SAILING NEWS
News 9
GBR take Cascais championships by storm
BEST OF BRITISH: Nick Dempsey, left, who took bronze in the RSX men and, above, gold medal Yngling stars
Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson
from Portual
that worried that I lost the guys on the first
upwind,” the Skandia Team GBR sailor BRITAIN’S MEDAL HEROES
TOP TEAM:
recalled. “If you miss a gust on the upwind
Stephen
leg, you can usually make it back by catching
GOLD: Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes (49er)
Park with
a gust or two downwind.” Sarah Ayton-Sarah Webb-Pippa Wilson (Yngling)
the IOC
The 26-year-old certainly managed to gain
President's
ground on the downwind run, but it wasn’t
BRONZE: Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark (470)
Cup
until the very last leg featuring the newly-
Nick Dempsey (RSX), right
introduced slalom finish that things really Shirley Robertson-Annie Lush-Lucy Macgregor (Yngling)
hotted up. Dempsey caught Santos and
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (Star)
Miarczynski to push himself into the silver
medal position, only for the Polish sailor to
pull back at the last gasp to see Dempsey fin-
windward mark for the second time, Wilson “But we’ve come such a long way in such
ish with the bronze.
missed the toe straps and fell into the water – a short space of time,” Robertson continued.
“It was mental!” Dempsey said. “I’m
their boat came painfully close to touching “Who would have thought we would be bat-
really happy with third though – everyone’s
the buoy as they tried to haul Wilson back on tling it out for the gold medal here against
been sailing well all week and has really
board. teams who have been together for the last
upped their game for this event, so it’s a good
The trio crew recovered to cross the line three years?”
abandoned racing for the Star sailors, deny-
result.”
sixth in the medal race, which was enough The Finn medal race was also contested on
ing Sydney gold medallist Percy and crew
Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa
for them to capture the world title by just one Wednesday, with seven sailors all within five
Simpson the chance to fight for higher hon-
Wilson clinched Great Britain’s first gold at
point. The American crew of Sally Barkow, points of each other and in with a shot at the
ours.
the Championships on the Wednesday, win-
Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi gained sil- medals. Ed Wright went into the final in
The Skandia Team GBR sailors, who
ning the Yngling world title and pulling one
ver, with Robertson, Lush and Macgregor in fourth place, but was unable to boost himself
joined forces at the beginning of 2007, rued
step closer to Olympic qualification for
third after finishing ninth in the medal race. into the medal positions. He finished the
missed opportunities at this regatta through
Beijing 2008.
“It’s just awesome,” exclaimed Ayton. medal race in eighth place, to end his regatta
lack of race practice in the Star as a result of
Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley
“We’ve been working so hard for this ever in sixth place overall.
their America’s Cup campaign, which con-
Robertson with her crew Annie Lush and
since I became a helm and especially since Strong winds had made racing impossible
cluded in early May, but are still happy with
Lucy Macgregor claimed the bronze medal
Pippa joined our team at the end of the last on the Monday but Great Britain still claimed
a bronze at their first World Championship
spot.
year. its first medal of the event with Iain Percy
outing together.
The new ‘three blondes in a boat’ of Ayton,
“Preparing for the event, we knew it would and Andrew Simpson clinching bronze in the
“It was a bit frustrating that we didn’t have
Webb and Wilson went into the final medal
be a windy venue, which are the conditions Star class.
the chance to improve our position out there
race on Wednesday with a slender one point
that Shirley is strong in, so we knew there ‘The wind is calling...’ states the motto of
today, but we’ve got to be pleased with
lead over Robertson’s second-placed crew.
was the chance that it could have come down these Championships, and with conditions of
bronze given the short time we’ve had since
After a clear start they were the second boat
to who beat who in the medal race. Our goal up to 40 knots sweeping across Cascais Bay
finishing the Cup,” Percy explained.
to reach the first windward mark, with
was to win the start, we did that and managed for the first of the medal race days on
“It’s a stepping stone for us on the road to
Robertson’s team in sixth.
to hold on.” Monday, it certainly called loudly.
the Olympics and we’ve proven we’re up
Already on the back foot after a poor start,
“This was only the third medal race I have After a long wait on shore, there was a
there with the rest of them – with a bit more
Robertson, Lush and Macgregor then had to
competed in since the new format was intro- glimmer of hope that the fleet would get rac-
practice time we’ll be making the top step.”
take penalty turns for infringing the German
duced two years ago,” Robertson comment- ing – conditions calmed enough for the boats
Monday also saw the conclusion of the
boat which set them back further.
ed. “I felt we sailed a really good regatta this to leave the dock at around 1900hrs, but once
Championships for the Tornado class, with
But there was a heart-in-mouth moment
week, but our execution of the medal race out on the race course the wind whipped
Leigh McMillan and Will Howden retaining
for Ayton and Webb when, heading into the
wasn’t good enough. through the bay again. Race officers finally
their fifth place.
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