Fletcher and Sign head up 49er Dutch double
Written by RYA | 23 May 2014
Fletcher and Sign claim EUROSAF gold in Medemblik, silver to Pink and Bithell
Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign avenged their disappointment at last month’s ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres with 49er gold on the penultimate day of the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, the Netherlands, on Friday (23 May).
John Pink and crew Stuart Bithell, silver medallist in the 470 class at the 2012 Games, made it a British 1-2 on the men’s skiff podium from these first finals at the second leg of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup, and in doing so claim their first medal together since joining forces at the end of 2013.
Fletcher and Sign were disappointed to miss on the medals after a flying start to their week at last month’s World Cup Regatta in France. They started their final day on the Ijsselmeer in overall third place after a steady first three days of racing, and were due to have three fleet races scheduled for the fourth day’s morning session ahead of the planned three short, sharp medal races for the class on Friday evening.
The European Champions claimed a race win to open the day amid light and shifty winds, elevating them to the top of the leaderboard, but the fleet was sent ashore unable to complete their opening series as conditions deteriorated.
The evening’s finals got away on time, however, and the duo pulled through three intense races to secure gold by five points over their teammates – and a first victory for them at the Dutch event.
“We're pretty chuffed,” Fletcher said. “We came here with a lot of goals that we're doing in the background but to come away with the win is really good. “It was an intense day today. It's our first ever win here so great to add to add to our win in Hyères last year. Another medal on the way to Rio!”
“I think the hardest thing is that it was really patchy,” said the 26-year-old of the short medal races “We were never able to pick which side of the beat was going to pay on the tactical side pre-start. It was more about getting off the line and getting in the first cross on the pack. But we actually never managed that. We were always fighting in the middle of the pack.”
“The Polish crashed into us on the first start. And a few more incidents like that, which is the nature of the racing. Everyone's really hyped up. Generally the theatre style is one of our strengths. It was alright today, but we were a little let down in the last race, when again the Polish crashed into us and infringed and did turns, but we lost three places in the process.”
Pink and Bithell had started their day outside of the medal positions in fourth – but a sixth from their morning’s fleet race pulled them into the podium positions, which they improved upon with a race win and two sevenths from their three final races.
“The wind came in lovely, and we weren't expecting such a nice breeze,” admitted Pink – who won World Championship silver in the class in 2009.
“We attacked the races and we've been working on the medal races a bit since Palma and Hyeres. We got some good starts, which was all important in that stuff.”
“We were away and gone in both the first two races, but in the first we had a tack in at the windward mark that we didn't quite make. We had to do spins, and then did spins again.” “But it was good. We kept making gains all the way round the course. We kept doing everything we could do to try and win and closed the gap.”
“We’re happy to medal – the first medal for us as a team. It's been a good week,” he concluded.
The British Sailing Team will be in podium contention in five other classes on the event’s final day on Saturday (24 May), with Megan Pascoe in the 2.4mR and the SKUD duo of Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell leading their respective fleets.
Luke Patience and Elliot Willis will head in the 470 Men’s medal race in second place, five points off the Spanish leaders, while the Paralympic Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas are also in second, while Paralympic Champion Helena Lucas is poised third in the 2.4mR.
In the Nacra 17 multihull class, world silver medallists Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond head in to the day in fourth place, but are a tough 15 points behind the third-placed Australian pairing of Bundock and Curtis. Pippa Wilson and John Gimson will also be in Nacra medal race action – they’re in fifth currently, with Anna Burnet and Flora Stewart currently sixth in the 470 Women’s standings.
Final day action starts from 1000 (local) – for full results visit
www.deltalloydregatta.org