Kendall and Ashley Have Strong Start to Worlds
Kendall and Ashley Have Strong Start to Worlds
Date
Released: 25 September 2006
From: Jodie Perkins
Kendall and Ashley Have Strong Start to Worlds
Tom Ashley is in 2nd and Barbara Kendall in 3rd two days into the inaugural RS:X World Championships. 164 men and 80 women are in Lake Garda, Italy for the first ever world championships for the new Olympic wind surfer, the Neil Pryde RS:X.
The enormous men's fleet is split into four divisions for the series which includes up to six days of racing before the final medal race on Saturday 30 September. Kiwi, Tom Ashley together with Casper Bouman and Joeri Van Dijk of the Netherlands all currently sit on three points, each counting three wins and discarding one race score at this stage in the regatta.
Barbara Kendall has also made a solid start in her return to competition after recently focussing on fitness and training. She recorded an 11th and a 5th on the first day of qualifiers, improving on day two with a win and a 3rd place. Dropping the worst of these her points total currently sits at 9, equal to Sensini of Italy in fourth place.
Polish sailor Zofia Klepacka holds the lead in the women's division with Marina Alabau Neira of Spain in 2nd.
New Zealand has ten sailors at the regatta with five board sailors in both the men's and women's divisions. JP Tobin has had consistent top six finishes in the racing to date, however a disqualification due to a changed sail number issue is currently discarded from his point score. He lies 23rd overall.
So far Lake Garda has reportedly produced near perfect racing conditions with a 12 to 18 knot Ora breeze settling in across the two race courses both days. Average conditions at the venue at this time of year are for an air temperature of 20 to 25 Celsius and water temperature of 16 to 19 Celsius.
Racing resumes tonight (NZ time) before a scheduled lay day on Tuesday. The regatta concludes with a double points medal race on Saturday.
RS:X World Championships 2006
Men's Top
Five after Four Races
1 Casper Bouman, NED - 3 points [1,
1, 1, (1)]
2 Tom Ashley, NZL - 3 points [1, 1, 1, (2)]
3 Joeri Van Dijk, NED - 3 points [1, 1, 1, (2)]
4
Nick Dempsey, GBR - 5 points [2, (4), 2, 1]
5 Richard
Stauffacher, SUI - 6 points [3, 2, (6), 1]
New Zealand Men's Results after Four Races
2 Tom Ashley, NZL - 3
points [1, 1, 1, (2)]
23 JP Tobin, NZL - 16 points [5,
(dns), 5, 6]
96 Michael Lichtwark - 67 points [(31),
19, 26, 22]
131 Antonio Cozzolino - 90 points [28, 33,
29, (36)]
138 Nick Lichtwark - 94 points [34, (38),
28, 32]
Women's Top Five after Four Races
1 Zofia
Klepacka POL - 4 points [1, 1, 2, (4)]
2 Marina Alabau
Neira ESP - 5 points [(3), 2, 1, 2]
3 Barbara Kendall
NZL - 9 points [(11), 5, 1, 3]
4 Alessandra Sensini
ITA - 9 points [4, 3, (5), 2]
5 Antonia Frai GRE -
10 points [1, (9), 3, 6]
New Zealand Women's Results after Four Races
3 Barbara Kendall NZL - 9 points
[(11), 5, 1, 3]
29 Hayley Thom NZL - 39 points [10,
18, (26), 11]
37 Steffanie Williams NZL - 53 points
[22, 10, 21, (29)]
54 Kate Ellingham NZL - 76 points
[31, (32), 24, 21]
68 Justina Sellers NZL - 95 points
[(36), 33, 34, 28]
ENDS