OLYMPIC SAILING THREAD...!

[maestegmafia]

First topic message reminder :

Sailing over the last decade and a half has reaped e rewards of the fantastic coaching and encouragement that the Royal Yachting Association and their many member clubs and People have worked hard to perfect.

Team GBR has dominated the medal table in sailing for the last three Olympics.

Today two of our best sailors start their campaigns to add to their collection of gold medals.

Ben Ainlslie is racing singlehanded in the Men's Finn Class, a tough and technical boat designed for the larger sailor. Iain Percy and his crew Andrew "Bart" Simpson start in the Star Class, a tecnical two sail, two-man keel boat, that they won gold in in Beijing.

Later today the women's match racing starts with the McGregor sisters and Annie Lush in a three person keel boat. These girls are full of talent though are at their first olympics.

Match racing is a boat vs boat disciplin as opposed to the Fleet racing that the Finn and Star class competitors take part in.

We stand a great chance of a medal haul and likely a number of golds. It all starts today at 12.

[maestegmafia]

Gear failure on the first downwind leg cost the girls a race in in the 470 class. They dropped down to 8th at one point but fought back to 6th...

1 OLIVEIRA F/BARBACHAN A BRA

2 CONTI G/MICOL G ITA

3 SESTO MF/MONSEGUR C POR

4 WESTERHOF L/BERKHOUT L GER

5 ALEH J/POWRIE O NZL

6 MILLS H/CLARK S GBR

7 CLARK A/LIHAN S USA

8 LECOINTRE C/GERON M FRA

[maestegmafia]

Boys 470 is going well, sitting in second place at the end of the third day of sailing and have a huge gap between team OZ in First and GBR in second and the fleet behind them by nearly twenty points.

1 AUS 3 9 2 1 1 1 8
2 GBR 2 1 4 2 3 4 12
3 NZL 28 3 5 4 16 3 31

[maestegmafia]

Nick Dempsey is joint 2nd in the mens windsurfing...

[eirebilly]

How did Annalise end up?

[Thomond]

2nd Bill, point behind 2 girls tied for first. Well in it for Monday's medal race, double points for that.

[eirebilly]

Great stuff, could be a medal

[Thomond]

Would be very disappointing if there isn't one but she has done unbelievable so far really.

[eirebilly]

Hell the fact that she is there doing her best is outstanding. Medal would be immense.

[John Cregan]

Incredible from Murphy and the Medal Race is now a shootout between the Top 4......Murphy, Xu, Van Acker & Bouwmeester.......basically whichever one of those 4 finishes ahead of the other 3 has a Gold Medal, and the same with the silver & Bronze.....the 1 point lead that the Top 2 havs is completely irrelevent......................none of the other 6 can win a Medal.........................

Fingers crossed for Annalise..............

1	Lijia Xu	China	33
2	Marit Bouwmeester	Netherlands	33
3	Annalise Murphy	Ireland	34
4	Evi van Acker	Belgium	34
5	Alison Young	Great Britain	52

[maestegmafia]

OK Its the first medal races of the Olympics today...!

Ben Ainslie - Finn Class, Mens Single handed. Start @ 13:30

Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson - Star Class, Mens double handed keelboat. Start @ 13:00



Prediction is two Golds for GBR by two men who have won Gold before. Any less will be a shock. These guys are at the top of their game and have been their entire careers.

Is it going to be an easy win? Absolutely not, they are racing against competitors as good as them, many with a shout of a medal, world champions, Americas Cup winners, former Olympic medal winners it is going to be exceptionally tough, but both can do it.

Should be awesome racing.

[maestegmafia]

Star Class 40 seconds from the start on BBC3 now

[maestegmafia]

Good start, mid line, slightly conservative and GBR are being left alone by BRazil and Sweden which is good it looks like GBR are ahead of both...

[maestegmafia]

First cross up wind with GBR and Brazil coming together with GBR on port, BRA on Starboard tack (Starboard has right of way over Port... GBR clear ahead.

[maestegmafia]

Sweden have first place coming towards the first windward mark...

1 LOOF F
SALMINEN M
7:01
2 PEPPER H
TURNER J
+0:08
3 ROHART X
PONSOT PA
+0:08
4 MENDELBLATT M
FATIH B
+0:11
5 PERCY I
SIMPSON A
+0:15
6 KUSZNIEREWICZ M
ZYCKI D
+0:18
7 STANJEK R
KLEEN F
+0:24
8 SCHEIDT R
PRADA B
+0:24
9 O'LEARY P
BURROWS D
+0:29
10 MELLEBY E
PEDERSEN PM
+0:34

That is a gold medal position for GBR at the moment

[maestegmafia]

Very light conditions out there today... Just 11 knots of wind... close racing loads of skill involved

[maestegmafia]

Again the left hand side of the course is the favoured... GBR follow SWE round the right leeward mark.. BRA do the opposite... not a bad tactic as FRA had a poor start, ducked behind the entire fleet but cam out in second having re over taken everyone on the first upwind leg...

GBR in 5th GOLD
SWE in 1st SILVER
BRA in 7th BRONZE

as it stands, one more lap to go

[EnglishReign]

This is tense! Never thought I'd get so into sailing.

[maestegmafia]

Glad you did ER mate... great sport, similar type of people to rugby...

[alfie]

Just a question maestegmafia ...is there a danger here that Percy is worrying too much about Brazil and risking losing too many places to Sweden?

[maestegmafia]

Current standings


1 SWEDEN
LOOF F
SALMINEN M
7:01
(1)
12:10
(1)
+0:05
(2)1
22:02
1

2 NZ
PEPPER H
TURNER J
+0:08
(2)
+0:01
(2)
17:41
(1)1
+0:02
1

3 FRANCE
ROHART X
PONSOT PA
+0:08
(3)
+0:08
(3)
+0:17
(3)
+0:16

4 GERMANY
STANJEK R
KLEEN F
+0:24
(7)
+0:14
(7)
+0:20
(4)3
+0:24

5 GBR
PERCY I
SIMPSON A
+0:15
(5)
+0:08
(4)1
+0:28
(5)1
+0:26

6 USA
MENDELBLATT M
FATIH B
+0:11
(4)
+0:13
(6)2
+0:30
(6)
+0:26

7 NORWAY
MELLEBY E
PEDERSEN PM
+0:34
(10)
+0:23
(9)1
+0:32
(7)2
+0:27

8 POLAND
KUSZNIEREWICZ M
ZYCKI D
+0:18
(6)
+0:16
(8)2
+0:44
(9)1
+0:34
1

9 BRAZIL
SCHEIDT R
PRADA B
+0:24
(8)
+0:12
(5)3
+0:38
(8)3
+0:38
1

10 IRELAND O'LEARY P
BURROWS D
+0:29
(9)
+0:34
(10)1
+0:50
(10)
+0:52


BUT PLACES ARE CHANGING

Sweden are doing well and could take GOLD right now

[maestegmafia]

Just a question maestegmafia ...is there a danger here that Percy is worrying too much about Brazil and risking losing too many places to Sweden?

yes...

currently PERCY is in silver not gold... if sweden win which looks likely then GBR need to be fifth or higher

[alfie]

As I thought ... Might have been better to just chase the Swedes from the start ?

But I guess Percy knows what he's doing...just needs to gain one place , eh...

[maestegmafia]

GBR 5th thats GOLD

they have gone to left of the downwind leg... last leg...!

They can control the fleet if they need to gybe the will have right of way over the fleet.

[maestegmafia]

As I thought ... Might have been better to just chase the Swedes from the start ?

But I guess Percy knows what he's doing...just needs to gain one place , eh...

Yeah Percy and Bart will be doing all the maths...

Sweden are in the most awkward position because in the lead there is nothing they can do to the rest of the fleet...

[maestegmafia]

tense finish...

need fifth

[maestegmafia]

oh no...!!!!


pipped at the finish looks like silver

[alfie]

Seventh !

Silver

[maestegmafia]

Sweden Gold
GBR Silver
Brazil Bronze


it all happened in the last few metres here the fleet was close and spread out and just had a touch more wind than GBR...

Percy and Bart look devasted

[alfie]

Hard to be critical of a man with his record , but as a layman I do wonder if Percy got his tactics right there.

Only missed by one place ( and just a few meters ) when you might have thought that the crew that was leading the fleet would have been likely to finish in the top six if they had just ignored the Brazilians and gone for it...but I guess it is a tricky sport with gusts of wind and you have to make instant judgements...

They look gutted.

[maestegmafia]

I think you are right Alfie...

History taught Percy to watch for Schidt rather than Loof and it cost him Gold..


Next race is shaping up to be immense

[maestegmafia]

Ainslie has now left Christensen to his own devices and headed out to the right of the course...

[maestegmafia]

1 KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan
6:17
2 LOBERT Jonathan
+0:02
3 SLATER Dan
+0:05
4 NIRKKO Tapio
+0:06
5 AINSLIE Ben
+0:11
6 POSTMA Pieter-Jan
+0:13
HOGH-CHRISTENSEN Jonas
TRUJILLO VILLAR Rafael
ZBOGAR Vasilij
BIRGMARK Daniel


Currently gold for Beano

[maestegmafia]

What a downwind leg.. took nearly the entire fleet.. Now in second and looking like the greatest olympic sailor ever... two more legs to go


1 LOBERT Jonathan
+0:02
(2)
10:38
1
2 AINSLIE Ben
+0:11
(5)
+0:03
3
3 KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan
6:17
(1)
+0:12
2
4 POSTMA Pieter-Jan
+0:13
(6)
+0:15
2
5 NIRKKO Tapio
+0:06
(4)
+0:18
1
6 ZBOGAR Vasilij
+0:21
(7)
+0:19
1
7 HOGH-CHRISTENSEN Jonas
+0:28
(9)
+0:19
2
8 BIRGMARK Daniel
+0:24
(8)
+0:20
9 SLATER Dan
+0:05
(3)
+0:20
6
10 TRUJILLO VILLAR Rafael
+0:31
(10)
+0:24

[alfie]

Ainslie in second / third ...this is looking good so far , although now I see the Dane is getting closer to him...this sailing stuff is fascinating , now they have the cameras and virtual gizmos to cover it so mugs like me can see what is happening

Keeping my fingers crossed...

[maestegmafia]

Ainslie has been trying to sail the Dane off the course this leg...


1 LOBERT Jonathan
+0:02
(2)
10:38
(1)1
16:34
2 SLATER Dan
+0:05
(3)
+0:20
(9)6
+0:29
7
3 KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan
6:17
(1)
+0:12
(3)2
+0:33
4 BIRGMARK Daniel
+0:24
(8)
+0:20
(8)
+0:35
4
5 TRUJILLO VILLAR Rafael
+0:31
(10)
+0:24
(10)
+0:37
5
6 POSTMA Pieter-Jan
+0:13
(6)
+0:15
(4)2
+0:50
2
7 NIRKKO Tapio
+0:06
(4)
+0:18
(5)1
+0:54
2
8 ZBOGAR Vasilij
+0:21
(7)
+0:19
(6)1
+0:54
2


9 AINSLIE Ben
+0:11
(5)
+0:03
(2)3
+1:01
7


10 HOGH-CHRISTENSEN Jonas
+0:28
(9)
+0:19
(7)2
+1:08
3

[alfie]

Thought so...

Like what he did to the Brazilian chap in Sydney ?

How many places does he have in hand over the Dutchman ? Fair few isn't it...

[maestegmafia]

1 LOBERT Jonathan
+0:02
(2)
10:38
(1)1
16:34
(1)
20:52
(1)
27:20
2 SLATER Dan
+0:05
(3)
+0:20
(9)6
+0:29
(2)7
+0:32
(2)
+0:09
3 POSTMA Pieter-Jan
+0:13
(6)
+0:15
(4)2
+0:50
(6)2
+0:52
(6)
+0:16
3
4 KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan
6:17
(1)
+0:12
(3)2
+0:33
(3)
+0:36
(3)
+0:27
1
5 TRUJILLO VILLAR Rafael
+0:31
(10)
+0:24
(10)
+0:37
(5)5
+0:45
(5)
+0:30
6 BIRGMARK Daniel
+0:24
(8)
+0:20
(8)
+0:35
(4)4
+0:39
(4)
+0:39
2
7 ZBOGAR Vasilij
+0:21
(7)
+0:19
(6)1
+0:54
(8)2
+0:54
(7)1
+0:44
8 NIRKKO Tapio
+0:06
(4)
+0:18
(5)1
+0:54
(7)2
+1:01
(8)1
+0:52
9 AINSLIE Ben
+0:11
(5)
+0:03
(2)3
+1:01
(9)7
+1:04
(9)
+1:02
10 HOGH-CHRISTENSEN Jonas
+0:28
(9)
+0:19
(7)2
+1:08
(10)3
+1:14
(10)
+1:14


BEN in Gold position but if the NED sailor can get from third into second Holland might take gold

[alfie]

Oh dear this is tight ...if the Dutchman gets second he can nick it , right?

[maestegmafia]

yep absolute silence here...

[alfie]

So Ben needs to overtake one to make sure of this...got a nasty déjà vue thing this is going like the Star race

[maestegmafia]

Postma (NED) Lost out massively to Slater the Kiwi... NED now 5th

Ben 9th and Jonas (DEN) 10th

[alfie]

Aha the Dutchman made a mistake and dropped two spots

[maestegmafia]

YES

GOLD AINSLIE GREATEST SAILOR IN OLYMPIC HISTORY

[alfie]

GOLD

[maestegmafia]

The crowd go nuts

[maestegmafia]

Greatest Sailing Olympian. Four golds and a silver in four olympics

Three consecutive Golds in three olympics in the same disciplin... something only ever acheived by Carl Lewis, Al Oerter and Ben Ainslie

[eirebilly]

Great stuff and cheers maesteg for all the updates

[alfie]

What a sailor !

Overall he is up there with the likes of Redgrave , Wiggins and Hoy , Thompson and Coe...

Sir Ben ?

[alfie]

And also many thanks to you for all the expert summaries and explanations , maestegmafia - made this so much more enjoyable to follow

[Guest]

So the Gold was within the Dutchman's hands? What a race!

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