470 Women
The same three teams head up the 470 Women fleet - with Spain in first,
Brazil in second and Denmark in third. These three have yet again
extended their lead over the rest of the fleet and today's performances
have guaranteed them all qualification through to Friday's Medal Race
and a shot at the Championships title, regardless of where they finish
in tomorrow's race 12.
However, they are the only ones assured of that privilege, due to the
massive points margin between them and the rest of the fleet. After the
third placed Henriette Koch/Lene Sommer (DEN), there is a 20 point
margin to the next team in fourth place. Outside of these top three,
none of the other teams currently in the top 10 are assured of still
being there after race 12 tomorrow - where there is all to gain and
equally all to lose.
The battle at the front of the 470 women swung back in favour of world
#11 team Tara Pacheco/Berta Betanzos (ESP) after race 10 when they moved
into the overall lead ahead of Brazil's Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luisa
Barbachan. These two teams are familiar with each other's racing styles
as they train together and are clearly enjoying the rivalry. Catching up
with a smiling Betanzos as she put their boat away after racing, "It has
been a hard day because it has been windy and three races and also we
wanted to race well, so we did all the best we could and it is tiring."
Sailing brilliantly in Helsinki are world ranked #5 team Koch/Sommer
(DEN), who seem to have pumped their sailing up to another level over
recent months. Their worst case scenario tomorrow in terms of points
accumulation is 16 points, so they know that the lowest position on the
leaderboard they will be going into the Medal Race on Friday is third
overall. "The plan is just to go out, make a good start and see what
happens because it is really hard to predict what is going to happen in
a race. So you just have to make sure you don't make big mistakes and
that is what has got us so far already. So we will stick to that plan,"
Koch reflected on the objective for race 12. "We were fifth last year at
the Europeans and hopefully it's going to be even better this year."
Confirming their improvement in form, Sommer said, "I think we have got
more mature. We don't have big weaknesses. We are all round in all
conditions. In the last six months our speed has definitely got better
upwind and we are superfast downwind. It is down to time on the water
and speed testing over and over again. We have been very detailed,
measured everything and made sure we know what is going on. Hard work."
The world #4 ranked team Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving-Farrar have
secured their best racing day and move up to ninth on the leaderboard,
up three places from where they were yesterday. Crucial for them was
securing a third place in race 11, their best result of the series so
far. "We had seen the right pay in both of the first two races so we
figured we would go right and we did. We started late at the start and
were the furthest right boat going upwind and were first at the windward
mark. On our second lap the breeze dropped dramatically and filled in
from the left, so we got passed by a couple of people, but we were
really happy with it," explained Kinsolving-Farrar. They finished just
ahead of their American team mates Amanda Clark/Sarah Chin, who are
clearly nudging them. Kinsolving-Farrar continued, "Amanda and Sarah are
sailing really well and we are thrilled to be pushed. It is going to
make hopefully us, but whoever qualifies for the Olympics, that much
better."
And on their plan for Thursday's race 12, Maxwell added, "We want to get
a good start and have a good race - nothing too tricky. Just race well,
nothing too special."
When you look at the results so far for this series the 11 race wins are
shared amongst nine different teams from eight different nations, really
demonstrating the depth of talent in the 470 Women fleet.
Get the latest update on the 470 Women racing - including blog, results
and live tracking via the dedicated Class Page.
<http://www.openeuropeans2011.com/eventsites/classpage_microsite.asp?eve
ntid=65354&cid=72>
