Olympic test begins at Kieler Woche

Kiel, Germany (June 20, 2018) – With Kieler Woche the last big event for the Olympic classes before the World Championships in Denmark six weeks from now, moderate to strong breezes made for a challenging but exhilarating opening day for the sailors seeking to test their preparation.

The Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists in the Nacra 17 have powered to an early lead, with the Australians Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin firing three bullets in three races. Behind them are Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders from New Zealand and Riley Gibbs and Louisa Chafee from the USA.

Further back is ‘new boy’ Nathan Outteridge making his international debut in the Olympic catamaran fleet. The America’s Cup skipper and multiple World and Olympic Champion in the 49er skiff is now racing the Nacra 17 with his sister Haylee and sits in 14th place.

Nadine Böhm and Ann- Christin Goliaß have taken an early lead in the Women’s 470 fleet while some of the established stars like Poland’s Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Jolanta Ogar are struggling to be so consistent, currently lying in seventh overall. Spain’s Silvia Mas and Patricia Cantero, silver medallists a week ago at the Sailing World Cup Final in Marseille, are near the bottom of the leaderboard after a U-Flag penalty for starting too early in race two.

No surprise to find in the Men’s 470 Mat Belcher and Will Ryan are setting the pace, with the Australians scoring a 1,2 from their opening heats. Behind the multiple World and Olympic medallists are the Japanese duo are Kazuto Doi and Naoya Kimura, two points in front of London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Luke Patience crewed by Chris Grube from Great Britain.

The Women’s 49erFX skiff completed three races, with Americans Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea leading with 10-1-1 with Rio 2016 silver medallists from New Zealand, Alex Maloney and Molly Meech, two points back in second.

While New Zealand’s two most famous 49er sailors – Pete Burling and Blair Tuke – are about to fight it out on separate boats for overall victory in the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, some other Kiwis are flying the flag in the 49er class at Kiel Week. Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn faltered in race one with a 15th but followed with a 2,1 to take the early lead. However, sharing the lead and on equal points with the Kiwis are two French teams – Erwan Fischer/Clément Pequin and Mathieu Frei and Noe Delpech – and a Polish crew Dominik Buksak/ Syzmon Wierzbicki.

Croatia’s Filip Jurišić and Estonia’s Karl-Martin Rammo are tied atop the Laser fleet after two races while Maxime Jonker (DEN) won both Laser Radial races. In the Finn, Ed Wright (GBR) leads after keeping both races in the top four.

Canada, Mexico, USA update:
It was a good start for North America with members in the top ten in seven of the eight fleets:

470 M: 7. Stu McNay/ Dave Hughes (USA)
49er: 5. Chris Rast/ Trevor Burd (USA)
49erFX: 1. Stephanie Roble/ Margaret Shea (USA)
Finn: 5. Caleb Paine (USA)
Laser: 6. Charlie Buckingham (USA)
Laser Radial: 7. Paige Railey (USA)
Nacra 17: 3. Riley Gibbs/ Louisa Chafee (USA)

Editor’s note: This report has been updated due to scoring changes.

Event details – Results – Facebook

Eight of the ten Olympic fleets (no boards) are racing from June 20 to 24. Here are the teams entered from Canada, Mexico, and USA:

470 M (1): Stu McNay/ Dave Hughes (USA)
470 W (1): Kathleen Tocke/ Charlie Bess (USA)
49er (7): William Jones/ Evan DePaul (CAN), Ryan Wood/ Andrew Wood (CAN), Nevin Snow/ Max Agnese (USA), Judge Ryan/ Hans Henken (USA), Andrew Mollerus/ ? (USA), Ian Barrows/ Mitchell Kiss (USA), Chris Rast/ Trevor Burd (USA)
49erFX (3): Alexandra Ten Hove/ Nariah Millen (CAN), Stephanie Roble/ Margaret Shea (USA), Lucy Wilmot/ Nathan Houseberg (USA)
Finn (4): Tom Ramshaw (CAN), Kyle Martin (CAN), Caleb Paine (USA), Luke Muller (USA)
Laser (14): Norman Struthers (CAN), Luke Ruitenberg (CAN), Robert Juhasz (CAN), Hugh Macrae (CAN), Liam Bruce (CAN), Noah Collinson (CAN), Matti Muru (CAN), Forrest Wachholz (CAN), Robert Davis (CAN), Justin Norton (CAN), Fillah Karim (CAN), Yanic Gentry (MEX), Charlie Buckingham (USA), Darius Mienville (USA)
Laser Radial (3): Clara Gravely (CAN), Coralie Vittecoq (CAN), Paige Railey (USA)
Nacra 17 (3): Riley Gibbs/ Louisa Chafee (USA), Ravi Parent/ Christina Persson (USA), Sarah Newberry/ David Liebenberg (USA)

Source: Andy Rice