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ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao threw out big breeze, strong gusts and wild waves as racing at the opening event of the 2013-14 ISAF Sailing World Cup began
Banner image: New Zealand's Thomas Saunders © ISAF
A wind shift ahead of racing brought a strong northerly breeze that took the world's finest Olympic sailing talent close to the limits.
Wind speeds in between 20-23 knots and gusts up to 30 knots made for exciting racing for the 131 sailors from 24 countries spread across the Laser, Laser Radial, Men's and Women's 470 and Men's and Women's RS:X fleets.
Women's 470
ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Nominees Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (NZL) were head and shoulders above the eight boat Women's 470 fleet and took a convincing opening race victory.
Huimin Feng and Lizhu Huang (CHN) are second and Nan Zhang and Yixiao Lv (CHN) sit third.
Racing is scheduled to start at 13:00 on Tuesday 15 October. The Men's and Women's RS:X will sail three races whilst the Laser, Laser Radial and Men's and Women's 470 will race two.
Men's 470
Croatia's Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic were unaffected by the big breeze in the Men's 470 and took the single race win on the opening day.
After racing Fantela commented on what pulls them through the toughest of challenges, "We have sailed this boat for 12 years so we need to like all the conditions, it's our motto. Just sail what you get and make the best of it. You can't affect the result.
"We made some mistakes but that's sailing, you do your best and today we found the right solution for the course.”
Fourteen boats are racing in the Men's 470 fleet and whilst the Croatians have an early advantage having posted a 25 second victory they know they have strong rivals in the fleet, "We have the Argentineans, New Zealand guys, the South Africans are going up the ladder and the Chinese finished second and third in today's race.
"You don't really know the Chinese as they don't go to regattas often but we know they are fast and can easily finish at the top of the fleet.”
Hao Lan and Chao Wang (CHN) and Dongwei Wang and Daokun Deng (CHN) posed the unknown threat and came through in second and third ahead of London 2012 bronze medallists Lucas Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente (ARG) who finished fourth and World #3 duo Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Wilcox (NZL) who came through with a sixth.
Laser
London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Pavlos Kontides dominated the Laser fleet posting two bullets.
Strong starts and good speed in both the upwinds and downwinds meant that Kontides blew the chasing pack away in the opening race before a narrow three second victory in the second.
"It was hard for the Race Committee with the shifts and unstable first of all and then it really kicked in,” commented Kontides on the big breeze that came through. "You should be patient with the shifts and hike hard in the choppy waves and current.
"It was a good day for me and I enjoyed sailing and I hope to keep it up for the rest of the week.
"It's really good to start the regatta with the best places possible but I don't see the wins, I just want to sail my best and minimise my mistakes and then the result will come at the end.”
Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) is three points off the Cypriot in second with Kacper Zieminski (POL) a further two in third. Portugal's Gustavo Lima and New Zealand's Thomas Saunders follow and will be in hot pursuit of the podium spots.
Laser Radial
World #1 Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR) came out flying in the Laser Radial posting an opening race bullet followed by a second to lead Amelie Riou (FRA) by three points.
In the opening race the Belarusian had Ashley Stoddart (AUS) for close company up the opening leg as both sailors tried to assert themselves. Drozdovskaya took a slender half boat length lead as they rounded the top mark before her years of experience came into play.
A 20 second lead at the bottom mark was duly extended as the race played out and she finished over a minute ahead of Stoddart who had Riou for close company.
As the breeze picked up Drozdovskaya stayed strong and although Dongshuang Zhang (CHN) took the second race win by six seconds she holds the overall lead.
Results
Full results from ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao are available here.
Tracking
Both 2D and 3D tracking is available on Alpha course on a daily basis.
Click here to view the tracking.
Video
News feeds containing interviews and b-roll of sailing action will be available from Thursday 17 October through to Saturday 19 October on the ISAF FTP. A log Sheet will be attached.
In addition, fully-produced highlight packages will be available from 17-19 October. These will contain interviews, action and results, including event graphics.
For FTP login details, specific requests and native language interviews please contact the ISAF Communications Department below.
Photography
High resolution, editorial rights free images is available to download via ISAF's Flickr here http://www.flickr.com/isafmedialibrary.
For specific requests please contact the ISAF Communications department below.
Follow
For all results and information visit the ISAF Sailing World Cup website here http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/home.php
ISAF Sailing World Cup Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ISAFWorldSailing
The @ISAFupdates Twitter account will be following the action throughout the week, following the account here www.twitter.com/ISAFupdates.
Media Guide
Click here to download the 2013-2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup Media Guide.
