New Zealand Olympic Sailing Results – August 19th

The entire New Zealand Olympic sailing team raced overnight last night. Our board sailors brought in the best results in light to moderate breeze of 8-14 knots.

New Zealand’s Overall Standings:

Women’s Mistral – Barbara Kendall – 10th (after 4 races)
Men’s Mistral – Thomas Ashley – 5th (after 3 races)
Finn – Dean Barker – 9th (after 8 races)
Europe – Sarah Macky – 11th (after 6 races)
Laser – Hamish Pepper – 12th (after 6 races)
Women’s 470 – Shelley Hesson & Linda Dickson – 15th (after 8 races)
Men’s 470 – Andrew Brown & Jamie Hunt – 23rd (after 8 races)
Yngling – Sharon Ferris, Joanna White & Kylie Jameson – 6th (after 8 races)

Barbara Kendall had a strong race overnight making up for a cancelled race the previous day; she finished behind Lia Shan Lee from Hong Kong after leading during parts of the race. There is a long way to go for the Women’s Mistral fleet with only 4 races on the board out of a scheduled 11.

Kendall is now placed 10th overall but is set to move back up the ranks when after 5 races her poorest score is discarded. She is happy with her prospects.

“There are only 4 races finished. As long as I don’t make any more mistakes like yesterday, when I was over the line, I have time to return to the top places,” says Kendall. “We had good wind today. Yesterday was totally unstable. Today was a perfect race; everyone could show a true sign of his or her abilities. I am happy.”

Thomas Ashley is placed in 5th in the Men’s Mistral class after sailing 2 races overnight. It’s still early days for the fleet with only 3 races completed. The young kiwi showed good form in his second race of the day leading the fleet around the first mark, holding 2nd place and then crossing the line in 3rd.

His earlier race saw him finish in 17th in the lighter breeze, though Ashley, like Kendall is yet to discard his poorest performance.

Dean Barker approached the first race of the day, his 7th of the regatta, with the determination required to improve his overall placing. Unfortunately, he and 4 other competitors were deemed to be over the starting line disqualifying him from the race and earning him extra unwanted points.

He finished his second race of the day in 12th place and holds on to 9th overall on the leader board. The Finn fleet is back out on the water tonight with Friday as a reserve day and then the final race on Saturday night New Zealand time. Britain’s Ben Ainslie continues to look strong with an 8 point lead over Spanish sailor Rafael Trujillo.

Sarah Macky in the Europe and Hamish Pepper in the Laser are just over half way through the Olympic regatta with 6 races completed. Macky had a strong first race of the day finishing 4th but followed it with a disappointing 20th.

“Sarah is struggling for consistency in the lighter conditions here in Athens,” comments Team Manager Don Cowie, “she just has to hang tough and concentrate on her better results.”

Hamish Pepper had his best day on the water with a 9th and a 5th. He moves 2 places up the results table into 12th overall. Both Macky and Pepper are racing again tonight.

The Men’s and Women’s 470 fleets are now well through the regatta with only 3 races remaining. New Zealanders Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt are towards the back of the fleet in 23rd place amongst 27. They had their best day on the water with a 14th and a 10th.

Shelley Hesson and Linda Dickson have dropped back after a great start to the regatta, now placed 15th overall. Overnight they recorded a 15th and a 13th.

In the Yngling fleet Great Britain and Denmark look set to take medals with good ground on the rest of the fleet after 8 races. The bronze medal however appears to still in reach of a number of other nations including New Zealand, with competition resuming overnight tonight.

The New Zealand team lead by Sharon Ferris placed 11th and 7th in last nights racing. “We managed to hold onto 6th place overall and although the medal places are looking more difficult to achieve they are not that far away and the girls are still in with a very good chance,” says coach, Harold Bennett.

For full results go to the regatta website by clicking the link below.

> http://www.sailing.org/olympics2004/