Sailing: Shifting winds provide tough Weymouth test

August 9, 2024

The wind speeds may have eased for the eighth day of the Olympic sailing test regatta, but shifty and gusty conditions continued to challenge 2012 hopefuls across the racecourses in Weymouth and Portland on Tuesday (9 August).

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark recovered well from difficult starts to keep a firm hold on the overall lead in the 470 women’s fleet, while Bryony Shaw pulled off two seconds from her two races in the women’s RS:X fleet to boost her into the medal positions in third overall, with just the ten-boat medal race to go on Thursday.

Tuesday saw a change from the south-westerly conditions, to a north-north-westerly direction where the breeze pulsed off of the land and provided a tough test.

Mills and Clark, whose 470 fleet resumed racing after a rest day on Monday, saw bad first legs in both of their two races, but held their nerve to claw back through the pack and post a 2,9 for the day to maintain an eight point lead after eight races.

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“It was tricky,” the 23-year-old Mills admitted. “We made a right hash of both the first beats in both races today and managed to round the windward mark pretty much last in both of them which was not the ideal way to start your race.

“After that we made some really good decisions, sailed the course really well and managed to catch back up to get two really good results.

“We sort of tried to race the course a bit too much and didn’t race the fleet – basically meaning we let the fleet get totally to one side of us or the other on both of the first beats. The shifts just did not go our way whatsoever, and unfortunately we got a bit left out to dry on either side of the beats so that wasn’t great!”

“It’s really nice to be able to build the confidence like that that you can make comebacks,” Mills said of the pair’s recoveries in both races.

“It’s sometimes easier to get the comebacks in when it’s shifty and gusty as places are changing all the time and people are having disasters left right and centre. It’s just about cutting out the big disasters I think.”

Bryony Shaw will look to protect her bronze medal position in Thursday’s windsurfing finale – she has an eight point advantage over the fourth-placed French sailor Charline Picon, with Poland’s Zofia Noceti-Klepacka and Spain’s Marina Alabau to fight it out for gold and silver.

Charlotte Dobson had a “snakes and ladders” day with a fourth to open her day, followed by a 33rd to leave her poised in 10th place overall.

The Finn, Star and 49er classes will return to action on Wednesday after their rest day, while Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor will look to complete their women’s match racing play off against Anna Kjellberg to claim a seventh place from the regatta.

Sailing: Shifting winds provide tough Weymouth test

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Sailing: Shifting winds provide tough Weymouth test

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