It was another windy day in Weymouth with the wind blowing
20 knots with 25 knots gusts recorded.
After 8 races in the RS:X Men's windsurfing fleet racing at the the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, Nick Dempsey (GBR) and Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) both posted a 1 and a 3 yesterday. And YES... They are still tied on points. This thrilling ding dong will go to the wire. Neither has blinked. Neither will concede. This may well be decided on the medal race alone.
On the day's racing conditions Dempsey said, "Today was beautiful, really stunning. I don't think you will get a better day."
Byron Kokalanis (GRE) is still leading the peleton but he's 24 points back and feeling the pressure from Przemyslaw Miarcyznski (POL) who has bitten 5 points out of the cushion Byron once had. He'll be disappointed with his 8 and 7.
Pont put in a 2 and a 4 just like Jon Paul Tobin (NZL) who climbs from 8th to 5th as a result. Now sitting 3 points off 4th place overall and 8 off bronze medal position, JP knows that wiith one more day of top 5 results and a good medal race, he can still stand on the bottom step of the podium.
This battle for the minor places may be disturbed by Julien Bontemps (FRA) or Joao Rodrigues (POR) who are in with an outside chance but JP must know that he has to put in a sparkling performance in races 9 and 10 and not get stressed out by what's going on behind him.
Meanwhile, in the RS:X Women's fleet, Zofia Klepacka (POL) is coming good. Posting a 2 and a 1 yestrday, she has snatched the lead from Spain's Marina Alabau who only managed a 5 and a 6. This is where the action will be come medal race day.
The Polish RS:X sailor led Race 7 from the start and had opened up a seven point lead as she headed into the second windward mark. But she went for a swim shortly after the mark rounding allowing Canada's Nikola Girke to move past and open up a ten second lead. Klepacka fought back hard to reduce the deficit to four seconds but she ran out of time as Girke took her first bullet of the regatta.
Girke said, "I got a good start with clear lanes. I just gained steadily on the girls in front. When I was second the Polish girl [Klepacka] got caught on the mark and fell, so I got past and stayed there."
In Race 8 Klepacka blew the field away making no mistakes to finish ahead of Lee Korzits (ISR) by 24 seconds. Behind the leading pair, Charline Picon (FRA) remains in third place on 31 points with Bryony Shaw (GBR) closing up 2 points behind. She is determined to medal here and lay down her marker as a contender for the 2012 Olympic Regatta so don't expect this tough experienced racer to buckle. She's on a charge...
RS:X Men’s Windsurfing results: http://www.sailing.org/uploads/WPIR2011/RSXM_Results.pdf
RS:X Women’s Windsurfing results: http://www.sailing.org/uploads/WPIR2011/RSXW_Results.pdf
