Varying wind speeds challenged the 470 sailors on course area delta today in Helsinki, ranging from 13-20 knots. Whilst some teams thrived in the conditions, others felt they were not quite quick enough to respond to the change in pace.
470 Women
Race 6 was the first race of the day for the 470 fleets and it was Brazil's Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luisa Barbachan who dominated up the windward leg, with the Spanish team of Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos chasing hard. Brazil tacked to the right first off the start and the Spanish covered, keeping their target closely in sight. But the race was effectively just a procession behind the Brazilians, whose race win gave them the impetus to take the overall lead from the Spanish by the end of today's three races.
Smiled Oliveira after racing, “It was a great day for us. A first, fifth and seventh. The last race was so difficult, it was a completely crazy race. It was the same for everybody, but we were lucky to be at the front of the fleet, so it was easier to keep going. The wind shifted a lot and changed so it was crazy.”
On stepping up to first overall she added, “It doesn't matter for me that we beat the Spanish. We just worry about us, our work, and not for the others. We are sometimes training together with the Spanish girls so it is good to be together. They are very special sailors. We have a lot of races until the end of the event, so we are just concerned to keep going.”
Standing nearby, the Spanish helm Pacheco acknowledged the battle in race 6, “We were trying to catch them, but it was impossible!”
Friedrike Belcher's (GER) victory in race 8, with helm Kathrin Kadelbach, matched her husband Mat Belcher's race 8 win in the 470 Men and helps move the German team up to fifteenth overall.
With those at the front of the fleet happy, for Anna Stepanova and crew Nadezhda Gerasimova (UKR), “today”, as Anna put it “was a tragic history”. They delivered their worst races of the series, a 39, 32, 32. Explained Stepanova, “It was not good for us, there was damage and my crew may have broken her finger. It was on the tack and then something happened and then effected everything afterwards. You need your fingers for every tack, for everything. Our race today was very strange.”
Moving on up to join Brazil and Spain in the top three are Denmark's Henriette Koch/Lene Sommer after a consistent 7,4,8 posting.
Get the latest update on the 470 Women racing - including blog, results and live tracking via the dedicated Class Page.
470 Men
The Australians look to be unstoppable as Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) produced another win in race 8 to extend their points lead over the rest of the fleet. Chasing hard and moving up to second overall with a 4,2 are Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell (GBR).
Bithell summarized the British team's day, “It was alright, a lot of pressure differences, a lot of oscillating wind shifts. For me on the wire doing tactics it was brilliant. It was an opportunity to gain on the fleet. It was good fun.”
Race 7 looked to be a win in the bag for Americans Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl, but they ultimately finished behind Panagiotis Kampouridis/Efstathios Papadopoulos (GRE), as McNay explained, “There were a lot of wind shifts out there and a bunch of competitors close behind us. You can't cover everyone. We played the wind as we thought was best and one guy got around us but we are well happy with second.” And on their seventeenth in race 8,“Seventeen isn't that bad a score and we are in a good place going ahead to the next four races and the medal race.”
The British swapped places with Israel's Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela who drop from second to third, as Kliger reflected, “It was a big mess and very different from the other days. The wind was really shifty and it means everything comes really fast and quickly. The other days it was the opposite and very slow. We made mistakes. We just didn't sail good today but we have confidence to get back.”
Get the latest update on the 470 Men racing - including blog, results and live tracking via the dedicated Class Page.
There are still four races to determine the top 10 boats going through to the Medal Race on Friday 15 July.
More Information:
Results
Event Website
Photo Galleries on 470 Facebook page and event website
Twitter: twitter.com/470sailing
Top Image : Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luisa Barbachan (BRA) move into the overall lead in the 470 women. All images © Thom Touw
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