Olympic Sailing Qingdao - Day 1 - Racing completed

by Sail-World.com/uk on 9 Aug 2008 First race for the Finn and Yngling classes completed in Qingdao, China. In the expected light winds it was a topsy-turvy day for the two British teams. Ben Ainslie took the lead in the Finn class at the final downwind mark but was then rolled by the chasing fleet and finished tenth.

In the Yngling class it was the reverse. The British boat with Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, was last at the first mark, moved to 11th at the final mark but then came through to finish in second behind the Australians.

In the second Finn race Ainslie was seventh at hte first mark but then lead all the way to the line.

For the British Yngling team it was a steadier race in the slightly better breeze, seventh at the first mark they moved into the leading group, behind the runaway race leaders, the Dutch, to eventually finish third behind the USA.

Overall Ainslie is is third, behind event leader Rafal Szkiel of Poland and Zach Railey of the USA. In the Yngling Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb, Pippa Wilson lead, ahead of Jennifer Provan, Martha Henderson and Katie Abbott of Canada and Mandy Mulder, Annemieka Bes and Merel Wirreveen of the Netherlands.

Overall Leading positions after races 1 and 2

Finn
1. POL - 5 pts
2. USA - 7 pts
3. GBR - 11 pts
4. CAN - 11 pts
5. FRA - 13 pts
6. ESP - 16 pts

Yngling
1. GBR - 5pts
2. CAN - 9 pts
3. NED - 10 pts
4. RUS - 11 pts
5. AUS - 12 pts
6. CHN - 12 pts

Leading positions in races 1 and 2

Finn - Race 1
1. GRE Emilos Papathanasiou
2. USA Zach Railey
3. POL Rafal Szkiel
4. IND Nachhater Singh
5. FRA Florent Guillaume
6. CRO Ivan Gaspic

Finn - Race 2
1. GBR Ben Ainslie
2. POL Rafal Szkiel
3. CAN Chris Cook
4. ESP Rafa Trujillo
5. USA Zach Railey
6. DEN Jonas Christensen

Yngling - Race 1
1. AUS - Krystal Weir, Karyn Gojnich, Angela Farrel
2. GBR - Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb, Pippa Wilson
3. RUS - Ekaterina Skudina, Diana Krutskikh, Anatlia Ivanova
4. FRA - Anne le Helly, Catherine Lepesant, Julia Gerecht
5. CAN - Jennifer Provan, Martha Henderson, Katie Abbott
6. CHN - Xiagun Song, Yanli Yu, Xiaoni Li

Yngling - Race 2
1. NED - Mandy Mulder, Annemieka Bes, Merel Wirreveen
2. USA - Sally Berkow, Carrie Howe, Deborah Capozzi
3. GBR - Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb, Pippa Wilson
4. CAN - Jennifer Provan, Martha Henderson, Katie Abbott
5. CHN - Xiagun Song, Yanli Yu, Xiaoni Li
6. FIN - Silja Lehtinen, Maria Klemetz, Livia Varema


Team GBR - The names and the faces - http://www.sail-world.com/UK/Team-GBR---The-names-and-the-faces/47353

Qingdao-Racing-Schedule - http://www.sail-world.com/UK/Qingdao-Racing-Schedule/47381