Star Sailors League: Perfection & Pain in phénoménale SSL GOLD CUP 1/8 FINALS

Fleet 1, Race 4

A beautiful start, with Malaysia winning the pin, while USA at the committee boat end with pace. With an even leaderboard and double points on offer, it was anybody’s guess who would make it through to the 1/4 Finals.

By the first mark, USA had gained a comfortable 17 second lead over Malaysia in second, closely followed by Hungary, then scoreboard leaders Argentina trailing in last.

The Malaysian ‘Monsoon’ stayed hot on the ‘Golden Eagles’ tail on the downwind leg, and rounded the second gate just 7 seconds behind Team USA, far more smoothly than the Americans whose kite dragged in the water.

In the third leg, Malaysia established a slight lead over USA, with Hungary coming back into contention as the three frontrunners entered a tacking duel 100 metres from the windward mark. Malaysia made it to the mark just in the nick of time to maintain their lead, with Hungary and USA only seconds behind.

While the Argentinian ‘Condores’ were forgotten at the back of the fleet, just metres separated the other three as they jostled for first place down the final leg. But the Malaysian ‘Monsoon’ managed to gybe defensively to secure the victory, only beating the Hungarian ‘Shamans’ by 3 seconds. Celebrations for both teams as they go through to the 1/4 Finals, while bad luck for new arrivals Teams USA and Argentina who already have to go home.

Fleet 2, Race 4

With the Lithuanian ‘Ambers’ effectively qualified, and Poland’s ‘Sea Wolves’ whimpering, this race was always going to be focused on the battle between Brazil’s ‘Storm’ and Tahiti’s ‘Black Pearls’.

‘The Ambers’ started perfectly, establishing their usual dominance in the fleet right from the get-go. Tahiti were late and tacked away, and Brazil immediately matched them. Game on.

For the first leg ‘The Black Pearls’ and the ‘Brazilian Storm’ were locked in a tacking duel, the crews looking focused and coordinated, each vying for the slightest edge over the other. While initially the ‘Storm’ had the advantage, ‘The Black Pearls’ managed to split away, and they came into the first mark just a boat length apart.

Mistakes are costly at the best of times, today more than ever, and Tahiti lost vital seconds with a poor spinnaker hoist, but interestingly Brazil gybed away early, splitting from ‘The Black Pearls’, possibly giving them a chance to atone for their bad hoist.

When they crossed, ‘Brazilian Storm’ maintained their advantage, but again they gave ‘The Black Pearls’ some room, letting them separate to the offshore side of the course.

If there’s one thing you gain as multi-time Olympic medallists, it’s confidence in your decisions, and the afterguard combination of Robert Scheidt and Martine Grael on ‘Brazilian Storm’, who have 7 medals between them, sailed the run to perfection to vie for the lead with the ‘Ambers’ at the leeward gate.

By this point, the pressure was showing on board the Tahiti yacht. Crewwork again hurt them with a slow spinnaker drop further hampering their chances to qualify for the 1/4 Finals.

The second lap was relatively uneventful. Lithuania sailed the 1/8 Finals to perfection, scoring a flawless 20 points, while Brazil’s superstars finally overcame the challenge of the tiny South Pacific island of Tahiti to qualify second. It’s been a dream run for ‘The Black Pearls’, but the fan favourites are out.

Fleet 3, Race 4

This fleet was all to play for going into the final race, and we witnessed super tight racing throughout, with only a few metres separating the teams.

South Africa’s ‘Team Ubuntu’ gained a big tactical advantage early on, boxing in Switzerland and Chile, and forcing the ‘Helvetic Lakers’ to tack off to the right. Towards the windward mark, South Africa managed to create a small gap ahead of the fleet, rounding 15 seconds before Chile’s ‘Finis Terrae Sailors’.

With the ‘Helvetic Lakers’ at the back on the first downwind leg, it was looking good for ‘Team Ubuntu’ and the ‘Finis Terrae Sailors’. Could they keep it clean and avoid any errors though? The ‘Lakers’ came right back into it at the leeward gate, but a poor spinnaker drop nullified their gains. There simply is no margin for error at this level.

The second upwind leg saw South Africa and Chile battle for the lead, and potentially winning their group, while Norway hung on to their coattails.

The ‘Finis Terrae Sailors’ rounded the final windward mark a few seconds ahead of ‘Team Ubuntu’ setting things up for an epic downwind battle to the finish.

Unbelievably the ‘Helvetic Lakers’ came right back into it, overtaking ‘Team Ubuntu’, which put the Swiss into the second qualifying spot. The South Africans put in a desperate gybe with 500 metres to go.

Chile won the race to qualify top, Norway finished second, but Switzerland stayed ahead of South Africa to snatch the second qualifying spot. An extraordinary final leg by the ‘Helvetic Lakers’ led to wild celebrations on the Swiss yacht, while the South African team looked utterly stunned.

Fleet 4, Race 4

In another fleet where it was all to play for, Portugal led on 11 points, Slovenia on 6, Sweden on 4, while France needed a certain finish combination in this race to have any chance of qualifying.

We saw a great start from Thursday’s winner Slovenia’s ‘KRPANI1860’. France’s ‘Bleus’ tried to luff the Portuguese ‘Navigators’ on the line, with red flags waving wildly, but the umpires saw nothing in it.

The first windward mark saw ‘KRPANI1860’ ahead of ‘Les Bleus’, with group leaders the ‘Navigators’ third, and finally Sweden’s ‘Vikings’, with all completing clean spinnaker hoists. With this order it was looking good for Slovenia and Portugal to qualify to the 1/4 Finals.

The French had a quick downwind leg, pushing Slovenia at the leeward gate, but Sweden put the spinnaker in the water, dropping them back from the main fleet by nearly 400 metres.

The upwind leg was uneventful, but everything changed on the final downwind leg. ‘Les Bleus’ took the lead, but knew they needed to push ‘KRPANI1860’ into third to qualify themselves, so they tried to lock the Slovenians out on the inshore side of the course.

The two engaged in an intense battle, with the most incroyable situation unfolding as France held Slovenia back, finished first themselves whilst also letting Portugal and Sweden finish behind them, pushing Slovenia into last place.

Final Series

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Text and images courtesy of starsailors.com. For more information and to read the full release visit the Star Sailors League website.