Silver for Ashley and Bronze for Bullot

It’s silver for Tom Ashley and Bronze for Michael Bullot at Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia MAPFRE 2010 Regatta now over in Palma de Majorca, Spain.

The podium places were decided in the medal races just sailed in Majorca.

Three more NZL Sailing Team members recorded top ten finishes at this event with Andrew Murdoch sixth and Josh Junior tenth, both in the Laser class. Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie finished fifth in the Women’s 470.

Racing today took place in light winds of around 7-10 knots.

Tom Ashley was sixth in today’s medal race which was enough to pull him up into the silver medal spot when early leader in the regatta Shahar Zubari had a poor medal race finishing eighth and missing the medals by just one point.

Ashley’s result saw him overtake Zubari in the standings and just edge out Dorian Van Rijsselberghe of the Netherlands who finished strongly taking the bronze medal.

It was Byron Kokkalanis who claimed the gold medal in the Men’s RS:X.

New Zealand’s other medal came for Michael Bullot who went into the Laser class medal race in third position in the standings. The Murrays Bay Sailing Club representative from Auckland’s North Shore was third in the medal race, which was enough to secure him the bronze medal.

Spain’s Javier Hernandez took the gold medal in what was described as a remarkable victory after a tight battle in the medal race with Croatian sailor Tonci Stipanovic who won the silver. Javier Hernández said “this is like a dream; it is the first World Cup event I win.”

Andrew Murdoch finished in sixth after an eighth in today’s medal race.

Josh Junior secured a spot in the Laser medal race after being awarded redress for the two races sailed on the penultimate day having suffered a broken rudder. Junior, from Wellington, was tenth in the medal race and tenth overall.

New Zealand was the best represented nation in the Laser medal race with three of our six Laser representatives finishing in the top ten at this important regatta. Bullot had a stellar season in 2009 and Murdoch returns after a break from international competition – however both of these seasoned campaigners have some stiff competition, and excellent training partners, in the young competitors like Josh Junior and Andy Maloney coming through the ranks.

Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie have finished in fifth place in the Women’s 470 after a seventh place in the medal race. Top five marks a solid start to the European season for this kiwi pair who have the 2012 Olympic Games seriously in their sights.

The New Zealand team is supported by coaches Ian Neely, Mark Howard, Nathan Handley, Jez Fanstone and David Robertson.

See the regatta website for news, history, entry lists, and results.

The 41 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mapfre now comes to an end. Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères, is the next event of the ISAF Sailing World Cup at the end of April. The Trofeo Sofia Mapfre will be back next year with new dates, from 2 to 9 April 2011, to adapt to the ISAF Sailing World Cup calendar.

New Zealand’s Final Positions

RS:X
Men’s – 72 entries
Tom Ashley – 2nd (3, 6, 2, 8, 5, 5, 13, Medal Race: 6th)
Antonio Cozzolino – 40th (31, 45, 48, 36, 41, 18, 52, DNF)
Women’s – 41 entries
Kate Ellingham – 14th (15, 13, 12, 11, 20, 9, 18, 14)
Jazmine Lynch – 28th (30, OCS, 30, 23, 22, 17, 29, 32)

Laser (131 entries)
Mike Bullot – 3rd (12, 4, 1, 16, BFD, 4, 14, 4, Medal Race: 3rd)
Andrew Murdoch – 6th (4, 8, DNF, 2, 4, 16, 9, 15, Medal Race 8th)
Josh Junior – 10th (31, 5, 3, 42, 9, 11, RDG, RDG, Medal Race 10th)
Andy Maloney – 16th (16, 2, 15, 20, 7, 42, 14, 34)
Sam Meech – 34th (35, 19, 14, 3, 21, 43, DSQ, 39)
Max Andrews – 48th (20, 33, 10, 14, 52, 48, 50, 30)

Laser Radial (70 entries)
Sara Winther – 22nd (17, BFD, 33, 13, 35, 14, 23)

470 Double-handed dinghy
Women’s – 41 entries
Jo Aleh & Olivia Powrie – 5th (1, 13, 29, 2, OCS, 3, 3, 5, Medal Race 7th)
Men’s - 93 entries
Paul Snow-Hansen & Jason Saunders – 19th (4, 13, 7, 32, 18, 30, 17)

Finn (54 entries)
Matt Coutts – 28th (22, 42, 24, 29, 20, 21, 35)

New Zealand’s Coaching Team:
Ian Neely
Mark Howard
Nathan Handley
Jez Fanstone
David Robertson

For more information contact:
Jodie Bakewell-White
Yachting New Zealand
Tel. 021 709 065
Email. jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz

About this Regatta:
The numbers for 2010:
680 boats
1,000 sailors
40 nations

The Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofia – MAPFRE is held in Majorca, in the renowned bay of Palma, every year around Easter and will celebrate its 41st anniversary in 2010. It is the third of seven events in the 2009-10 ISAF Sailing World Cup series.

The Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofia – MAPFRE is the starting point of the European sailing season every year. The ten Olympic sailing events are joined by the Dragon fleet as invited class.