2008 RS Feva World Championships Gottskar, Sweden.
Wednesday
Harrington and Lyden move up to 5th with With 3 races to go. Southerly winds followed by an unsuspectingly strong current were ideal conditions for the second day of finals of the 2008 World Championships Gottskar, Sweden.
Good starts and consistent sailing in the latter two gold fleet races on wednesday have Richard Harrington and Conor Lyden well placed to finish in the medals on the final day. Southerly winds followed with an unsuspectingly strong current were ideal conditions as the sun finally shows.
Having recovered in race 4, the first of Wednesdays races from a difficult early stage in the first beat they managed a creditable 11th closely followed by Isabella and Tom Morehead taking 12th. The 2007 champions Swedes Sofia Engstrom and Frida Langenius got caught going too far right and just managed a 19th. This also caught most of the top contenders and the british pair Boilingbroke and page ended up well down the fleet at 35th. With just one discard in the championship the results in this race opened things up in the front with everything to play for. Dicing with the present champions in the next two races, Harrington and Lyden, with two excellent starts and superbly sailed beats they managed a fourth and third with the Engstrom taking two fifths.
Though tides are minimal a strong current ran South causing difficulties at the mark roundings in what was very close racing. GBR contenders, Tim Gratton and Chris taylor are frighteningly quick and discarded a 6th place after the seventh race leading the championship with just 14 points- both have clearly benefitted from their participation in both Oppie National Squad training schedule with a full Feva National training schedule in the UK. The Italians Alessio and Mattia Bellico at 29 points hold second, the Swedes have dropped back to third with 33, Italians Eduardo Semenzeto and Ludovico Bonsi 4th with 36 and RCYC Harrington and Lyden 5th with 40.
Isabella and Tom Morehead continued to climb with two 12ths and looked set for a top ten position in the 3rd race of the day but for a capsize on the last leg with kite up. A recovery to 28th still them up to 15th overall. The O’Leary brother and sister combo from HYC had a great first race with a 14th which has them at 31st overall and unfortunately Richard Harrington and Robbie English dropped back to 39th finding the lighter conditions not to their liking. Julie Tingle and Alexandra Morehead bounced back to a creditable 26th in the last race of the day to put them in 48th place overall. None of the contenders should loose hope of improving their position as the points are close and with fresh conditions and only one discard, anything can happen!
The Silver fleet remains to be dominated by Swedes Perrson and Lindh on just 10 points overall. The Irish peppered the top of the fleet all day with very strong performances. Mark Kelly and Miles kelly hold a well deserved second place overall at 49 points finishing their day with a third having lead the fleet for the entire race. After some superb individual performances 10th,11th and 12th positions are now held by Eikholt/Griffin HYC, Fitspatrick/Drury LRYC and Condy/Harris HYC with just 3 points between.RCYC pair Jane and Vikki Cudmore got two tenths and now hold 27th place on on 128 points, just one point behind HYC contenders Craig and McCarthy. Foy and Lawn LRYC had a poor last race at 33rd which pulled them to 30th position overall. The single discard again having a major impact on overall fleet position at this level.
On the shore activities front the Irish squad have had a great time to date with an open air band last night allowing the days tensions to be released. The RCYC lads were again dicing with the Swedish girls, this time off the water and were finally extracted by co-drivers April and Mairead who seemed familiar with dealing with such antics. Gabrielle has been interviewed live on national radio which was wound up with with a rather poor backround rendition of ‘Ireland, Ireland’ by the Irsh squad to the amusement of all the spectators!
Best of luck to all in what should be a cracker of a final day Forcast is for frersher conditions which seem to suit the RCYC Feva sailors
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