
- GONG Lei - 25 OCS
+
- CASEY Brendan - 25 DNF
+
- KULA Piotr - 25 DNF
+
- BORYSOV Oleksiy 25 DNF

OCS means on course side... Over the start line. Immediate disqualification.

DNF means Did Not Finish and could be anything from gear failure to injury.


Great start for Beano...!

[maestegmafia]

Second races are about to start..

The course has moved south to find a better breeze, there is a temporary posatpontment.

The star class, Ian and Bart, should be starting to.

BBC doing a great job interviewing coaches and other squad member.

Channel 480 on sky tv

[maestegmafia]

Down wind first lap

Ger
Norway
Sweden
Croatia
GBR

It's a close race with the fleet very spread out on the down wind leg.. 50m's between 1st and sixth

[maestegmafia]

GBR rounded in close fifth...

They were the first boat to take the left bout at the leeward end of the course.. Splitting them away from the majority of the fleet...!

This could be a brave call, but they are doing well in a tough race without many options.

Their main international rival is brazilian Robert Schmidt who is not having a good race back in the early teens...

Ben Ainslie just started again and is lying second again

[maestegmafia]

The course for the Star and the first finn race is a sausage shaped course.

The first bout is laid directly into the wind from the start line after rounding this anti clockwise the fleet head to one of two leeward (downwind) marks, left and right. The fleet have the option of rounding one or the other, the left to be rounded anti clockwise the right clockwise, they then repeat the same course twice finishing down wind.

[sugarNspikes]

The course for the Star and the first finn race is a sausage shaped course.

What type of sausage?

It makes all the difference.

[maestegmafia]

Two seconds for Ben

An 11th in the first race and second in the second race. Photo finish both races very exciting.

The match racing girls did a decent job in their first heat. But failed in the second.

All still in there.

Ben lying second place behind Denmark

Ian and Bart in sixth

[maestegmafia]

Paul Goodison is off in the laser fleet.

[maestegmafia]

Paul goodison in the one design single handed mens laser claser, had an absolute shocker in both his first races as did Morrison and Rhodes in the 49er skiff class.

Ben aisnslie has one more race but finished sixth with regatta leader danishman Christensen in 2nd...!

Percy Simpson in the star keel boat photo finished second race in a row, this time to finish third.

Next races for Finn and Star about to start.


Great racing excellent coverage, even for novices...!

[maestegmafia]

Great day for ian Percy and Bart Simpson, they now lead the Star Class overnight

GBR 1st 11 2 3 2 - - - - - - - 18
NOR 2nd 7 5 2 4 - - - - - - - 18
SWE 3rd 10 4 4 1 - - - - - - - 19

[maestegmafia]

Bad day for Ben

DEN 1st 1 1 2 7 - - - - - - - 11 11
FRA 2nd 9 4 4 2 - - - - - - - 19 19
GBR 3rd 2 2 6 12 - - - - - - - 22 22
CRO 4th 3 3 7 9 - - - - - - - 22 22
NED 5th 5 10 3 4 - - - - - - - 22 22

[maestegmafia]

A much better day by GBR Today


Percy took first in the first race in the star class to increase his lead over the fleet...!

Great work by the twice gold medalist

And the wonderful Alison young got second in the laser radial, a smaller sailed version of the men's laser class, a fantastic result in a close knit fleet...

Ben ainslie took third in the Finn class putting him back in second over all

All classes have another race today.

[maestegmafia]

Womens Match racing is a round robin event for the first part then a knock out competition. The difference between Match racing and fleet racing is in Match racing there are just two yachts competing against each other in each race. In Fleet racing everyone starts and races together all at once.

1 AUS 6 Matches sailed - 6 Won - 0 Tied - 0 Lost
2 ESP 6 Matches sailed - 5 Won - 0 Tied - 1 Lost
=3 RUS 6 Matches sailed - 5 Won - 0 Tied - 1 Lost
[b]=3 GBR 6 Matches sailed - 4 Won - 0 Tied - 2 Lost

GBR's Match Racing Girls are doing well they should make the knock out stages.

[maestegmafia]

Ben Ainslie has not had such a commanding regatta in the Finn class.

1 DEN 1 1 2 7 1 2 - - - - - 14 7
2 GBR 2 2 6 12 4 3 - - - - - 29 17
3 FRA 9 4 4 2 6 7 - - - - - 32 23
4 CRO 3 3 7 9 5 6 - - - - - 33 24
5 POL 8 6 5 3 8 5 - - - - - 35 27

[maestegmafia]

Ian and Bart have a good lead in the Star Class

1 GBR 11 2 3 2 1 2 - - - - - 21 10 +
2 BRA 4 1 9 6 2 1 - - - - - 23 14 +
3 SWE 10 4 4 1 5 3 - - - - - 27 17 +
4 NOR 7 5 2 4 16 11 - - - - - 45 29 +
5 POL 9 3 12 10 3 4 - - - - - 41 29

[maestegmafia]

Alison Young is doing well to hold in the top five. Annalise Murphy is cruising away with what is a very competitive class.

1 IRL 1 1 1 1 - - - - - - - 4 4
2 BEL 3 2 3 8 - - - - - - - 16 16
3 NED 6 3 4 5 - - - - - - - 18 18
4 GBR 7 10 2 2 - - - - - - - 21 21
5 CHN 5 8 11 3 - - - - - - - 27 27

More racing today...! Breeze is strong and it is sunny. Should see all five above do well.

[Thomond]

Maestag, obviously things could change easily but jusging from the small gaps between the others I take it out Annalise has a healthy enough lead?


The weather should suit her according to you and commentators so have to keep it up. Think she has been sailing in Weymouth for a while prior to the games so she knows the course well. Living in Ireland she should be well used to windy sea conditions.

[maestegmafia]

Thormond she has an incredible lead, but just scored a tenth in the first race today and Lilly Xu came second, van aker fourth and gbr's Ali young first...

That may not alter results massively in the race for gold but it makes silver and bronze very exciting.

Slightly lighter conditions than we expected here but the top five are sailing very well.

[Thomond]

Yeah have been following it, not a great start to the day, hope she doesn't tail off too dramatically, she has outperformed expectations of her already but hoping she can medal.

[owen10ozzy]

Anymore updates on the sailing chaps? Currently tracking the time trail in the cycling...looks like no medal in this, was hoping we could grab a bronze in the Womens race...

Down to Wiggo & Froome to add to the medal count.

2 Golds & 5 Medals in total would be a good result today...anything less I would be slightly disappointed.

[Thomond]

Not a great race for Annalise, finished 8th overall. Van Acker (1st), Young (2nd and GB) and Bouwmeester (6th) all ahead of her. Still in with a good shout but will need to improve a bit in the second race to maintain her chances.

[maestegmafia]

Van acker would have been most people's tip for gold pre regatta. Not a surprise to SW her take race six.

Great performances in races three, four, five and six by Ali young puts her up there and another poor race by Annalise shows how good this fleet is.

The story here in wetmouth is that Annalise and a few other sailors called the wrong leeward mark, (mark three). The gate, and lost a massive amount on the next shift.

[Thomond]

I think poor might be harsh Maestag, she has overachieved so far really. Still in with a shout.

[alfie]

Incredible finish to the Windsurfing race today ... Dempsey literally took took first place right on the line from the Greek chap: they both finished so fast and only the camera could split them ...great to watch

[bluestonevedder]

Not really in touch with the Sailing at all, but could someone fill me in about Ben Ainslie and our other good prospects?

[maestegmafia]

Good results by the GBR 49er lads apparently as well as match racing girls.

Remember guys there is a medal race at the end of each series so there is still masses to play for

[maestegmafia]

Not really in touch with the Sailing at all, but could someone fill me in about Ben Ainslie and our other good prospects?

Ben has been surprised by the Danish lad Christensen who has been superb. Though lying in second at the mid way point Beano has not beaten the Dane once in the regatta. Christensen has been better tactically, athletically and faster on all points of sail.

This is still only halfway, day off today for Ben, and the medal race, last race of the series on Sunday could change it all but Ben needs to start sailing better, and less conservatively.


British medal hopes look like coming from the Star Class, Ian Percy and crew Andrew Simpson are leading well, Ainslie looks good for silver in the Finn, Ali Young in the laser Radial looks likely to get bronze maybe silver, as do team MacLush in the Elliot 6m keelboat match racing.

470 two man/woman dinghy racing starts later and may get us a medal in both men's and women's as both GBR teams are very good.

[bluestonevedder]

Really appreciate that Maestegmafia, thanks.

[maestegmafia]

No problem

Great coverage of the ladies match racing on BBC at the moment.

[dyrewolfe]

Great article maesteg. I take it you got that from Ainslie's autobiography or something?

I too was an avid watcher of the sailing in Beijing and saw him interviewed a few times and he does come across exactly as you described. I had no idea he had that ruthless side to his nature though.

Here's hoping all our sailors can do the business this time around too.

[maestegmafia]

I think that article was from an article I found somewhere I think. I have met Ben and sailed with him, he is a very shy and withdrawn bloke, but a hell of a talent for spotting an advantage over the fleet/ changes in conditions.

Hopefully a day of reflection today will re-focus him ready for the business end of the sailing here.

He can win Gold. He needs to get closer to Christensen. He could try and sail him off the course like he did to Brazilian Robert Schidt in Sydney 2000.

After ten races there is a medal race between the top ten competitors, this "one-off- medal race is worth double points.



Read the BBC blurb re laymans terms below:-

Each fleet racing event consists of a series of races. In each race, the winner gets one point, the second-placed finisher scores two, and so on. After 10 races (15 races in the 49er class), points from the worst race are discarded. The remaining points are added together.

The 10 best athletes/crews then advance to the medal race. Points are doubled, so first place gets two points, second gets four, and so on. The points total after the medal race determines the placings: the athlete/crew with the lowest number of points is the wins gold.

The women’s Elliott 6m class competition is a match racing event. It starts with a round-robin stage, where 12 crews race against each other. The winner of each race gets one point.

The best eight crews progress to the knockout stage, where crews race each other in a series of races, and each series is won by the first crew to reach three points.

[maestegmafia]

Men's 49er class


1 Aus 8th 1st 2nd 4th 2nd 1St - - - - - - - - - - 18 10 +

2 NZ 9th 7th 1st 7th 3rd 5th - - - - - - - - - - 32 23 +

3 FRA 1st 9th 9th 12th 1st 10th - - - - - - - - - - 42 30 +

4 SWE 5th 3rd 12th 8th 17th 4th - - - - - - - - - - 49 32 +

5 GBR 12Th 12th 3rd 18th 4th 2nd - - - - - - - - - - 51 total 33 total minus worst race

[maestegmafia]

Ladies Laser Radial results


1 IRL 1 1 1 1 8 19 - - - - - 31 12

2 BEL 3 2 3 8 1 5 - - - - - 22 14

3 NED 6 3 4 5 6 1 - - - - - 25 19

4 GBR 7 10 2 2 2 11 - - - - - 34 23

5 CHN 5 8 11 3 5 4 - - - - - 36 25

[maestegmafia]

I think poor might be harsh Maestag, she has overachieved so far really. Still in with a shout.

Talking to some Irish mates she isn't over achieving these are predicted results. She hasa big advantage in heavy breeze and has much more speed upwind than her competitors.


Four wins has put her a long way ahead, lighter dying winds saw other sailors pull her and Ali Young in to make the table much tighter.

[Guest]

Wasn't sure what you meant by medal race but you have explained it.

How are the Brits & NI doing: are they doing about par (i.e. as expected)?

[maestegmafia]

Annalise Murphy is doing better than expected so far, despite us knowing she would be very good in strong breeze, O'Leary and Burrows (Star Class Keelboat, Peter O'Leary is son of former Munsater and Irealand number eight Anthony O'Leary, also a formidable sailor) are not doing so well, we thought they would be up there.

Re GBR mostly as expected except Ben Ainslie who we thought was pretty unbeatable, he is one of the top sailors in the world at all levels, has his own Americas cup team sponsored by Larry Ellson of Oracle Yacht Racing. Beano can't beat the Danish lad at the moment, thoughBen gets better as the pressure builds and it would be a massive shock for him not to be in the medals somewhere, to be honest I still believe he will get the gold, he's that good.

Ali Youmg is maybe doing better than we expected.

Still have the 470 two man/ladies class dinghy to start tomorrow, so more to come.

Young Welsh/English crew of Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark look good for a medal of some description, possibly gold, they were on fire winning gold in the pre Olympic warm up regatta here in Weymouth a month ago.

[Jennifer1984]

Annalise Murphy is doing better than expected so far, despite us knowing she would be very good in strong breeze, O'Leary and Burrows (Star Class Keelboat, Peter O'Leary is son of former Munsater and Irealand number eight Anthony O'Leary, also a formidable sailor) are not doing so well, we thought they would be up there.

Re GBR mostly as expected except Ben Ainslie who we thought was pretty unbeatable, he is one of the top sailors in the world at all levels, has his own Americas cup team sponsored by Larry Ellson of Oracle Yacht Racing. Beano can't beat the Danish lad at the moment, thoughBen gets better as the pressure builds and it would be a massive shock for him not to be in the medals somewhere, to be honest I still believe he will get the gold, he's that good.

Ali Youmg is maybe doing better than we expected.

Still have the 470 two man/ladies class dinghy to start tomorrow, so more to come.

Young Welsh/English crew of Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark look good for a medal of some description, possibly gold, they were on fire winning gold in the pre Olympic warm up regatta here in Weymouth a month ago.

Bearing in mind that Ainslie has been beaten by Christensen in every race so far, Maesteg, It's pleasing to read that somebody as well informed as yourself considers he is still a favourite for the gold.

But at what point to you think it would become beyond him..? How much margin for further error does he have before Christensen's lead becomes unassailable...?

.

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