Goodison back on form

Laser Gold medallist takes the lead at the Semaine Olympique Française in Hyeres

Racing on the second day of the Semaine Olympique Française in Hyeres got back on schedule with extra races sailed in all classes. Despite the rain, the easterly wind reaching a maximum of 15 knots and allowed racing to start on time. But for the sailors, it wasn’t easy sailing with clouds creating uneven pressure over the race course requiring them to stay ultra-focussed.

In the Laser Radial, Veronika Fenclova (CZE) increased her lead further with two victories and a fourth place added to her first place on day one. After taking Bronze in the third Sailing World Cup event in Palma, the Czech sailor has mastered the difficult conditions in Hyères and is now in a strong position with 15 points margin over second placed Katarzyna Deberny from Poland. Deberny, better known as Katarzyna Szotynska before she got married late last year, is just starting her next campaign after the Olympic Games last year. Evi Van Acker (BEL) won the last race of the day to improve her position from 5th to 3rd overall, one point behind American Olympic Champion Anna Tunnicliffe.

Other teams to increase their lead are the Danish 470 Women, Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer. They are racing consistently with two second places added to their low score and lead their class by 22 points. However, Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos from Spain have taken two bullets to jump into second overall after a slow start to the regatta.

Among the RS:X Men, with a victory and a third place, Piotr Myszka (POL) keeps the lead he shared on Sunday with Liwei Wu (CHN) who collected a 20 place today to drop to 15th overall. Beijing Silver medallist, France's Julien Bontemps has managed to conserve his second position ahead of Andreas Cariolou from Cyprus. Meanwhile Maayan Davidovich (ISR) remains ahead in the women’s division although today's races were taken by Peina Chen (CHN) and Laura Linares (ITA), who are respectively placed second and third in the overall rankings.

The racing is close in the Laser where the 140 sailors are divided into three groups. Tuesday races will provide the last opportunities to qualify for the Gold fleet. Olympic Gold medallist, Paul Goodison is the new leader after winning a race and placing sixth in the next. Luka Radelic and Daniel Mihelic hold second and third. The Semaine Olympique Française is one of three selection regattas to identify the two sailors who will represent Croatia at the Mediterranean Games. Winner of two ISAF World Cup events, in Miami and Palma, Britain's Nick Thompson is coming back into the regatta with two second places today, after a slow start.

“I struggled yesterday, the conditions were really difficult," said Thompson. "Today racing was a lot better, I am used to race in light wind after Miami and Palma. I sail conservatively, by the percentage rather than taking risks. Winning three in a row would be great, however a top three would be nice. With these difficult conditions the scores will be high and the podium open!”

Other Croatians to post good results are Finn sailors Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic and Marin Misura. Gaspic takes the lead after a fourth and a second while Misura took the bullet in the day’s second race to move up to third overall. Early leader Gasper Vincec from Slovenia dropped to second.

“The wind was light and shifty, changing from minute to minute, I had to stay with the pack and sailed relaxed," explained Gaspic. "Then I passed places downwind!”

The 470 Men fleet have new leaders with the American team of Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl placing third and winning a race. But they are only two point ahead of the new formed Swiss team of Matias Buhler and Felix Steiger. A dual citizen, Buhler has recently moved from Argentina to Switzerland to join forces with Steiger.

“It is hard to campaign at high level from Argentina," said Buhler. "My goal is to have an Olympic medal and racing for Switzerland will offer more opportunities.” The Semaine Olympique Française is the first event for the Swiss team. “We have sailed no more than ten days together and this year we will concentrate on our team work. These results in Hyères are far more than we had expected!”

Three races were sailed in the 2.4m who are back on schedule. Helena Lucas (GBR) has taken the overall lead from Thierry Schmitter (NED) who was penalised by an OCS and is now ranked sixth overall.

The Stars, who share the same course as the 2.4ms, have completed four races. At present Xavier Rohart and new crew Pierre-Alexis Ponsot (FRA) have won two races and hold first overall on equal points with Americans Andrew McDonald and Brian Fatih who took the other two races.

After winning the Princesa Sofia Mapfre Trophy in Palma, the Sibello brothers are back at the top of the 49er fleet after winning two today races and placing third in the last. The Italians had taken a long break after the Olympic Games. Clearly they are returning to international competition in top form and are getting the most from the recently turboed 49er.

Skandia Team GBR teammates Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh are holding fourth. The new partnership is faring well in their Olympic classes comeback event, posting scores of 4,2,3,9 today with two-time World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist Draper having been away from the 49er scene since 2007, and Greenhalgh having been away for almost five years after campaigning for both the Sydney and Athens Games.

“We haven’t got a goal for this event,” said Greenhalgh of the new partnership. “Just to finish it and get better along the way, so so far, so good! We’re just learning the whole Olympic sailing thing again really as we’ve been a bit out of practice. As you’d expect, we’re making silly mistakes but today was better – we made less silly mistakes than we did yesterday so it’s very positive. For us this event is about learning each other, learning how to sail the boat again, communication – it’s just the basics really.”

Young French duo of Axel Silvy and Ulysse Hoffmann are in second place overall after sailing consistently into the top 7. “They have made really good starts and placed well in the fleet - these small fleets are suitable for them.” explains Nicolas Huguet, who after racing in the RS:X is now in charge of the young French teams for the FF Voile.

Tomorrow will be the last opportunity for series racing in groups to qualify for the finals.

Robert Daves reports on the Finns...

Croatia and Slovenia are running away with the lead in Finn class at the 41st Semaine Olympique Française. Both Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) and Gasper Vincec (SLO) produced near perfect results on a less than perfect day to keep a firm grip on the top two positions after two more light and shifty races were sailed in Hyeres today.

A fourth and a second for Kljakovic Gaspic and a fifth and a sixth for Vincec leaves them well clear at the top of the board after two days racing. Third place is occupied by another Croatian, Marin Misura (CRO), winner of the second race today. The challenging conditions have meant that only these three sailors have managed to be consistently in the top ten in each race so far, and they are well clear on the chasing group.

Kljakovic Gaspic commented on his form, “I did some good training in Hyeres after Palma and made my boat and equipment fully ready. There was nothing more to do so I am fully confident in my gear and in myself. I am sailing really relaxed and not counting. When I'm behind I just want to sail fast and pass the boat in front of me. And I do it pretty often, especially downwind.”

On the conditions so far he said, “It was tricky, light and changing from minute to minute. For today, I just sailed and tried to keep with the pack.”

The first race was won by Andrew Mills (GBR), confident after his bronze medal finish in Palma a week ago, but he ended the day in 10th after a 26th in the second race. Giles Scott (GBR) bounced back after a DNF yesterday to follow his team mate across the line in the first race and then place eighth in race four to climb to 11th overall. Meanwhile Michael Maier (CZE) hung onto fourth place with a ninth and a 12th.

Yesterday, Ed Wright (GBR) had commented, “The wind was very tricky with 30 degree shifts and light winds. All in all it was a day to stay alive, and all too easy to get some big scores.” He must have been ruing those words today as he picked up a 29th in the first race of the day and a 10th in the second to drop to sixth overall, through with a discard coming into effect after race five tomorrow, the landscape in the top ten could change considerably.

Full Results: RS:X Men, RS:X Women, Laser, Laser Radial, Finn, 49er, 470M, 470W, Star, 2.4m

Top three results and Brits

470 Men (after 4 races)
1. Stuart McNay-Graham Biehl, USA (14pts)
2. Matias Buhler-Felix Steiger, SUI (16pts)
3. Harada Ryunosuke-Yoshido Yugo, JPN (18pts)
Selected GBR
4. Nic Asher-Elliot Willis (22pts)
10. Jonny Moss-Ben Muskett (39pts)

Star (after 5 races)
1. Xavier Rohart-Pierre Alex Ponsot, FRA (9pts)
2. Andrew Macdonald-Brian Faith, USA (9pts)
3. Aimilios Papathanasi-Apostolos Karnoutsos, GRE (12pts)
GBR
4. John Gimson-Ed Greig, GBR (17pts)

2.4mR (after 4 races)
1. Helena Lucas, GBR (11pts)
2. Damien Seguin, FRA (12pts)
3. Megan Pascoe (17pts)

470 Women (after 4 races)
1. Henriette Koch-Lene Sommer, DEN (7pts)
2. Tara Pacheco-Berta Betanzos, ESP (29pts)
3. Ingrid Petitjean-Nadege Dourouz (36pts)
GBR
5. Hannah Mills-Katrina Hughes (38pts)
9. Sophie Weguelin-Sophie Ainsworth (53pts)
11. Penny Clark-Saskia Clark (61pts)

49er (after 6 races)
1. Pietro Sibello-Gianfranco Sibello, ITA (14pts)
2. Axel Silvy-Ulysse Hoffman, FRA (16pts)
3. Stevie Morrison-Ben Rhodes, GBR (18pts)
Selected GBR
4. Chris Draper-Peter Greenhalgh (19pts)
11. Dylan Fletcher-Alain Sign (30pts)
12. Dave Evans-Simon Hiscocks (31pts)
13. Andrew Walsh-Simon Marks (32pts)
17. Paul Campbell-James-Mark Asquith (36pts)

RS:X Men (after 3 races)
1. Piotr Myszka, POL (5pts)
2. Julien Bontemps, FRA (7pts)
3. Andreas Cariolou, CYP (10pts)
Selected GBR
4. Nick Dempsey, GBR (13pts)

RS:X Women (after 3 races)
1. Maavan Davidovich, ISR (7pts)
2. Chen Peina, CHN (8pts)
3. Laura Linares, (15pts)
GBR
10. Bryony Shaw, (34pts)

Finn (after 4 races)
1. Ivan Kljakovic, CRO (9pts)
2. Gasper Vincec, SLO (14pts)
3. Marin Misura, CRO (21pts)
GBR
6. Ed Wright (60pts)
10. Andrew Mills (62pts)
11. Giles Scott (63pts)

Laser Radial (after 4 races)
1. Veronika Fenclova, CZE (7pts)
2. Katarzyna Deberny, POL (22pts)
3. Evi van Acker, BEL (36pts)
Selected GBR
20. Andrea Brewster (82pts)
21. Alison Young, (85pts)

Laser (after 4 races)
1. Paul Goodison, GBR (15pts)
2. Luka Radelic, CRO (18pts)
3. Daniel Mihelic, CRO (20pts)
Selected GBR
8. Nick Thompson (37pts)