Ben Ainslie fora dos Jogos 2016

Fonte: http://www.telegraph.co.uk


Ben Ainslie: It's painful to say, but my Olympic odyssey is over - I won't be sailing at Rio 2016

Ben Ainslie: It fills me with both relief and sadness to write these words but I can now officially confirm that I have donned my Team GB tracksuit for the last time.

High water mark: Ben Ainslie celebrates winning gold at his home Olympics Photo: GETTY IMAGES


No more Olympic villages. No more opening or closing ceremonies. After almost 20 years entirely dedicated to the pursuit of gold, taking in five Olympic campaigns, I have decided I will not attempt a sixth at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.


Those of you who saw me cross the finish line in the Finn medal race in Weymouth and Portland earlier this year may not be overly surprised to hear that. I said a few things in the heat of the moment to the lurking BBC media boat to the effect that the toll on my body was becoming too great. In my defence I was flooded with emotion and exhausted from the toughest week of my entire career.


It was a bit of a Steve ‘if you ever see me anywhere near a boat again, you have my permission to shoot me’ Redgrave moment.


In my mind I certainly hadn’t ruled out another crack at the Olympics. When you have spent your whole life focused so intently on something it is not that easy to let it go.


The reason I waited before making this decision is down to a couple of factors. Firstly, I wanted to see what came out of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) conference in Dublin a few weeks ago. In particular I was interested to know which classes would be on the Olympic programme at Rio. Because of the wear and tear of a lifetime spent sailing, particularly on my back, which was a real issue this summer, it was always going to be an uphill struggle to do the Finn again in Brazil. However, if the Star two-handed dinghy had been reinstated I might just have considered giving that a go. It would not have been easy dislodging Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, should they have decided to do another campaign, but there might have been a chance.

60 seconds with double Olympic gold medallist & Red Bull Sailing Team skipper Roman Hagara

Canoagem e vela queixam-se de falta de apoios

Retomando uma noticia antiga...



08.08.2012 18:31 | Por Lusa, PÚBLICO

No dia em que a canoagem portuguesa chegou ao primeiro pódio olímpico, os responsáveis federativos alertaram para a falta de apoios. O mesmo acontece com os velejadores que finalizaram a sua prova na classe 49er.

“Nenhuma federação pode estar satisfeita com as verbas que tem, muito menos a canoagem, que no ‘ranking’ dos apoios [estatais] é praticamente ‘medalhável’... mas de baixo para cima. Estamos quase em último lugar em termos de apoio, mas no topo em termos de resultados”, sintetizou José Sousa, um dos vice-presidentes da federação, em declarações à Lusa.
O mesmo dirigente deixou uma recado ao Governo, defendendo que “no futuro, todas as verbas e apoios devem ser dados pelo mérito e pelos resultados.
Neste ano, a federação vai receber 377.000 euros do Instituto de Desporto de Portugal, enquanto do Comité Olímpico de Portugal chegam 124.000, um valor que coloca a canoagem perto da cauda dos apoios, quando, em termos de resultados, não tem havido modalidade em Portugal ao mesmo nível.

O velejador Francisco Andrade, que ao lado de Bernardo Freitas terminou no oitavo lugar na classe 49er, queixou-se que as equipas adversárias têm orçamentos “ridiculamente superiores” aos dos portugueses e interrogou como é possível pedir medalhas numa “batalha tecnológica desigual”.

“Os nossos adversários têm orçamentos ridiculamente superiores ao nosso.

SOF 2012 - Actualizado

A comitiva portuguesa já está em Hyéres para mais uma semana olimpica francesa que começa já amanhã.
Já treinam há dois dias a dupla Álvaro Marinho e Miguel Nunes e na sua página já reportaram as duras condições que estão em Hyéres.

"Hoje foi mais um dia de vento aqui em Hyéres. Experimentámos uma vela nova que poderá funcionar bem com ventos médios / fortes mas temos dúvidas com pouco vento. Os treinos têm sido bastante produtivos e intensos. Está tudo a correr bem até agora excepto uma pequena lesão no meu ombro que me anda a chatear... Amanhã está previsto vento muito forte... antecipámos o treino para as 10 para ver se conseguimos navegar. Obrigado pelo vosso apoio. Continuem a acompanhar-nos!"  Fonte: Facebook

Podem acompanha-los aqui: http://www.facebook.com/AlvaroMarinhoMiguelNunesRumoALondres2012

E claro que também poderão acompanha-los pelo nosso blog :)

A esta equipa também já se juntou a outra dupla portuguesa de 470, António Matos Rosa e Ricardo Schedel, que chegaram anteontem para treinar antes do campeonato. A equipa esteve presente na I Douro Marina Match Series onde foi 2ª classificada.

"A equipa composta por António Matos Rosa, Filipa Barros, Bernardo Freitas, Fernando Kuo e Ricardo Schedel finalizou no 2º lugar depois de uma final muito disputada que finalizou com o resultado de 2-3, contra a equipa de Renato Conde. Ficámos contentes com o resultado tendo em conta que ainda estamos a dar os primeiros passos nesta modalidade. Estivemos a aprender do início ao fim do campeonato, tendo realizado ao todo 18 regatas. Parabéns e obrigado a organização pela iniciativa e pelo sucesso da mesma."  Fonte: Facebook

Gustavo Lima, velejador da classe laser chegou ontem e está motivado para subir de forma.

"Objectivo: Top 20 e melhorar resultado de Palma!! GL" Fonte: Facebook

Juntamente com o Gustavo, Rui Silveira também já está a treinar em Hyéres

Nos 49er, a equipa Jorge Lima e José Luis Costa vão estar presentes em Palma, enquanto Bernardo Freitas e Francisco Andrade vão directamente para o campeonato do mundo. (Obrigado Bernardo pela confirmação!)

100 Days To Go Until London 2012

Fonte: ISAF

London 2012 Olympic Games
Weymouth and Portland, Great Britain

Today marks just 100 days to go until the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and with entries into the Olympic Sailing Competition coming in thick and fast it is set to be a gripping fortnight of sailing at Weymouth and Portland.
To mark the 100 day countdown we have started our sailor profiling, whereby we will introduce you to some of the sailors competing at Weymouth.

Today, we catch up with Ben Ainslie (GBR) who is aiming to become the most successful Olympic sailor at London 2012 and every day in the build up to the Olympic Games we will upload videos of the sailors we've spoken to, so make sure you pay a visit to the ISAF Youtube Channel and the ISAF TV Player for the latest videos.

Our Twitter and Facebook countdown by sailing numbers is well underway after we started with 120, which happened to be the number of Danish sailors who have competed at Olympic Games.

We also continue to retrace our Olympic Sailing roots following sailing's first appearance at Paris 1900. We're currently at Rome 1960 and for all this and more head to the ISAF Olympic Sailing website here.

Resul Sailing Team @ Facebook

Fonte: Facebook

Depois de uma fase a treinar em Belém e de dois estágios em Cadiz, voltamos finalmente ao nosso Clube Naval de Cascais. Estamos neste momento a trabalhar pormenores do barco, medir mastros e fazer algumas alterações e arranjos no material. A estadia em casa vai ser curta, dia 13 voamos para Palma de Maiorca onde vamos continuar a treinar e realizar um campeonato de preparação para o Troféu Princesa Sofia ( primeira prova da selecção para os Jogos Olímpicos). Estamos confiantes, motivados e sentimos que evoluímos bastante nestes últimos tempos.

A equipa 49er de Jorge Lima e José Costa no FB

Depois do estágio em Cádiz a fazer regatas e a treinar com as equipas Francesas Manu Dyen/ Stéphane Cristidis e Julien D´Ortoli/ Noe Delpech, fazemos uns dias de descanso em casa. Em breve arrancamos para Palma de Maiorca onde começa em menos de um mês a primeira prova de seleção da equipa que representará Portugal no Jogos Olímpicos de Londres em Agosto deste ano... Keeping the hard work!!! Lima/ Costa

Fonte: Facebook

Last line-up before the Games

Fonte: The Daily Sail

Photo: Skandia Team GBR



470 European Championships to be held at Largs
Monday February 6th 2012, Author: Luissa Smith, Location: United Kingdom

The 470 class heads for Scotland for one of the final showdowns prior to the 2012 Olympic Games.

The 470 European Championship 2012 will be hosted in Largs, Scotland over 25 June – 4 July. The event is set to attract in excess of 100 men/mixed and women’s 470 teams. Teams entered in London 2012 are expected to go straight from Scotland to represent their nations on the start line in Weymouth, just over a month later.

The Championship will be sailed over several race courses with the men/mixed and women fleets sailing separately. Racing gets underway on 28 June and boats will be seeded, based on their past performance, for the six race qualifying series into fleets of around 40 boats apiece. Teams will then be allocated to the gold and silver fleets for the final series, and after a further six scheduled races the top 10 teams from the gold fleet will make the cut to the final medal race show down on Wednesday 4 July 2012.

Local sailing star Luke Patience grew up on the waters off Largs, and will be representing Great Britain with crew Stuart Bithell in the 470 Men's event at the 2012 Olympics. Familiar with the conditions, Patience gives teams some top advice: “Largs is a diverse place to sail. Like Weymouth, it hosts all sorts of weather conditions and you can have anything thrown at you. The 470 Championship in Largs will crown a well-rounded sailor. We get all weather systems coming through from the Atlantic.” Patience summed up his homeland.

“Scotland is quite probably the most stunning country in the world. It is so vast in beauty and so small in size. There are few places in the world where one moment you are staring across the sea into the west with nothing between you and America, with a gorgeous sunset, and the next you are on the top of a mountain range looking at the most stunning of views in complete and utter wilderness and silence." Patience and Bithell secured the silver medal at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships and bronze medal at the 2011 470 European Championships.

Defending European Champions Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic of Croatia have already qualified to the Olympics Games, and are planning to be in Scotland to defend their title. The 2011 Open European and World Champions, Mat Belcher/Malcolm Page from Australia are also planning to be in Largs.

Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos from Spain, who won the 2011 470 Women’s European Championship in July last year, and then wrapped up their season by winning the 470 Women’s World Championship title in December 2011. They have also confirmed they will be on the start line in Largs, before heading back to Weymouth for the Olympic Sailing Competition.

As well as attracting the cream of Olympic sailors and aspirants, the Championship will also provide a great opportunity for local race officials and volunteers to get involved in a world class event. Around 80 volunteers from the host club and surrounding area are expected to be supporting the Championship, some of whom will then transfer their expertise to volunteer at the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Racing will take place in the Largs/Cumbrae channel, between the mainland and the Isle of Cumbraeas well as North of the island, which is home to some of the most stunning scenery in Scotland.

Shoreside, the Championship Opening Ceremony on Wednesday 27 June will welcome and entertain the teams with the traditional local pipe band, and throughout the Championship sailors will enjoy the lively seaside town of Largs, which is steeped in history and offers great Scottish hospitality.

The 470 European Championship 2012 is being hosted by the Royal Yachting Association and supported through a partnership of UK Sport, EventScotland (the national events agency) North Ayrshire Council, the Scottish Sailing Institute, sportscotland and the International 470 Class Association.

Esther Nicholls, Head of Major Events for UK Sport, the nation’s high performance sports agency, which recently helped secure the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships to be staged in Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall, said: “The 470 European Championships in Largs will be the final event to take place within UK Sport’s lead-in programme to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This will have seen more than 100 events in 40 different sports staged in the UK, giving our athletes and officials an excellent opportunity to prepare for the unique experience of international competition on home soil.

“Our National Lottery funded World Class Events Programme, over the five years between 2007 and 2012, has seen Scotland host 11 events, including five World Championships, attracting more than 180,000 spectators and generating an estimated £9.8 million in economic impact for the country, as well as fantastic opportunities to prepare for Glasgow 2014.”

Álvaro e Miguel já têm barco para os JO2012

Álvaro Marinho publicou uma grande noticia no seu mural. Ele e Miguel Nunes têm um novo barco para as olimpíadas. O barco é um Mackay novinho em folha vindo directamente da Nova Zelândia. O barco já está em Lisboa desde dia 27 de Janeiro, mas ainda não temos acesso a fotos da máquina na água, fica o apelo de disponibilizarem umas fotos do 470 que nós esperemos vir a dar muitas alegrias.

"Amanhã vamos "batizar" o 470 "Cidade do Barreiro". Chegou a semana passada da Nova Zelândia, num navio chamado Olympia, e temos estado a prepará-lo para os testes que vamos fazer em Cádiz durante Fevereiro. O Padrinho do barco será o Eng.º França Pereira, amigo e ex-patrocinador da equipa, e que estará presente amanhã na Doca de Belém às 15 h. O nosso amigo Carlos Crespo colou ontem os autocolantes no barco e portanto está tudo a postos para o "atirar" à água."

Só nos resta desejar que o barco tenha um excelente futuro nas mãos desta grande equipa.

Kites to compete at the King's Cup

Fonte: www.thedailysail.com

ISAF has decided to include kiteboarding course racing as an evaluation sport for the Rio 2016 Olympics. As a result this year, the 25th Phuket King's Cup Regatta, the largest sailing event in Asia, will include a kiteboarding division, which will be run with the cooperation of Kiteboard Tour Asia.

Kevin Whitcraft, President of the Phuket King's Cup Regatta Organising Committee said: "We're delighted to welcome the kiteboarders. We are broadening the Regatta, and we hope this new element will have very strong appeal to kiteboarding enthusiasts and a younger sailing audience"

Willy Kerr is the Phuket based KTA Tour Director, who added: "This year's Phuket King's Cup Regatta will feature a kiteboarding division. It's a historic step for Asian sailing but quite a logical one as the sport has a strong following in Thailand with Hua Hin playing host to the Kiteboarding World Tour for the last two seasons and Pranburi being the Thailand stop on Kiteboard Tour Asia.

"The KTA is an ISAF-sanctioned continental tour. The current KTA champion is Thai sailor Narapichit ‘Yo' Pudla, twice Asian champion in freestyle and course racing and in the Philippines last year he was close behind the World Champion, so we are expecting great things of him in the future.

"We have been inundated with people wanting to join. We did invite 20 of the top riders to come and join the Phuket King's Cup event this year but next year I probably see it being an Open division.

"Among this year's sailors we have Aya Oshima, two-time Asia Freestyle/ Race Champion and two-time Japanese Freestyle Champion and Ken Nacor who is the Philippines Champion and Asia number 2. Beijing Olympics windsurfing Silver medalist Ho Chi Ho will be competing, as will Turkish KTA Champion and Turkish Freestyle Champion Taner Aykurt and Kathryn Bogwardt, the 2010 and 2011 KTA Ladies Champion.

"We really need eight knots to race. We will launch from the beach and ride out and we're aiming for three races per day. We have a 45 minute time limit on our races which are very similar in format to traditional sailing, but there are some important differences."



Neil Godbold, KTA founding Director and head of training explained: "Kiteboarders follow the same overall sailing rules. However, the kite adds a third dimension. We have a set of rules for when an upwind kite and a downwind kite are passing each other and if boats are on closing tacks. Basically it is upwind- kite up, downwind- kite down.

"It sounds easy when you say it but when there are 50 or 60 people around you on the start line starting on different tacks, then it becomes interesting. The distance of the kite from the board can vary; in strong winds as little as 27 metres, in soft conditions up to 40 metres.

"Some sailors are trying to run along the start line with their kite high because they are trying not to cross the line early and sailors who are on timed runs and coming from the back (of the fleet) will have their kites low. As the start flag goes those from the back will come charging through, the guys in the front row will be trying to drop their kites down to power up quicker than those behind them. If everyone is on starboard tack off the line its fine, but port tack starters have to deal with the priority rule on the water surface and the priority rules with the kites at the same time.

"The Phuket King's Cup will be one of the first major regattas with a kite board class. For us to be competing for King's Cup awards is very exciting."

Willy Kerr summed up saying: "The King's Cup organising committee is certainly proving to be forward looking. Up the track at Olympic level, there is a big opportunity for lightweight Asian sailors. Our Kite Board Tour Asia events are open to Europeans also, so we have found in the light wind spots the Asians are finishing on top quite a lot. Their lightness, their small bodies and agility - it really does help. They have an advantage there and just as has been happening in windsurfing, we expect to see Asian kiteboarders winning Olympic medals in the future."

Speaking for the kiteboarders Narapichit ‘Yo' Pudla said this afternoon: "We are all pretty excited. Its great to be here at the Phuket King's Cup with all the other sailors from around the world and we are looking forward to a great event."