Beautiful Ending To A Perfect Week At ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères
From the words of the sailors competing at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères it was a beautiful ending to a perfect week.
More than 1,100 sailors from 59 nations raced at the final ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta of the 2013-2014 series and were treated to exceptional race action.
Medals across the ten Olympic events were decided on the final day with a 10-12 knot westerly breeze on flat water bringing a superb week to an end
Laser Radial
ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne winner Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR) entered the Medal Race with a three point lead over Evi Van Acker (BEL).
Van Acker relinquished her lead the day prior having sailed the wrong course and counted a high score that handed Drozdovskaya the advantage going into the last day.
Van Acker went out with intent and sailed a superb race that she lead from off to take the bullet and gold as she explained, "I just had a strategy that I discussed with my coach and everything just worked out.
"I was the only one starting at the pin end. Everybody else was middle of the line or boat end so I was happy I was down there so could have a good start.
"I played the left side more than the others and I was in front from the beginning. Once you're sailing in front it's no so hard, if you're at the back it's quite difficult.”
Hyères is one of Van Acker's favourite venues as she was thrilled to take the regatta victory, "Hyeres is always the toughest World Cup to win. I've managed to win it only once before and now it's really nice to win it for a second time because it's a difficult venue.
"It's my first win in a very long time so I'm really happy. I had a lot of fans on the water, all the team went out and it was great fun. I'm really happy that I could make up from my stupid mistake yesterday.”
Marit Bouwmeester (NED) finished the Medal Race in second which was not enough to move in to silver medal position as Drozdovskaya held on to second podium spot with a third.
Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze will go into the remainder of 2014 full of confidence after they took their second consecutive ISAF Sailing World Cup gold medal in Hyères.
The Brazilians were dominant in Mallorca and despite a final day wobble in Hyères they came away with gold.
Grael and Kunze held an 18 point lead over Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL) ahead of the three stadium style races and an 8-3-9 score line was enough for them to hold on. The Kiwis won the day with a 6-1-3 score line and reduced the deficit to eight points but they settled for silver.
After racing Grael said, "We're not used to the format and we had an 18 points lead so it wasn't too hard for us. We did pretty bad in the races but we still managed to win. I'm feeling awesome, what can be better than this?
"I think it's been the best week the sailors have ever seen in Hyères. We had great wind, weather and I've been talking to the old guys and they've all said it's the best week ever. We're looking forward to coming back here again.”
Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen (DEN) finished third overall.
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) won their third ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta of the 2013-2014 series after another controlling display in Hyères.
The Kiwi girls had a tough day on the water as Powrie explained, "It was a little bit stressful. We made it hard for ourselves. We thought we may have been over at the start so we came back and re-started.
"We managed to make our way back through the fleet and we still managed to come away with an overall win but still stressful.”
The Kiwis finished the Medal Race in fourth which was enough to defend their overnight lead.
Aleh and Powrie sailed in Qingdao, Mallorca and Hyères taking gold at all. On the victory Powrie added, "I'm very relieved. It's really nice to win again. We put together a relatively good series which was nice. We didn't have that many different conditions this week. It was a bit of a grind by the end of it.”
Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre, who won ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, and Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha (USA) fought hard for silver and bronze. The Britons came through in second which gave them the silver whilst an American fifth saw them finish the week in third.
There were plenty of permutations possible in the Nacra 17 with ample medal opportunities across the top five racers.
Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis (AUS) had the advantage in the fleet with a seven point lead over Billy Besson and Marie Riou (FRA) and Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri (ITA).
Unfortunately the Australians made an error on the race course as Bundock explained, "We had to finish within three boats of French or within four boats of the Italians. We were doing that midway through the race but then they shortened the course and we stuffed up basically.
"We headed to the wrong mark and we ended up finishing second last and let the other guys get away. We finished third overall and the Italians finished first with the French in second.
"It's a silly mistake on our behalf. They halved the leg and we weren't expecting that at all. By the time we tacked and looked back it was all over.”
Bissaro and Sicouri and Besson and Riou were tied on 72 points upon the conclusion of the race but the Italians came through in second compared to the French teams third, which game them gold.
