In a variable 7-12 knot south easterly breeze, competitors from 41 nations competing across ten Olympic events and an Open Kiteboarding fleet completed all scheduled races on the opening day of the Hempel World Cup Series Final in Marseille, France.

Sailors, including 16 Olympic gold medallists, are racing at the venue for the Paris 2024 Olympic sailing competition.

The Australian Sailing Team is represented across three classes; 470 Men’s 470 Women’s and the Finns where Australian men make up one quarter of the fleet and Queensland’s Jake Lilley began his series with a promising set of scores on Tuesday June 4.

470 men & women

Since forming their partnership in December 2012, Mat Belcher and Will Ryan have featured at world number one for 46 World Rankings releases. Wherever they compete they are viewed as potential gold medallists and Marseille is no different – the Rio 2016 silver medallists sitting behind the Spanish after the opening two races.

Belcher and Ryan’s super coach Victor Kovalenko reported overnight: “The 470s were on the Delta course - the most outside course with wind 10-12 knots from 130 degrees, good waves and current 175 degrees 0.5-0.6 knots. Even being quite far from the cliffs we had a fennel wind on the left and all French teams were racing all the way to the left in both races. 

“In the first race Aus11 got a good start near the committee boat, went left but not enough. Top mark ninth then sixth, downwind good speed – fourth and they finished third. Second race same start and again tacked to the right a bit early.  On the last downwind there was a big battle with the leaders who were nervous, and Aus11 finished second.”

For the 470 pair of Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries, Marseille signals the end of their European campaign and the goal is to use the regatta to gain more race experience in a smaller, high quality fleet, and continue to improve racing strategy and tactics.

Overnight Jerwood summed up day one: “We were fighting in the middle pack for much of the first race, gaining a few spots in the last downwind to finish 14th. We made a few too many errors in the second race and placed 21st. Tomorrow is forecast for strong wind.”

Finn

From three Aussies in the Finn division, Jake Lilley put together the strongest opening day on a scenic course influenced by natural obstacles. “It was a bit like snakes and ladders at times, with numerous mountains probably more famous for cycling than sailing, chopping up the wind.

“I managed to put together a really nice first race and in the second race had to mount a comeback and ended up rounding the last top mark in third before sliding back to eighth.” Lilley did enough to finish third on combined points, behind New Zealand’s Andy Maloney and Josh Junior.

Hempel World Cup Series champions will be crowned in 49er, 49erFX, Nacra 17, Open Kiteboarding and Men's and Women's RS:X fleets on Saturday 8 June. On the Sunday 9 further champions will be crowned in the Men's and Women's 470, Laser, Laser Radial and Finn.

The World Cup Series began in Enoshima, Japan, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic venue, in September 2018 before moving to Miami, USA in January this year and, most recently, Genoa, Italy in April.

Website: http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/regattas/marseille_2019.php 

Live tracking: https://wcs2019-marseille.sapsailing.com/gwt/Home.html?#/event/:eventId=ba606057-ced3-444d-9425-fd89ae36ca18

Medal Races on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 June will be live streamed on World Sailing’s YouTube Channel http://youtube.com/worldsailingtv 

470 Men’s (29 boats) 
2nd Mat Belcher and Will Ryan 3, 2 = 5 points

470 Women’s (24 boats) 
18th Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries 14, 21 = 35 points

Finn Men’s (12 Boats)
3rd Jake Lilley 3, 8 = 11 points
9th Jock Calvert 5, 10 = 15 points
12th Lachlan Gilham 12, 11 = 23 points

Photos: Sailing Energy / World Sailing

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