French Olympic Sailing Week - Junior starts with a bullet

Only limited racing took place on day one at French Olympic Sailing Week which started overnight in Hyeres, France.

Of the New Zealand entries, only the Laser sailors and women’s match racers sailed, with the RS:X, Radial, 470 and Finn fleets either kept ashore or unable to complete any races.

Winds were light and fluky with racing getting underway an hour and a half past the scheduled time of 1100 hours, in a reported four to five knots from the south.

The 94 strong Laser event is split into two fleets for qualifying rounds with just one race sailed for each overnight to kick off French Olympic Sailing Week 2010.

Twenty year old Josh Junior from Worser Bay Boating Club, Wellington sits at the top of the board after that one race, starting the regatta with a bullet.

Andrew Murdoch is the next best placed of the kiwis with a share of 15th place after an eighth in the first race of the series.

Samantha Osborne, Raynor Smeal and Jenna Hansen have made a solid start to round robin competition in the women’s match racing class, in which 22 teams are competing. Racing in Group C the trio recorded three race wins and one loss on day one.

Osborne and crew took their wins against Bekatrou (GRE), Tadinac (CRO) and Jensen (DEN), but lost to Echegoyen (ESP). Australia’s Spithill and crew have a 100% record with four wins on day one racing in the same group as the kiwis, but yet to come up against each other.

“To our delight the sun joined us today. However this bought flat, light and shifty conditions,” explains Osborne and crew. “We had a strong start to the regatta finishing the day with three wins and one loss.”

Their loss to the Spanish crew came after a frustrating wind shift favoured the Spanish who were behind.

“We had a substantial lead rounding the bottom mark; however the breeze kept clocking right and the Spanish just kept lifting up inside us to lead around the top mark. Due to the wind shift it was a lay through to the finish and therefore no passing lanes.”

“The highlight of our day was a photo finish against the Greeks. It was all on in the last two boat lengths to the finish. We took the pin and it paid its dividend.”

The intention is to complete round robin racing for the women tomorrow, then advance to quarter finals, so the kiwis will be looking for anther good day on the water.

Racing continues tomorrow in France, with the regatta concluding on Friday 30th April.

The New Zealand team is supported by coaches Laurie Jury and Mark Howard.

Further updates on the New Zealand team will be issued as racing continues, and full results and news are available on the regatta website.

2010 French Olympic Sailing Week
New Zealand’s Current Standings

Women’s Match Racing (22 entries)
Samantha Osborne, Raynor Smeal and Jenna Hansen (3 wins/1 loss)

Laser (94 entries)
1st Josh Junior (1)
15th Andrew Murdoch (8)
35th Andy Maloney (18)
47th Sam Meech (24)
71st Max Andrews (36)
Mike Bullot (no result showing)

Laser Radial
Sara Winther – no racing

470 Men
Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders – no racing

470 Women
Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie – no racing

RS:X Women
Jazmine Lynch – no racing

Finn
Matt Coutts – no racing

New Zealand’s Coaching Team
Laurie Jury
Mark Howard