ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères Commentaires de Robert Deaves (IFA)

Transcription

1 ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères Commentaires de Robert Deaves (IFA) Articles repris intégralement et publiés sur le site IFA France avec l autorisation de l auteur et de l IFA

2 DAY 1 Early lead in Hyeres to Ioannis Mitakis The 2012 European Champion Ioannis Mitakis (GRE) made the best start in the Finn class at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres, the final event in the series. A second and a first left him leading the 59 boat fleet after the first two races from Milan Vujasinovic (CRO) and Caleb Paine (USA). The first race was won by Jonathan Lobert (FRA). A few of the top sailors have decided to skip Hyeres this year, preferring to concentrate on preparations of the 2014 European Championships, which open in La Rochelle, France in just two weeks time. The most notable absentees are the British team, including last years gold and silver medalists in Hyeres, Andrew Mills (GBR) and Giles Scott (GBR). It was an almost perfect start to the week with knots of breeze, sunshine and some interesting racing mixing up the single fleet. With a scheduled start time of the first race produced two casualties in the form of last year's bronze medalist Josh Junior (NZL) and fellow kiwi Andrew Murdoch (NZL), who both placed highly in the race but ended up with a BFD apiece. The race win finally went to Jonathan Lobert (FRA) from Ioannis Mitakis (GRE) and Milan Vujasinovic (CRO). Mitakis went one better in the second race to win, this time from Filippo Baldassari (ITA) and former world No 1. Caleb Paine (USA). Junior made up for his unfortunate race 1 to pick up fourth place in the second, while race 1 winner Lobert picked up a 28th to end up 13th overnight. Overall leader Mitakis said, "The wind was knots with free pumping conditions. It was a bit tricky but the left side paid more." "I passed the first mark in third behind POL 13 [Michal Jodlowski] and BRA 1 [Bruno Prada] and then on the first downwind I rounded the gate in second and from the middle of the second upwind I took the lead. Then I just concentrated on my boat speed till the finish." The qualifying series continues until Friday, with the medal race for the top 10 on Saturday. From Wednesday all boats will be tracked and this can be watched live online at:

3 Results after 2 races: 1 GRE 77 Ioannis Mitakis 3 2 CRO 69 Milan Vujasinovic 8 3 USA 6 Caleb Paine 10 4 NED 842 Pieter-Jan Postma 14 5 AUS 41 Jake Lilley 15 6 BRA 1 Bruno Prada 17 7 POL 1 Milosz Wojewski 18 8 ITA 123 Filippo Baldassari 21 9 POL 17 Piotr Kula CRO 1 Josip Olujic 23 Full results: Overall.pdf Event website:

4 DAY 2 Postma takes the day but Mitakis still leads after day 2 in Hyeres Category: News With race wins going to Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) and Thomas Le Breton (FRA), Ioannis Mitakis (GRE) now has a reduced lead of just one point after the second day at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres. Postma jumps two places to second, while Caleb Paine (USA) remains in third. It was another glamour day in Hyeres with sunshine, knot winds and nice waves, making the racing testing but fun. Overnight leader Ioannis Mitakis (GRE) faltered in the opening race with a 17th but then recovered in the second race to post fourth and maintain his overall lead, however now by only one point. The first race of the day went to Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) from Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) and Caleb Paine (USA). Kljakovic Gaspic, who had a poor first day on Monday posting a 16-20, followed on with a third in the second race to bolster his overall position to eighth. After an excellent day on Monday, Jake Lilley (AUS) fell foul of the U flag, and along with Gasper Vincec (SLO), both were unrewarded for their efforts in race 3. The Palma silver medalist Thomas Le Breton (FRA) took the second race of the day from Postma and Kljakovic Gaspic as the leaders consolidated their points, and those who had slipped up Monday carried out some recovery work. Apart from Kljakovic Gaspic, Josh Junior (NZL) drops his BFD from race 1 to move to seventh and Jonathan Lobert (FRA) drops his 28th in race 2 to climb to fifth. Le Breton explained his race. "I had better starts than yesterday. My speed upwind was OK and I managed to go on the left, which was the good side. But I was super fast downwind, and I managed to get a nice lead by the second mark." Third placed Paine said, "The wind was fairly steady with large left pressure. I just tried to start conservatively and not get leveraged to a side." Postma said, "Today we had great racing. In the first race everybody was at the pin end. And I started at the boat end. I tacked directly after start for 200 metres, and then tacked, and I had a clear lead. I was very happy with that." "The competition is tough. And we are not half way yet, so let's see tomorrow."

5 Postma is of course testing for a place on Team Brunel for the next Volvo Ocean Race, but is back sailing Finn for a few weeks. "I sailed for eight weeks with Brunel, but now they're testing other sailors for four weeks. Then I'm back on the 65, and in June will be the selection. Looking forward to sailing the VOR." While the day's best performance went to Postma with a 1, 2, one of the day's big risers was the SWC Melbourne winner, Björn Allansson (SWE), moving up to 15th from 27th after Monday. He said, "Pretty good start in the second race, finished fifth. Tomorrow we keep on improving." Lilley ended the day with a 17th. He commented, "Happy to be 11th overall after two days. Had some poor starts and sailed smart and fast today. Will be aiming to get off the line in better shape tomorrow." The opening series continues until Friday, with the medal race for the top 10 on Saturday. From Wednesday all boats will be tracked and this can be watched live online at: Results after four races 1 GRE 77 Ioannis Mitakis 7 2 NED 842 Pieter-Jan Postma 8 3 USA 6 Caleb Paine 13 4 FRA 29 Thomas Le Breton 15 5 FRA 112 Jonathan Lobert 16 6 CRO 69 Milan Vujasinovic 19 7 NZL 24 Josh Junior 20 8 CRO 524 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 21 9 SWE 33 Max Salminen ITA 123 Filippo Baldassari 26 Photo: Thom Touw Full results: Overall.pdf Event website:

6 DAY 3 Commanding performance by Postma on day 3 in Hyeres Postma (NED) took control of proceedings on the third day of the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres with two great victories to take a commanding lead at the top of the scoresheet at the half way stage. He holds an 18 point lead over Caleb Paine (USA) and 19 over third placed Thomas Le Breton (FRA). After a short postponement due to lack of wind, the breeze kicked in as predicted and the fleet enjoyed two races in knots. In the first race of the day, the leaders favoured the right hand side with Postma rounding ahead of Deniss Karpak (EST) and Bjorn Allansson (SWE). Postma maintained his lead throughout to win from Karpak by 35 seconds, while Giorgio Poggi (ITA) moved up from fifth at the first mark to third at the finish, with Allansson fourth. Race 6 was much tighter, but Postma still lead all the way round, again from the right on the first upwind. This time Josh Junior (NZL) followed him round the windward mark with Allansson close behind. The top three made a little gap downwind but on the second beat Thomas Le Breton (FRA) found his way up to third, with Ivan Kljkakoivc Gaspic (CRO) in fourth. These two exchanged places on the final downwind, while Postma took his third win of the regatta by just 10 seconds from Junior. After a 4, 5, the ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne winner Allansson now moves into the top 10 for the first time this week. He said, "Today we had a bit more wind, up to 16 knots and from 240 deg. I know I'm good in these conditions and two solid starts today really helped." "In the first race I managed to win the start at the starting vessel, and was then able to ride over all the way to the left with good speed and pressure, rounding first mark in third." "Before the second race I told PJ, that he had enough bullets and that I would win the race. I got a good start at the pin end, but PJ had a even better start and was able to tack in front of the entire fleet rather quickly. I was able to once again round the top mark in third which was great for me."

7 Jake Lilley (AUS) has had an up and down week and today collected a 7, 21 to sit in 14th overall. Commenting on a big improvement since the last event in Palma he said, "Palma was not the greatest for me. I was pretty sick and didn't sail very well. Since then, my coach (John Bertrand) and I have done a lot of analysis and hard work and made a lot of improvements in our game. The target for the year is the ISAF worlds and the Rio Test Event so we are just using Hyéres to learn as much as we can. Making the top 10 would be a bonus." There are just four more races in the opening series, which continues until Friday, before the medal race for the top 10 on Saturday. All boats are now being tracked and this can be watched live online at: Results after six races 1 NED 842 Pieter-Jan Postma 10 2 USA 6 Caleb Paine 28 3 FRA 29 Thomas Le Breton 29 4 NZL 24 Josh Junior 30 5 CRO 524 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 37 6 FRA 112 Jonathan Lobert 38 7 EST 2 Deniss Karpak 47 8 ITA 117 Giorgio Poggi 48 9 GRE 77 Ioannis Mitakis SWE 6 Björn Allansson 49 Photos: Thom Touw Full results: Overall.pdf Event website:

8 DAY 4 Postma still leads after mixed fortunes in Hyères Mixed fortunes and high scores played with the Finn fleet on day 4 of the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères. Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) still holds a sizeable lead of 17 points from Thomas Le Breton (FRA), who won race 8, and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) who moves up to third after two third place finishes. The first race of the day was won by Björn Allansson (SWE). With the points marking the medal race cut extremely tight, Thursday was always going to be a crucial day on the water. For many it was make or break day, to either maintain their medal race place or stay within striking distance going into Friday's final two opening series races. There was still a lot to race for, and with a number of boats already with high scores, it was important to maintain a clean sheet. The Finns were scheduled for a later start today, so enjoyed the best of the wind conditions, as once again the wind increased during the day for another near perfect day's sailing in Hyères, though again an early postponement delayed the start. However very few managed that. Overall leader Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) scored 58 in the opening race after breaking his halyard, before recovering to sixth in the second. In spite of that he only lost one point off his lead. The best performance of the day was from Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) with two third places, and the reward for this was taking third overall for the double European Champion. Milosz Wojewski (POL) was the early leader in race 7, a lead that he held until the final downwind, when Björn Allansson (SWE) came past to win by just seven seconds, with a fast approaching Kljakovic Gaspic just two seconds behind. Gasper Vincec (SLO) finally found the front in race 8, leading round from Le Breton. Kljakovic Gaspic spent most of the race in third, though Anders Pedersen (NOR) led him through the gate. Le Breton found a way to the front on the final downwind to win his second race of the series, while Kljakovic Gaspic got into third on the final upwind.

9 Kljakovic Gaspic said, "I had good feeling today. I made a good strategy in both races and in the end had great scores. Also I am happy with my speed but I need to get fitter to be able to push more and few more kilos would help as well." After a blistering start to the regatta, Ioannis Mitakis (GRE) has had an inconsistent few days, picking up a BFD in race 6 to drop to seventh overall. He managed to maintain seventh today with a 16, 4 to leave him 12 points within the medal race cut. Meanwhile London 2012 bronze medalist Jonathan Lobert (FRA) has dropped down the rankings. After picking up a disqualification in race 7, he had a poor first race today before dropping out of the second and now languishes in 22nd place. Postma explained his breakage. "Today was something different. I was around tenth or 12th at the top mark and then my halyard broke. I tried to fix it as I went downwind and I finished the race but I only had three boats behind me. Then I needed to fix it and it took us 15 minutes or so and I only had one more minute before the race so it was really close. A lot of people helped and in that last race I was sixth. "The points are getting close. It will be exciting tomorrow, I like some action and the heat is on." Race 7 winner Allansson had this to say, "In the first race I had an OK start down by the pin, but had to fight hard for every metre. I managed the shifts well and improved all through the race. At the last top mark I rounded second after POL 1 [Wojewski], and just gave it my all on the last run. I was able, with max heart rate to take the lead and extend to the finish line. It was an awesome feeling." "In the second race the right hand side was paying, which it had not done in the first race. This meant that all of us that gone to the left had to fight hard to get back in the game, while the sailors that chosen the right hand side could capitalize on the shift to the right." Le Breton explained his strategy, "Today it was important to be on the good shift, because we had only one big shift per upwind. I managed to be top five at the first mark and was quite fast downwind. I was second at the bottom and I finally caught Gasper [Vincec] on the last downwind." Vincec actually scored the second best performance of the day with a 6, 2. He has only just returned to the class after losing the 2012 trials to Vasilij Zbogar (SLO). He explained, "I'm slowly coming back. We are not so focussed on the results but we are doing more attention on the small things. I was out for two years and it's very difficult to be in racing mode. Also I have changed all my materials and boat and mast so I still need to find top gear with it." "Today was pretty windy, 15 knots. I had two good start with good speed I was able to control the group. It was important that I could control my position from the start to the finish." There are just two more races in the opening series on Friday, before the medal race for the top 10 on Saturday. All boats are now being tracked and this can be watched live online at: Results after eight races

10 1 NED842 Pieter-Jan Postma 25 2 FRA29 Thomas Le Breton 42 3 CRO524 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 43 4 USA6 Caleb Paine 54 5 SWE6 Björn Allansson 58 6 NZL24 Josh Junior 67 7 GRE77 Ioannis Mitakis 68 8 EST2 Deniss Karpak 68 9 CRO69 Milan Vujasinovic AUS41 Jake Lilley 80 Photos: Thom Touw Full results: Overall.pdf Event website:

11 DAY 5 Pieter-Jan Postma seals victory with a day to spare

12 Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) will go into the medal race with a 33 point lead at the ISAF sailing World Cup Hyeres after two second places on the final day of the opening series. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) has climbed to second after winning the second race of the day while just three points behind is Thomas Le Breton (FRA). The first race was won by Josh Junior. After a short delay for the wind, the final two races got underway to decide the top 10 for Saturday's medal race. Current World Champion Jorge Zarif (BRA) was first round the top mark in race 9, but Josh Junior (NZL) was not far behind and passed him on the run to extend to win by nearly half a minute. Pieter Jan Postma (NED) rounded the top mark in 11th but moved through the fleet to second on the final downwind. Third place finally went to Milan Vujasinovic (CRO). This result left Postma with a 34 point lead at the top, but he still had to sail well in the final race as he was discarding that 58th from Thursday. Anders Pedersen (NOR) was fastest to the top mark in race 10, leading round from Caleb Paine (USA) and Ioannis Mitakis (GRE). Kljakovic Gaspic had a blistering first run to move into the lead, which he held to the finish. Postma again rounded 11th but was soon into second, which again he held to the finish. Paine finished third. This leaves the medal race as a formality for most sailors with Postma just having to finish to win the event. The only real interest is the battle for silver between Kljakovic Gaspic and Le Breton, separated by just three points. Fourth placed Paine, has a mathematical chance of winning a medal but needs to win the race with Le Breton last. Barring disqualifications, nothing much else can change to the top three. For Postma this is a milestone. His first major victory in the Finn class after years of hard work. The Frisian sailor responded almost timidly."this is a very special feeling. A big step. Up to today during major events something went wrong in the end. I set myself straight. This now feels like a break, I can win." "I have been in the gym a lot recently each day and I trained on a Volvo Ocean Race boat. But it is the sum of the experience, of all the training, being a little older, to know yourself better, more race experience. That has led to this victory." "I have put so much energy into it over the past decade. Despite the stress I was really strong this week. This growth has been in recent years. If you look at the Olympics, which of course was a huge thing, on sailing quality I deserved a medal but I failed to rise above. Now it feels like I have overcome. The process of sport is grandiose, heavy, but very special."

13 Karpak commented, "The week was perfect, with nice weather, 100% free pumping in all 10 races. So, the conditions were excellent for sailing. Race committee was very good, with no extra long postponements before and between racing." "Today was a hard day again, with full hiking and pumping. I m happy with my eighth place so far, and being in the medal race again, after Palma, but I m not happy with my speed, so I will try to improve that before the Europeans. It was nice training before La Rochelle." Allanson said,"the Race Committee made the right choice and postponed us ashore for a short while, which meant perfect sailing conditions once we got out there. In the first start I was a bit too conservative, which came at a high price, but the rest of my performance today I'm pleased with, especially my downwinds." "I'm real happy to have qualified for tomorrow' s medal race. I will go in with a attitude to win the race - I guess I will not be the only one." The medal race line up looks like this: Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) - Twice runner-up and last year's bronze medalist in the World Championships, Postma has sailed exceptionally well this week. Thrives under the pressure of the medal race and won the high pressure race at last year's Finn Gold Cup to take the bronze there. Even though he is assured the overal win just by finishing expect him to try to seal it in style. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) - The 2009 and 2010 European Champion is back in contention after taking most of the last year off. After a mediocre first day, he has only been outside the top 3 twice and historically does well in medal races. Expect him to keep Le Breton on a close rein in Saturday's race. Thomas Le Breton (FRA) - After losing the 2012 Olympic trials to the eventual bronze medalist and training partner Jonathan Lobert (FRA), Le Breton has started the 2014 season in his best form yet. He has followed a silver in Palma with another great week here and is clearly on a roll. Caleb Paine (USA) - Former world No 1, Paine has had an exceptional week after one of his best performances to date with seven top 10 places. Has an outside chance of a medal but needs to win the medal race. Josh Junior (NZL) - Apart from one slip up, Junior could have been competing for a medal here but has left himself to much to do. Otherwise a very good series from him with eight single digit placings and starting to emerge as the top kiwi.

14 Björn Allansson (SWE) - After a slow start in Hyères the ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne winner has put together a great series and a great confidence boost in the Swedish selections. Too far adrift for a medal but will still be competing for a top four place. Ioannis Mitakis (GRE) - The early leader this week but a couple of high scores cost him dearly and only just retained his place in the medal race. Was the junior European champion in 2009 and 2010, before taking the senior European Championship in 2012, including winning the medal race. Historically better in light winds, but getting better in the breeze as this week has proven. Deniss Karpak (EST) - Starting to put in some consistent performances but not enough single digits to be challenging the podium this week. Can move up to fifth with a good medal race. Milan Vujasinovic (CRO) - Only in his second year of sailing Finns and improving all the time. Finished fourth at the 2013 Finn Gold Cup, but a bit inconsistent this week leaving him too much to do. Jorge Zarif (BRA) - Current world champion, only made the cut on the final day here. Too far adrift to make much impact further up. Results after 10 races 1 NED 842 Pieter-Jan Postma 29 2 CRO 524 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 52 3 FRA 29 Thomas Le Breton 55 4 USA 6 Caleb Paine 72 5 NZL 24 Josh Junior 74 6 SWE 6 Björn Allansson 81 7 GRE 77 Ioannis Mitakis 83 8 EST 2 Deniss Karpak 92 9 CRO 69 Milan Vujasinovic BRA 109 Jorge João Zarif 110 The medal race for Finn is schedule for xxx on Saturday. Live tracking can be found here: Full results: evntid=31262#results Event website:

15 DAY 6 Pieter-Jan Postma seals 'personal victory' in Hyères

16 Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) completed the formality of winning the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères on Saturday by finishing sixth in the medal race, to take his first ever major Finn event by a convincing margin. A third for Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) was enough to take the silver while a seventh sealed the bronze for Thomas le Breton (FRA). The race was won by current world champion Jorge Zarif (BRA). After another delay for the wind, the medal race was held in a westerly breeze on flat water, a great end to a great week's sailing. The race itself was a slight formality with Pieter Jan Postma (NED) leading Jorge Zarif (BRA) round the top mark. Zarif had moved to the front by the downwind gate and maintained his lead to take the winner's gun. Postma eventually dropped to sixth, while Josh Junior (NZL) moved up from ninth at the first mark to second at the finish, while Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) moved up to third on the final downwind. This meant that nothing actually changed in the overall top three. The only significant upward movement was Junior moving up to fourth. Since the last race of the 2013 Olympics Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) has been on a mission. Before 2012 he has posted some good results, including two silvers and one bronze at the world championship since He had never won a major event outside of the Netherlands, though he had won a handful of Delta Lloyd Regattas over the years. Today's win has been a long time coming and is well deserved. Without a doubt the most popular sailor in the Finn fleet, Postma has not finished below fourth place since 2012 in any of the major events he has sailed, and has taken four podium places. Fourth is also where he finished in the 2012 Olympics, something he is determined to put right come The smile says all you need to know. He said, "It's my first world cup win. I've always been there for years and years and I've never managed to step up so this week was awesome. It feels like a personal victory as I topped my best. I've got a few more grey hairs but I managed to deal better with my opportunities and I've been able to play out my strengths on the battlefield." Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) has been in the class slightly longer than Postma and in that time has taken two European Championships and a string of Sailing World Cup events. He

17 missed a medal by just six points in London, but like Postma has taken a lot of time off since then to regroup. He is now looking as strong as ever and is as enthusiastic about his sailing as he ever was. Sailing as part of Team Fantasica, he has the backing and the commitment to put together a very strong campaign over the next two years. Thomas Le Breton (FRA) has generally always sailed in the shadow of his team mate Jonathan Lobert (FRA), who won bronze in London, but this year Le Breton has excelled in every event so far and has seemed to emerge as the fastest on the water, though Lobert has been testing a new mast this week and went back to La Rochelle early after getting damage from a collision in Thursday's racing. A silver in Palma and a bronze in Hyeres for Le Breton is testimony to the hard work his training group has put in over the winter. The training group, that also includes Tapio Nirkko (FIN), seventh in Palma, and Max Salminen (SWE), 12th this week, has done most of its training in La Rochelle, so with the Europeans beginning there next weekend, it will be interesting to see how much knowledge they have gained of the venue over the winter. The rest of the top 10 provides some encouraging news for many sailors with Caleb Paine (USA), Bjorn Allansson (SWE), Milan Vujasinovic (CRO) and Junior posting some great results following intensive winter training. It was a strong fleet here but with the very strong British team missing - to have a training session in La Rochelle - as well as several other contenders, next week's European Championship, with the first race on Monday 5, May, will be a massive test as the race hots up for places in Santander and the Rio Test Event. There will be a full preview next week. Finn Class media will be in La Rochelle to bring all the news as it happens. Stay tuned. Results after medal race (medal race results in brackets) 1 NED842 Pieter-Jan Postma 41 (6) 2 CRO524 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 58 (3) 3 FRA29 Thomas Le Breton 69 (7) 4 NZL24 Josh Junior 78 (2) 5 USA6 Caleb Paine 88 (8) 6 SWE6 Björn Allansson 91 (5) 7 CRO69 Milan Vujasinovi? 101 (4) 8 GRE77 Ioannis Mitakis 101 (9) 9 BRA109 Jorge João Zarif 112 (1) 10 EST2 Deniss Karpak 112 (10) Photos: Franck Socha / ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres The live tracking for all races from Wednesday can be found here: Full results: evntid=31262#results Event website:

18