Brutal test at Kieler Woche

Kiel, Germany (June 22, 2018) – Strong winds and shifty conditions were the theme for the third day at Kieler Woche for the Olympic fleets. Where it was difficult to be consistent for some, other crews were firing in bullet after bullet with now just two days remaining to the Medal Races.

Nacra 17
John Gimson and Anna Burnet sailed a stunning day with their scores of 1,3,2 moving the British crew to the top of the leaderboard ahead of previous leaders Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS). These two teams hold a bit of a gap on the rest of the fleet with Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders of New Zealand sitting in third overall.

Aussie siblings Nathan and Haylee Outteridge continue to get to grips with the Nacra 17 after only a few days of sailing the foiling multihull. Today’s scores of 10,1,3 have lifted the combo to 11th overall. The Outteridges had to come from way back in the race that they won, managing to find some good windshifts on the upwind legs to work their way past the opposition.

Finn
Previous leader in the Finns, Ed Wright of Great Britain, now finds himself in the middle of a Kiwi sandwich. Andrew Maloney moves to a 1 point lead while Wright sits on equal points with Josh Junior who moves to third overall. With a nine-point gap back to another Brit in fourth place, Ben Cornish, it’s looking like it will be a three-way fight for the Finn medals.

470M
Luke Patience and Chris Grube won two races this afternoon, moving the British team to one point behind the new series leaders, Swedes Anton Dahlberg/ Fredrik Bergstrom. Previous leaders Mat Belcher and Will Ryan have slipped to third overall although the Aussies are still only three points off the lead.

470W
Silvia Mas and Patricia Cantero won both of the last two races this afternoon which moves the Spanish to second overall and within striking distance of the German leaders, Nadine Böhm and Ann- Christin Goliaß, whose advantage is now down to just two points. Maria Bozi and Rafailina Klonaridou of Greece sit in third place on equal points with the Spanish.

49er
Only four points separate the top four teams with a bullet in the last race today lifting the Danish Olympic Champion of 2008, Jonas Warrer and Jakob Jensen, to first overall. Fritiof Hedström and Otto Hamel enjoyed a stunning day in the strong breeze with scores of 4,1,2 which lifts the Swedes to 8th overall.

49erFX
As with the 49er Men, the points at the top of the 49erFX women’s skiff are close. Yesterday’s leaders from the Netherlands have dropped to fourth overall but it’s another Dutch crew that takes up the lead – Dewi Couvert and Jeske Kisters – although just one point in front of the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists Alex Maloney and Molly Meech from New Zealand. Just two points further back in third overall are Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke of Germany.

Laser Men
Elliot Hanson of Great Britain has been sailing incredibly consistently with scores of 5,1,1,2,2 to hold a four point lead ahead of local hero Philipp Buhl. Back in third place is Estonia’s Karl-Martin Rammo.

Laser Radial
Maxime Jonker of the Netherlands has won all five of her races so far and holds a three point lead over Norway’s Line Flem Höst, with Japan’s Manami Doi another two points back in third overall.

Canada, Mexico, USA update:
After a strong start, the North American contingent in the top ten now thinned to just three of the eight classes:

Finn: 6. Caleb Paine (USA)
Laser Radial: 7. Paige Railey (USA)
Nacra 17: 6. Riley Gibbs/ Louisa Chafee (USA)

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