Skandia Sail for Gold preview

We look at the form for what is set to be the biggest gathering of the Olympic classes this year

Skandia Sail for Gold for the Olympic classes sets sail on Monday next week with the latest tally being 753 entries from 62 nations, including 1069 sailors and an impressive 317 coaches. Given that the Perth 2011 ISAF Worlds is capped at 661 entries, we suspect that this event, held in the 2012 Olympic sailing venue, will be the biggest gathering of Olympic class sailors this season.

Obviously local followers of the event will be interested in the Brits and you can see our assessment of Skandia Team GBR’s form – very strong in the Star, Finn, Laser, Elliott 6, RS:X Men and Women, strong in the 470 Men and 49er, getting there in the 470 Women and Laser Radial – here.

Within the British team the competition to look out for next week in particular is – will legend Ben Ainslie dominate proceedings in the Finn, ahead of Giles Scott and Ed Wright; can Beijing gold medallist Paul Goodison still beat Nick Thompson in the Laser; will Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell still be our lead 470 Men or will the new pairing of double silver medallist Nick Rogers and Chris Grube shine through or double World Champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis?

The 49er remains a lottery – again will the young John Pink and Rick Peacock, the present World no2, dominate or Stevie Morrison/Ben Rhodes (winners of last week’s Delta Lloyd Regatta and world no3) or old hands such as Chris Draper and Pete Greenhalgh (world no4)? In the 470 Women can the new pairing of Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark come to the fore over Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes?

And most importantly can they perform on the Olympic waters of Weymouth Bay? This event is crucial for these sailors as it is believed to be a significant counter in the team selection for London Games. No pressure then.

With Skandia Sail for Gold providing an opportunity to race in anger on Weymouth Bay, albeit in fleet sizes substantially larger than there will be for the Games next year, so all the international top names are taking part.

In the 470 Men far in away the form boat remains that of reigning World Champions Mat Belcher and Beijing Gold medallist Malcolm Park from Australia. In addition to this title Victor Kovalenko’s star pupils are runaway leaders in both the ISAF ranking and the Sailing World Cup standings. However the French and Greek teams will be strong, both with two jockeying for their nation’s one Olympic berth: Pierre Leboucher/Vincent Garos and Beijing bronze medallist Nicolas Charbonnier and his new young crew Jeremie Mion; Panagiotis Kambouridis/Efstathios Papadopoulos (no2 in the Sailing World Cup standings) and Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis (3rd ISAF ranking)...as will the 2009 World Champions from Croatia’s Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic, the present world no2s. The Brits will have a lot on their hands to make an impression on these teams.

More of a question mark remains over the form in the 470 Women. Britain’s own Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes currently lead the Sailing World Cup standings while France’s Ingrid Petitjean and Nadege Douroux top the ISAF rankings. However these are not great indicators as there have been a number of crew changes (not just in the British team) and crews away with injury. Among the latter are two of the strongest teams – Kiwi lasses Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (Powrie has been away injured this season but this didn’t stop Aleh winning Princess Sofia with a stand-in....) and in particular the powerful Dutch duo of Lisa Westerhof and Beijing silver medallist Lobke Berkhout, who have won the last two World Championships. Westerhof has been off for most of this season with injury but they stormed back last weekend to win the Delta Lloyd Regatta.

Other 470 Women to watch are the perennial Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol from Italy, Denmark’s Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer, Japan’s Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata and Spain’s Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos. Rising up through the ranks rapidly are also Torben Grael’s daughter Martine Soffiatti Grael who sails with former model Isabel Swan.

Again in the 49er there isn’t a stand-out crew. If we were forced to place money then it would be on Australian hotshots Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, although they got nailed by our own Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes in Medemblik last weekend (hoho). One of the most talented sailors of his generation, Outteridge, a double Youth World Champion is also a double 49er World Champion (2008/2009) and we get the impression is biding his time with his latest campaign, having failed to get on the podium in Beijing.

We also rate the Italian Sibello brothers Pietro and Gianfranco, who this season so far have won Hyeres and were second in Palma to France’s Manu Dyen and Stephane Christidis. In the fight will certainly be the Austria’s Nico Delle-Karth and Nikolaus Resch (the present world no1s) and Danes Peter Kruger-Andersen and Nicolai Thorsell, the present Sailing World Cup leaders. But equally there are five British 49er teams more than capable of getting on the podium including the likes of Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith, Chris Draper and Pete Greenhalgh and the present World no2s John Pink and Rick Peacock.

Having notched up Finn victories at Sail Melbourne, Princess Sofia and Hyeres so far this year, it is safe to say Ben Ainslie is back on form in the boat in which he has so far won two consecutive Olympic golds in Beijing and Athens. So the shock next week will be if Ben doesn’t win. He continues to be hounded by both Ed Wright, the present World Champion and winner at the Delta Lloyd Regatta last weekend and in particular by towering Giles Scott, who beat Ainslie at the Rolex Miami OCR this spring.

The Brits remain the most dominant nation in the Finn to the extent that there is every possibility they could claim the whole podium next week. However should this not come to pass, then we suspect the upset will come from Croatia’s Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, the USA’s Beijing silver medallist Zach Railey, Slovenia’s Gasper Vincec or the Netherland’s Pieter-Jan Postma.

As in the 470 Men, so in the Laser Australia is proving to be the class act in the form of their double World Champion (2010 and 2008), Tom Slingsby, runaway leader in the ISAF and Sailing World Cup rankings. He has been on the podium of all the Laser regattas he has sailed in this year, won Skandia Sail for Gold in 2010 and comes fresh from victory at the Delta Lloyd Regatta. If Slingsby is to be challenged then it is most likely to come from our own Paul Goodison, the 2009 World Champion and Beijing gold medallist, who will be sailing with home waters advantage.

While Slingsby and Goodison, and occasionally Britain’s Nick Thompson are in a class of their own, also in the mix are likely to be Spain’s Javier Hernandez and Brazil’s Bruno Fontes.

In the Laser Radial are two slightly stand-out sailors: Holland’s Marit Bouwmeester and from Belgium Evi van Acker, Bouwmeester leading both rankings, but tied in the Sailing World Cup standings with her Belgium rival. However there are several very accomplished sailors competing in Weymouth this coming week including New Zealand’s Sarah Winther, who won both Princess Sofia Trophy and Hyeres or France’s Sarah Steyaert, runner up at Rolex Miami OCR and Princess Sofia or American Paige Railey, winner in Miami this spring or Lithuania’s Gintare Volungeviciute Scheidt (spouse of Robert) who finished third in Palma and Hyeres or European Champion Tina Mihelic from Croatia. Then there is Finland’s seasoned Olympic campaigner Sari Multala, the present World Champion, who’s missed out on most of the Sailing World Cup events this season. An outside bet would be Ireland’s rising star of the class, Annalise Murphy.

In the Star, the rankings would indicate that Brazilian Olympic legend and Beijing silver medallist Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada are the class act, way out in front of both and winners this year in Miami, Hyeres and in Medemblik...however, reigning World Champions and Beijing Gold medallists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson have only done two Sailing World Cup events this year, winning Princess Sofia, and last week in Medemblik were second to Scheidt/Prada at the time they broke their rig.

As always in the Star there is a lot of depth and behind the Brazilian and British teams any of the following are more than capable of podiuming and have scored top results this season: 2004 World Champion Fredrik Loof/Max Salminen (SWE), Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira (BRA), George Szabo/Mark Strube who lead the strong US contingent, two French teams in Xavier Rohart/Pierre-Alexis Ponsot and Guillaume Florent/Pascal Rambeau, Poland’s 2008 World Champion Mateusz Kusznierewicz/Dominik Zycki, Italian former European champion Diego Negri/Enrico Voltolini, Canada’s Richard Clarke/Tyler Bjorn, Ireland’s Peter O'Leary, David Burrows and Norway’s Eivind Melleby/Petter Morland Pedersen.

In this line-up we have rather a lot of Olympic medals – Scheidt (2x gold, 2x silver), Prada (1x silver), Percy (2x gold), Simpson (1x gold), Loof (2x bronze), Grael (2x gold, 1x silver, 2x bronze), (2x gold, 1x bronze), Rohart (1x bronze), Kusznierewicz (1x gold, 1x bronze)...

In the RS:X Men we reckon the most talented sailor is Holland’s Dorian van Rijsselberge, winner in Miami and Palma this year, but who has a nasty habit of choking when the pressure is on. More consistent performers are the most seasoned campaigners such as Britain’s 2009 World Champion Nick Dempsey, New Zealand’s Beijing gold medallist Tom Ashley and France’s Julien Bontemps. Also in the mix will be the three leaders of the Sailing World Cup Brazil’s Ricardo Santos, Israel’s Shahar Zubari and China’s Aichen Wang. However there are a couple of others who’s form at present is harder to gauge, including Poland’s Piotr Myszka, the present World Champion and Korea’s Taehoon Lee, who looked profoundly confident when he won Delta Lloyd in big breeze last week.

Spain looks set to rule the roost in the RS:X Women. Marina Alabau, the 2009 World Champion, has only competed in two Sailing World Cup regattas this year – Miami and Princess Sofia – but won both of them, while Blanca Manchon is the present World Champion and won in Hyeres. It will be the first time they line up in a major competition this year. Again there are a group of other serious players for the podium and the consistent performers are typically France’s Charline Picon (runner up in Palma and Hyeres), Australian long term campaigner Jessica Crisp, Beijing gold medallist Alessandra Sensini and team mate Laura Linares and of course our own Beijing bronze medallist Bryony Shaw. As an outside shot, it will be worth watching out for the strong roster of Chinese lady sailboarders, including Ling Li, who won the Delta Lloyd Regatta last weekend.

In the Women's Match Racing it remains tight at the top with no one team dominating proceedings. In the Sailing World Cup this year events have been won by the teams of Renee Groeneveld (Delta Lloyd), Sally Barkow (Palma), Claire Leroy (Miami) and Britain's own Lucy MacGregor. In addition to these are the team of Finland's Silja Lehtinen, the present Sailing World Cup leader and who was runner up in Miami and Medemblik and Beijing Laser Radial Gold medallist Anna Tunnicliffe, who has finished on the podium in all three SWC regattas she's sailed at this year.