Sailing: Paralympic sailors claim first GBR medals at Skandia Sail for Gold

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British sailors picked up their first medals of the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta on Friday – a gold and a silver from the Paralympic classes – with five more guaranteed from the Olympic classes on Saturday’s final day of competition.

Friday saw the conclusion of racing for the Paralympic classes at this sixth leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup series. In spite of posting their worst days’ results with 6,7 from their final day, John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas had done enough earlier in the week to secure a hard-fought gold in the three-person Sonar class and beat the reigning World Champions from the Netherlands into overall second.

“It’s been a tough week – a very tough day actually but we hung in there and came away with a gold,” said a relieved Stodel, who explained that victory on the 2012 Paralympic waters has put them in a confident mood ahead of the World Championships which will also be held in Weymouth and Portland next month.

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“To do well here puts us on a good footing for the Worlds, and it’s proved that all that training beforehand has really, really paid off and we’ll be looking forward to the Worlds now.

“We’ve definitely got some stuff still to work on – we’ve got a new boat coming and a few things hidden still to crack out before the Worlds so keep watching this space but we’ll definitely be firing for the Worlds.”

Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor have teed up an enticing women’s match racing final against USA’s Anna Tunnicliffe, coming through their close-fought quarter-final against Mandy Mulder (NED) 3-2, and coming back from a 0-1 deficit to beat the USA team, skippered by Sally Barkow, 3-1 to guarantee at least a silver medal.

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark dropped one place to third overall in the 470 women’s event and will face a close battle with the French crew in second and the Israeli boat in fourth, with the Skandia Team GBR crew able to improve to silver, or go home empty-handed. Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes head into the medal race in ninth overall, but are out of medal contention.

Monica Stott, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

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