Day 6 Analysis: The Good, The Bad and the ILCA

Men’s Windsurfing: Grae grabs a medal

Grae Morris made an inauspicious start to his campaign a few days ago, the Australian scoring 13, DNS (25) from his first two races. As it turned out, the 20-year-old would get to drop both those results from his final scoreline. From then on the consistent Aussie kept all his scores inside the top 10 and won two races along the way.

The young Aussie has booked his place in the three-rider final of the Medal Series, meaning that a medal of some colour is assured for Australia. The big man is rewarding himself tonight with “a big dessert”. Finishing just three points behind Morris was Tom Reuveny from Israel, but this means he’ll have to battle it out with third-placed Josh Armit (NZL) in the semi-final along with who else in the top 10 makes it through the seven-rider quarter-final. 

There’s some serious talent further down the order including Poland’s Pawel Tarnowski, Dutchman Luuc van Opzeeland and Italy’s reigning World Champion Nicolo Renna. It’s a shock to see Germany’s Sebastian Koerdel and France’s own Nicolas Goyard miss the cut for the top 10.

Women’s Windsurfing: Wilson gets (at least) another bronze

Emma Wilson won a bronze medal on the RS:X board three years ago in Tokyo. After a dominant performance throughout this week the British windsurfer has secured at least another bronze and the prospect of a possible first ever windsurfing gold medal for Great Britain.

The points gaps behind Wilson really stretched across the series but everything compresses for the final day’s Medal Series. Israel’s Sharon Kantor and Italy’s Marta Maggetti have at least secured a spot in the Semi-Final whereas the rest of the top 10 will have to scrap their way out of the Quarter-Final.

Men’s Skiff: Day of Frustration

There were two attempts at getting the Men’s Skiff Medal Race completed today. In the first race Diego Botin and Florian Trittel found a good lane out to the right hand side of the course and were higher and faster than their rivals. Already sitting in gold medal position, the Spanish team rounded the first mark with a good lead. However the breeze started to collapse and the Spanish looked vulnerable as the Uruguayans carried a small zephyr to dribble past Team ESP and into a slender lead. By the bottom of the course, however, the breeze had all but collapsed and the race was abandoned.

The restart of the race later in the afternoon saw a perfect start from the Dutch. Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken booked their place next to the committee boat, started on starboard and immediately flopped on to port tack to race out to the right-hand side of the course. The further up the course they went, the more they were able to stretch their legs as the breeze built. It looked like a healthy lead for the Dutch at the first turning mark and with a big right-hand wind shift there were no tactical decisions to be made other than gybe-set and make a beeline for the leeward gate marks.

Going around in third, the Croatian brothers Sime and Mihovil Fantela were knocking on the door of the podium. But then Sime fell off the back of the boat. Fortunately brother Mihovil ran to the leeward wing to stop the boat capsizing. Sime hauled himself back on board, and the brothers picked up where they left off, still in third, still within reach of a medal. 

Meanwhile the points were looking very close between Spain and the Kiwis, Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie, with the Irish still very much in the hunt. It would have been a nailbiter of a final lap, but yet again the breeze collapsed, the national flags on the asymmetric spinnakers started to flop and the race was abandoned again. A psychologically taxing day for all concerned. The Skiff racers – male and female – are hoping the forecast for better breeze on Friday actually comes to pass on the Bay of Marseille.

Men’s and Women’s Dinghy: Great start for Peru and France

The start of the competition in the ILCA sees some unlikely leaders at the end of day one. Peru’s Stefano Peschiera was the only sailor in the 43-boat fleet to keep both scores in the top 10. In fact his sixth and first places were quite a bit better than the next best, Australia’s reigning World and Olympic Champion Matt Wearn with 12,2. Duko Bos of The Netherlands won the opening race of the competition and he sits in fifth overall. As is always the case in this ridiculously hot fleet, someone high profile has to suffer, and it’s Italy’s Lorenzo Chiavarini who will need to find an extra gear after a lacklustre start to the regatta puts him in 26th place.

There was just one race for the women in the ILCA 6 and it was France’s Louise Cervera who came through for the win ahead of China’s Min Gu. After a torrid start to her Tokyo 2020 regatta, three-time Olympic medallist Marit Bouwmeester (NED) came through with a solid fourth place, three in front of reigning World and Olympic Champion Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN), recently returned to competition after a wrist injury. Swedish silver medallist from Tokyo, Josefin Olsson, was in good spirits despite finishing today’s race in 36th out of the 43-boat fleet.

written by Andy Rice