News

August 29, 2006

A great day for the British sailors in Qingdao means they hit the lead across five of the fleets at the Olympic Test Event in China. Ben Ainslie (GBR) led the charge at the ISAF Grade 2 Qingdao International Regatta with another two bullets to continue his remarkable comeback to the Finn class.

Along with Ainslie, GBR appears at the top of the leaderboard in the Laser, Men’s 470 and 49er fleets, whilst Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell (GBR) tie with Andy Horton and Brad Nichol (USA) for top spot in the Star. Top three spots in the Yngling and Laser Radial complete the British success story so far.

Whereas Ainslie’s success has been built on a relentless succession of bullets, elsewhere the British strategy of conservatism seems to be paying dividends. If consistency wins regattas then nowhere has that been more true than in Qingdao over the past week. The high quality fleets, light conditions experienced so far, strong current and especially the sailors’ unfamiliarity with the waters of Fushan Bay have put a premium on staying away from the double figure scores.

470 European Champions Benjamin Bonnaud and Romain Bonnaud (FRA) provide the perfect example. They are the only team in the Men’s 470 fleet counting three top-three finishes (two bullets and a second), but lie 14th overall, with finishes of 35,23,33,32 also on their scorecard.

Today the wind was again light but stable, with the scheduled races completed across all the race areas, except for the Women’s RS:X. They will return to Fushan Bay tomorrow to complete the final races of their opening series along with all the other classes except the Laser and Laser Radial, who finished their last race of the opening series today.