Lighter winds but no let up for British crews in Miami
Written by RYA | 28 January 2015
GBR crews progress on a shifty and gusty second day in Miami
Biscayne Bay say a change of conditions for day two of the ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami (27 January), with Monday’s ‘survival’ mode turning into a lighter wind but equally tough and gusty test for the Olympic and Paralympic Classes racers.
After a strong start to the season-opening regatta, British Sailing Team crews continued their steady march on the second day of racing on Tuesday, taking an early lead in the Finn, 2.4mR, Sonar and RS:X Women’s classes.
Bryony Shaw, defending her 2014 women’s windsurfing title, moved to the top of the RS:X leaderboard with 4,1,5 from her three races on Tuesday, with Izzy Hamilton in sixth overall, while Megan Pascoe is in pole position – albeit tied on points with Norway’s Bjornar Erikstad and teammate Helena Lucas – in the one-person 2.4mR Paralympic class.
John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas kept hold of their overnight lead in the Paralympic Sonar class, while Giles Scott remains on top after four races in the Finn fleet with a further race win and a fifth on the course today.
Scott’s Podium Potential teammate Ben Cornish got the better of him to finish fourth in the second race of the day. World bronze medallist Ed Wright remains in third overall, but had to retire from the second race of the day following a jury penalty.
The Nacra 17 sailors breathed a sigh of relief at the moderated wind speeds on Tuesday, with Monday having seen numerous capsizes in a full-on day for the multihull fleet.
For crew Nicola Groves, who transitioned from the 49erFX to sail with Ben Saxton in the Nacra 17 class at the end of last year, it’s been a huge learning curve in some tough, physical conditions.
“Yesterday was the windiest day I’ve ever been in the Nacra so I was chucked in at the deep end! “But Ben was amazing and he got us round the course.”
Having joined forces following the Santander World Championships, this is Groves and Saxton’s second major international event after the Abu Dhabi Sailing World Cup Finals, and the Surbiton sailor says she’s having to learn fast.
“It has been a very, very, very steep learning curve! They’re very different boats – some of the feelings are the same and you can transfer them across, but the Nacra jumps a lot more than the FX!” the 25-year-old explained.
“Also, probably I’ve spent my entire life being told to sail a boat flat, and now I have to sail on the side, which is very, very different. Plus the loads in the sheets are a lot higher than the FX – a lot more than I was expecting. But it’s been good fun.”
The duo are making good progress and are poised in second overall after two days of World Cup competition in Miami – but Groves is remaining level-headed about their expectations as such a fledging partnership.
“I just really want to be able to do all the little things well [this week],” she explained. “I’m not gunning for it – although obviously I would love to do well – but at the same time it’s just our second international regatta, there’s a lot of racing to go so if I can just keep ticking things over and keep putting into practice everything I’ve learned for the last few months then I’ll be really happy.”
Similarly, John Gimson, who has returned to helming since forming a new Nacra team with Hannah Diamond after Santander, is eying the Miami regatta as part of the process towards a bigger goal. “If we can achieve our goals of good communication and we can get the starts right each time then I’ll be happy with that,” said Gimson of their aims for this week’s regatta.
“Anything else is a bonus. Our whole year is building up to the Worlds really this year, so we’re kind of using all these events early in the season as training and not really reading too much more into it than that.”
Gimson and Diamond are currently sixth overall, with Lucy Macgregor and Andrew Walsh in eighth after six races.
It was another solid day for the British Sailing Team’s top 470 pairings. Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark won the second of their two races today and are poised in second overall, with Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre in third, while Luke Patience and Elliot Willis enjoyed a steady 5,4 from their two races to keep the leading bunch tight on points with the Brits in second overall after four races.
“I’m just really pleased at how our downwind speed has come on,” Helensburgh’s Patience explained.
“That’s something we’re really looking to push and press this week. There are a couple of boats we’ve singled out as being really good downwind, so if we can match that then I feel like we can take the fight to them. There’s that, along with a few tweaks we’ve made in the lighter range, which obviously we didn’t have today.
“We’ve been looking forward to lining up against those boats with the changes that we’ve made.”
All seven British boats have made the cut for the gold fleet in the Laser class, with Nick Thompson pushing towards the top of the table in third place, while Nick Dempsey enjoyed a great day on the RS:X Men’s racetrack, with 8,3,1 pushing him into overall fourth place.
Defending champions Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell are currently third in a closely-fought SKUD fleet.
In the skiff classes, Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth sandwiched a 12th place in their second race of the day with a race win and a third from their other two races to see them into sixth overall in the 49erFX class, while in the men’s equivalent 49er, Dave Evans-Ed Powys, John Pink-Stuart Bithell and Dylan Fletcher-Alain Sign are closely bunched in the seventh to ninth positions.
Overnight leader Alison Young endured a tough day on the Laser Radial course, dropping to 16th overall with Chloe Martin in 13th.
Racing continues until Friday 30 January for the Paralympic Classes, with the final medal races for the Olympic Classes on Saturday 31 January.
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