WORLD CUP: Hello, I’m Mr. Wind, and I am baaaack

Hyères, France (April 24, 2013) – After two days of tricky breeze, the mistral at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères kicked in on the third day of racing in the South of France, providing a fresh 17-22 knot easterly breeze for the 800+ sailors competing in ten Olympic and two Paralympic events

Holding her Laser Radial advantage on the first day of the final series is Tuula Tenkanen (FIN). A third and a sixth enabled her to maintain her two point advantage over the chasing pack. Canadian Isabella Bertold made a big move today, rising from 13th to 5th overall. “Such a fun day out on the water today, nice wind and fun waves downwind,” said Bertold. “Won the first race of the day and then got slowed down a bit at the start of the second race by a collision but I fought hard and caught back up to a 9th place finish.”

Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) were back on top form in the Men’s 470 taking double bullets to jump up two places to second. Luke Patience and Joe Glanfield (GBR) hold the lead by two points but discard a 24th.

Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Barbachan (BRA) remain firmly at the top of the Women’s 470 leader board, but Americans Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha posted the low score for the day (2-4) to move up from 6th to 2nd position. “The chop was super short and steep which made for some fun, yet sketchy rides downwind,” said Haeger. “We are looking forward to more breeze on Thursday.”

Bad news came for Americans Fred Strammer and Zach Brown, who had an accident in the first race that dislocated Strammer’s arm, forcing them to retire from competition. “We jibed and we encountered some extreme motor boat waves, and dug the bow in and capsized,” Strammer said. “I was trying to climb up the boat as it was coming up on top of me and it happened.” In the process of sailing in, they finished the race in 26th. “We are done for the event, unfortunately.” The two will pack up the boat and return to the U.S. where Strammer will have additional medical care.

The Final Series continues Thursday and Friday, with the top ten competing in the Medal Race on Saturday.

Event report: http://swc.ffvoile.com/swc2013gbr/news/wednesday-24.aspx
USA report: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/News/2013/Day_3_SWCHyeres.htm

BACKGROUND: The ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres (Apr 22-27) is the fourth and final event of the 2012-13 ISAF Sailing World Cup season. The season began in Melbourne, Australia (Dec 2-8) and was in Miami (Jan 28-Feb 2), and then Palma, Spain (Apr 1-6). The ISAF Sailing World Cup is open to the sailing classes (equipment) chosen for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competitions. – http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/home.php