Olympics 2008

49er Worlds: Racing begins in Moscow

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Olympics 2008

49er Worlds: Moscow - a venue with a difference.

A couple of shots from the opening ceremony of the 49er Worlds in Moscow (NZL is third from right):

A little Russian culture for you

We don't have any shots of the racing, however we understand from the competitors that the event is being held on a river controlled by a flood gate. Unfortunately there isn't enough depth of water across the course to sail 49ers, so officials have marked the shallow areas with buoys. One of these areas was very close to the start - which caused a little consternation, as the fleet powered up the track.

The rest of the deal is on the official website - the sailors are staying on a ship in small cabins. Food is not in abundance - evidenced by the lunch menu, on the website, and is expensive.

It will be interesting to see how the week develops. From memory these are the first world championships fore Olympic classes that have been held in Russia. The Finn Gold Cup starts in September, also in Moscow, in a similar, but different, venue.

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Olympics 2008

49er Worlds: Day 2 - GBR takes control

Jake Bartrom and Craig Prentice (NZL) are in NZL-813 fourth from right in the front row of the start.

Olympics 2008

North American Stars:

 George Szabo/Eric Monroe (7995) winner of the Keane 2005 Star Class North American Championship (San Diego)

Great shot from the North American Star Championships. A couple of ex-pat Kiwi crews competed. For a full report see: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=18750

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Olympics 2008

Euro2005 Analysed: Is the writing already on the wall?

The European Championships for six of the 11 Olympic classes have been concluded in the past week. This presented a snapshot opportunity to undertake some analysis of the results and maybe gain an insight as to the relative state of the Five Ring Circus heading into 2008, and the Qualifying that will begin a year earlier. 

The 2004 Olympics forced the established sailing nations to re-think their Olympic strategies.

(Photo shot at 2005 Star Euro's by Jan Walker www.RegattaActiveImages.com ) 

There are a couple of statistics that are interesting to bear in mind.

First that in 2004, 20 countries shared 33 medals across 11 classes. We'll see if this trend is continuing.

Second, that of the Olympic medal winning countries in 2004, 80% qualified in the first round (2002), 17% in the second round (2003) and 3%, or one medal winner from the third round of qualifying in 2004. This gives us some indication of potential 2008 medallists and 2007 qualifiers.

Most pundits would also be aware that in Athens 2004 GBR won the most medals – five - the same as they did in Sydney 2000. Spain was the second most prolific medal winner in Athens 2004 with three medals. In Sydney 2000, USA and AUS were second placegetters with four each.

Athens 2004 was also notable for the fact that several of the powerhouses of Olympic sailing failed to medal – being NZL, NED, GER and AUS.

It is also interesting to note that in the past 20 years (1984-2004), only two countries have medalled in each year USA and GBR – who are first and second respectively on the 20 year medal table. NZL was in this elite group until 2004, when it failed to win a single medal. AUS was fourth equal along with ESP after Sydney 2000.

For the purposes of this analysis the top ten results of the European Championships sailed in 2005 have been compiled into a table. Boards have been excluded due to the hiatus awaiting the arrival of the new equipment; Yngling Worlds have been included in lieu of a European Championship. So have the 470 Mend and Womens which had their Europeans earlier in the year.

The purpose of the analysis is a two-fold indicator> First to see if countries which failed to fire in Athens 2004 have got their Olympic programmes back on track, and second if those countries which had a good level of performance in Athens are maintaining this benchmark.

First glance at 2005 shows the obvious – GBR are doing it again, with five podium places, including three wins. In several classes GBR appear to be running effective squads and have obtained multiple placings in the top ten in some classes. The conclusion is that GBR have continued to build on their 2000 and 2004 results, and have held the position in classes in which they have been strong in the Olympic/World Championship arena.

Some of the top sailing nations nations will face a hard ride in 2008.

(Photo shot at 2005 Star Euro's by Jan Walker www.RegattaActiveImages.com )

USA is the other one doing well, with “new” talent in two classes, and three podium places – they are second equal on the Euro2005 “rankings”, along with FRA - who have also done very well in the 'top ten' rankings for Euro2005.

NZL is in a group of three with two podium placings (the others being SWE and ISR).

ISR look to have a good 470 program running with a 3^rd in the 470 Mens and a 2^nd in the 470 Europeans.

Sweden’s two places came with a second in the Stars (a home venue regatta) and a third in the 470 Womens.

The encouraging point for NZL is that their two podium places did not come out of the Boards which have carried the day for them since 1992, and that one of these is a Finn class rookie,  who has been steadily building his results each regatta.

The Tornado results show a degree of comparability between the Worlds and Europeans, with ESP winning both and FRA dropping from 3^rd in the Worlds to 4^th in the Europeans. As the classes repeat their World Championship cycle in the next couple of months, it will be interesting to see if this trend has occurred across the board.

There is the usual spread of countries (16) in podium placings across the nine events – so that is not too different from what we have seen in the Olympics in 2000 and 2004.

The other point of note is that AUS has not scored a single podium place in the nine events, but does have four in the top ten across the nine events, GER has six placings in the top ten across the nine events. Of the four “powerhouse” nations which failed to medal in Athens 2004, only AUS and GER remain medal-less in 2005. Of the others NZL gained two silver and NED one bronze

NZL is another nation with four in the top ten, including another class rookie, in the Laser Radial. NZL has, placed in the top ten in each Europeans in which NZL had competitor (except for the 49er class). FRA is very strong in the top ten analysis with nine positions in nine events – this includes multiple top ten places in three classes. BRA, fifth on the Olympic medal table for sailing over the past 20 years, has managed just one podium place and no other top ten placings in Euro2005.

It is early days in the Beijing 2008 context, Cascais 2007 is not that far away, and the analysis would tend to indicate that the old patterns, in terms of  nations’ medal statistics, are repeating in many instances.

To see the data on which the above analysis is based click here

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2005 Holland Regatta

Kiwi Finn sailor, Dan Slater, is making great strides in his campaign for the 2008 Olympics, and has some good results with just three regattas sailed in his European campaign. Slater switched to the Finn after finishing 4th in the 2005 Int 14 Worlds in Takapuna. Previously he had been with Team NZ in the 2003 Defence - joining after being the NZ crew in the 49er class at the 2004 Olympics. Slater is a former ISAF Youth Worlds Singlehanded Champion.

In the last two regattas he has finished in the good company of a number of 2004 Olympians in the Finn class - beating several who had finished outside the top ten. Highlight of his campaign to date was in Race 3 at Spa where he was boat for boat with 2004 Finn Gold medalist, Ben Ainslie (GBR).

In other Kiwi results from Spa, Sharon Ferris, Raynor Smeal and Ashley Holtum finished 11th in a 17 boat Yngling fleet. Their best place was a 4th in the penultimate race.The event was won by Sarah Ayton and crew (GBR). Blair Mclay finished 52nd in the 112 strong Laser class. His best place was 6th in the opening race. The Laser event was won by Tom Slingsby (AUS)

 Dan Slater moved to the Finn class after finishing 4th in the 2005 World Int 14 Championship

Read Dan's campaign emails from the Holland Regatta (formerly the Spa Regatta) just concluded:

Final Day:

No racing on the last day due to no wind and huge 90 degree shifts. We sat out on the water for 3 hours waiting for the wind before racing abandoned for the day.That was the end of the first part of my European season I was really happy with my results and improvement over the 5 weeks. I sailed everyday except 5 and in the 3 regattas was 19th in Hyeres,3rd Lake Garda and 5th Spa Regatta. I will go to Canada now do some coaching and gym work. I will then return to Europe for the Europeans and World Champs in Aug/Sept.

Day 4:

Two races today in 22-27 knots was a test of gear and the body. I didn't sail that well I didn't think but had a ok day as I had good speed. Race 1 I finished 7th and was about that most of the way round the course after a good start and 1st beat. In the second race I had a shocking start and never really got in phase with the wind shifts I rounded the first mark about 20th then through the rest of the race I was able to work my way up to 10th. Overall with 1 race left to sail I am 5th.

Day 3:

Very light air today 4-5 knots and we sailed 2 races. For those who have sailed Spa regatta before you wont believe that today was 29 degrees and shorts and tees compared to last week that was no more than 10 degrees. In the first race I was 10th round the 1st mark then had a good first downwind to get up to 7th and that's how I finished but had 1 min to 8th. In the second race I was 17-18th at the first mark then each leg gained 2-3 places to finish 10th. Overall I am still 7th with 3 races left to sail.

Day 2:

A mixed bag today in the first race I was 2nd round the 1st mark and then in the lead again at the bottom mark. Going up the 2nd beat Ben Ainslie just got past me at the top mark then down the last run we swapped for the lead the whole way down and he managed to just get inside me at the last mark to the finish so I was 2nd.The second race was not so good had a great start down the pin end and could have crossed 95% of the fleet at any time then the breeze went 40 degrees to the right and I was almost the furthest left. When I tacked over I crossed 2 boats!!!!!! As the race went on I caught a few up and finished 23rd which leaves me 7th Overall.

Day 1:

Today was shifty with about 15 knots and the Finns had 2 races. Race 1 I was stuffed at the start by a Ukrainian at the pin end, he was over the line and didn't go back but did a nice job of stuffing me and 2 others. I managed to work my way up thru the fleet to finish 13th which I wasn't very happy with but could have been a lot worse. The second race was a bit better and I had a good start and rounded the first mark 7th down the run I past 2 boats then up the 2nd beat managed to get to 4th at the top mark. I lost 2 boats down the run to finish 6th so overall after 2 races I am 6th. We have a nine race regatta with 2 races each day and only 1 on the last day.

Full results and reports can be found on the official regatta site: http://hollandregatta.org

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