Morning Report: High-wind Showdown for Windsurfing

Today’s racing will take place in:

• RS:X Men
• RS:X Women
• Finn Men
• 470 Men
• 470 Women
• Laser Men
• Laser Radial Women
• 49er Men
• Foiling Nacra 17 Mixed

Another Big Wave outing in store for the nine fleets heading out into Sagami Bay for Day 5 of the Sailing competition.

This is the last day of racing for the windsurfing fleets, to decide which 10 athletes will go through to contest the Medal Race finals on Saturday.

Today’s predicted medium to strong winds and big waves should be another good opportunity for China’s Kun Bi to close the gap on the top three in the RS:X Men, although it’s going to be hard to catch the Flying Dutchman, Kiran Badloe. Is he going to secure the gold prior to the Medal Race?

Look for a great three-way battle in the RS:X Women between Britain, China and France who have a bit of a gap on the chasing pack, led by Italy’s Marta Maggetti.

We’re also reaching the business end of the Laser and Laser Radial regattas. 

London 2012 silver medallist Pavlos Kontides has sailed out of his skin so far, the Comeback King from Cyprus, flying the flag for small nations looking to take on the might of the bigger sailing nations. Matt Wearn has been playing catch-up all week and today’s conditions should suit the Powerhouse from Perth in his bid to continue Australia’s run of Laser gold medals.

Anne-Marie Rindom doesn’t mind what the weather throws at her. The emotional but even-headed Dane has the voices of her parents and her coach in her ear, talking her around the race track. Josefin Olsson and Marit Bouwmeester showed how much they enjoyed the stronger winds a couple of days ago, so Rindom will be looking over her shoulder at the oncoming threat from the Swede and the reigning Olympic Champion from the Netherlands.

Mat Belcher & Will Ryan lead the way in the 470 Men, although the Australians are anything but complacent as we saw how competitive this fleet can be on day one of their regatta.

The 470 Women will be looking to halt the momentum of the Potent Poles, Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Jolanta Ogar, who bulleted their way to double victory on day one.

It’s a similar story in the Nacra 17, where to no one’s surprise Italy’s Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti displayed superiority in the gnarly downwind conditions, driving their foiling catamaran a click faster to win two of yesterday’s three heats.

Yesterday’s double bullets for Giles Scott in the Finn propelled the defending Olympic Champion up to fourth overall, and the big surf will suit the Great Briton again in his bid to seize top spot from Turkey’s Alican Kaynar. Zsombor Berecz (HUN) and the ever-improving Joan Cardona (ESP) will be doing their best to make their own mark on this battle of the heavyweights.

The Men’s Skiff – 49er fleet is catching up with two races instead of a rest day. The battle is likely to remain tight with Brits Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell leading just one point ahead of Spanish Diego Botin Le Chever and Iago Lopez Marra.

Weather

• Mostly cloudy with low chance of thunderstorm late morning, then mostly sunny afternoon.
• Gradient winds SSW 15-20kt.
• Race Area surface wind 

SW-SSW 12-14kt, 

SW-SSW 8-16kt from 9LT,

SSW-S 14-18kt gusting 17-22kt from 11LT, 

SSW-S 13-17kt gusting 16-20kt from 17LT.

Schedule

Kamakura Course

1300hrs RS:X Women, 3 races
1515hrs RS:X Men, 3 races

Fujisawa Course

1200hrs  Laser Men, 2 races
1210hrs    Laser Radial Women, 2 races

Enoshima Course

1200hrs  470 Women, 2 races
1430hrs  Finn, 2 Races

Zushi Course

1200hrs 49er, 2 races
1500hrs  470 Men, 2 races

Sagami Course

1200hrs  Nacra 17 Mixed Multihull, 3 races

To follow the racing on tracker, click here.

To find out more about international broadcasters of the Sailing, click here.

For more detail from the Weather Forecast, click here.

Words by Andy Rice – World Sailing
Photography by Sailing Energy / World Sailing