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22 April 2014, 09:38 am

Fluttering Flags Whet Sailors Appetite In Hyères

Men's RS:X Fleet on Day 1

©Franck Socha

ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères

Hyères, France

As sailors trickled in to rig their boats on the second day of racing at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères they were greeted with flags fluttering in a beautiful breeze that will whet their sailing appetite.

Inside the large low pressure area spreading over western Europe, the combination of a secondary low 1006 mb west off the Balearic Islands with a feeble ridge developing from northern Italy to south-western France allows to maintain a prevailing easterly moderate wind flow over the area.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères sees London 2012 Men's RS:X gold medallist Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) make only his second World Cup appearance since the Olympic Games.

The Olympic champion started steady on the opening day and is currently third overall and relishes the conditions Hyères has to offer, "It can be really diverse but it can also be howling winds and you've got to bite through it," commented Van Rijsselberge. "It's got a bit of everything and it's quite interesting what it's going to throw at you.

"It's a big bay and quite choppy and there's short steep chop when it's onshore and flat winds when it's offshore. It's a diverse place in that kind of way."

Van Rijsselberge last raced in a big international fleet at Santander 2014 test event in September 2013 and feels back at home in the 91-boat Men's RS:X fleet, "I haven't sailed a competition in six months and I'm really excited to go sailing and race against the other top guys. It's such a nice thing to do, to compare yourself with the others and next to that just try to do my best and be at the front as much as possible but it's not always the case."

Competition for the 1,111 sailors from 59 nations commences at 11:00 local time across the ten Olympic and two Paralympic fleets.

A north easterly at 7-12 knots is expected to increase throughout the morning to 14-18 knots. As it veers easterly towards the latter part of the afternoon it is predicated to decrease to 8-11 knots.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

Men's RS:X - 3 races - 13:30
Women's RS:X - 3 races - 13:50
Men's 470 - 2 races - 11:00
Women's 470 - 2 races - 11:20
Finn - 2 races - 11:00
Laser - 2 races - 11:00
49er - 3 races - 11:00
49erFX - 3 races - 13:30
Nacra 17 - 3 races - 13:30
2.4mR - 2 races - 11:00
Sonar - 2 races - 11:10

ISAF Sailing World Cup Website

ISAF

Isaf TV

Female ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) won the Women's 470 Medal Race and with it gold as they made it three consecutive 200-point regatta wins in a row.
France's Camille Lecointre and Hélène Defrance had held the lead in the Women's 470 for the large part of the week but came undone on the final day as a sixth knocked them off gold medal position. They were made to settle for silver whilst bronze went to Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR).

Billy Besson and Marie Riou went into the Nacra 17 Medal Race with an unassailable 22 point lead and the gold medal sewn up. ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami gold medallists Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri (ITA) added a World Cup silver to their collection having finished in fifth. Bronze went to Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis (AUS).

Gold fleet racing got underway in six Olympic events at ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca. We caught up with three of the leaders and got race highlights from all of the day's proceedings. View results from Mallorca on the ISAF Sailing World Cup website here http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/results/index.php

The 2011 World Champion Giles Scott (GBR) made a successful come from behind victory on Saturday to take home the gold medal. Scott finished nine seconds behind Luke Lawrence (USA) for second place. Overnight leader Oliver Tweddell (AUS) slipped up with an eighth place finish Saturday after leading by nine points.