Day 5 at the 2023 Hyeres Regatta in France decided who would make the cut into tomorrow’s Medal Race stage. The light and shifty conditions did not make it easy, however, eight Australian athletes in five classes from the Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) and Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) programs reached their shared goal.

Casey Imeneo and Mara Stransky made the ILCA 6 Medal Race, decided over three Gold fleet races today where the lucky few were immune to a bad result. Imeneo ended the day in third place, while Tokyo Olympian, Stransky, finished seventh.

The good friends are chuffed that both made it through: “I’m pretty happy to be going into the Medal Race with Mara in there too, in such a quality fleet,” Imeneo said.  

Imeneo made it through to her first Medal Race at Kiel Week last year, with the gold medal ultimately going to Stransky in her first major international victory. 

“It’s pretty awesome to give myself the opportunity to be amongst it here in Hyeres,” Imeneo said. “I started the day with a solid result (second place). That put me in a good position, then the wind shut down, so racing was postponed for a while.

“We did two more races in tricky light winds with a thermal influence. The wind went round to the south coming over land with left and right hand pressure, nothing down the middle, so it was hard to pick. It was frustrating, because I had some good starts, made the right tactical moves, so you’d gain and then lose it all,” she recalled.

Matt Wearn ended the day fourth in ILCA 7 following two races, so is headed to the Medal Race. Like most, the Tokyo Games gold medallist had one bad race, but then scored 10th in Race 10.

Jim Colley and Shaun Connor’s day went well in the 49er. Following four consistent results inside the top nine, the NSW pair moved up to fifth overall and into the Medal Race. Only three points separate second to fifth places, so the race is sure to be a thriller.  

“It’s all to play for tomorrow,” Connor commented ashore. “We’ll check the weather, then it will be critical to go out and sail the best race we can, execute the basics.” 

The NSW athlete said the shifts were hard to read today. “Jim and I share responsibility for reading the conditions. We cross check each other. The other boats are a key indication of what’s happening too. 

“We had good speed, especially downwind, but it came down to trying to find opportunities to stay clear of the rest and then pick the right way to go. Once you got clear of the congestion - and there was a lot of that at the marks - you could make gains or get hurt. It was critical to get it right rather than having to fight your way through the pack,” Connor said.

Jim Colley and Shaun Connor CREDIT Sailing Energy

Rio silver medallists Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin are into the Nacra 17 Medal Race. Four more races were sailed and they ended the day in seventh place overall. 

“We dropped to seventh, we had a tough last race, which didn’t help,” Waterhouse said of their 19th in Race 12, which has been discarded.

“It was a super tough day. We’re still a bit rusty and making a few mistakes. We need to work on our light air sailing,” he said, adding, “We’ll use the Medal Race as experience for the next event.” 

Gauging their performance this week, the NSW athlete said, “We’re not really happy with our results, we need to be consistent. There’s definitely potential there though. We’re doing some things right and others not, but there’s been good progression from Palma.” 

Breiana Whitehead entered the day in 12th place in the Formula Kiteboard Women’s, so the pressure was on. The Queensland athlete took it all in her stride and finished the day 10th to make it through to the Medal Race. 

Four races were sailed in the 49erFX. Olivia Price, the London Games match racing silver medallist and her teammate, Evie Haseldine, missed the cut by one point. Placing 11th overall, the NSW pair finished best of the squad. 

The Hyeres Regatta concludes with the Medal stage to decide the winners tomorrow. 

Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS), Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) and Australian sailors results in Hyeres:  

ILCA 6 – Gold fleet –10 races (one drop)    
2nd Casey Imeneo (ASS) 8, 5, 6, 1, 3, (38), 6, 2, 25, 17 = 73 points
7th Mara Stranksy (ASS) 11, 2, 10, 5, 6, (30), 1, 29, 4, 24 = 92  
23rd Elyse Ainsworth (ASS) 14, 20, 16, 15, 14, 17, 11, 27, (36), 15 = 87 

ILCA 6 – Silver fleet – 6 races (one drop) 
58th Sylvie Stannage (ASF) 24, 24, 15, 32, (36), 29 = 124 points
77th Paige Caldecoat (ASF) 20, 17, (UFD), 35, 41, 39  = 152

ILCA 7 – Gold fleet – 10 races (one drop)
4th Matt Wearn (AST) 4, 4, 1, 2, (10), 4, 7, 2, 16, 10  = 44 points
13th Finn Alexander (ASS) 7, 2, 2, 1, 13, 13, 32, 19, (51), 14 = 102 
18th Luke Elliott (ASS) 5, 6 (BFD), 3, 24, 26, 16, 13, 15, 7 = 114
31st Ethan McAullay (ASS) 1, 5  (BFD), 1, 10, 50, 15, 35, 35, 8 = 160
45th Stefan Elliott Shircore (ASF) 21, 10 , 17 33, 8, 33, 27, (52), 30, 32  = 211 
46th Zac Littlewood  (ASS) 6, 15, 10, 12, 28, 17, 41, (44), 44, 41 = 214

ILCA 7 – Silver fleet – 8 races (one drop) 
72nd Michael Compton (ASF) 44, (BFD), 27, 27, 27, 18, 8, 15 = 166 points
98th Lawson McAullay (ASF) 20, 17, 22, 14, (47), 41, 44, 44 = 202 
99th Will Sargent (ASF) 40, 36 (BFD), 26, 20, 23, 34, 26  = 205

ILCA 7 – Bronze fleet – 7 races (one drop) 
132nd Jack Eickmeyer 32, 36, 33, (48), 39, 38,  37 = 215

49er – Gold fleet – 13 races (one drop)
5th Jim Colley and Shaun Connor (AST) 5, 7, 6, 1, 2, 14, (UFD), 18, 3, 4, 9, 8, 6 =  83 points
21st Tom Burton and Max Paul (ASS) 6, 12, 6, 16, 7, 7, 8, 6 (DNC), 22, 19, 5, 22 = 136

49er – Silver fleet – 10 races (one drop)
26th Thomas Needham and Joel Turner (ASS) 6, 12, 8, (18), 17, 12, 6, 9, 11, 3 = 84 points
32nd Tom Cunich and Miles Davey (ASF)  RDG, RDG, 14, 15, 3,13, (17), 5, 9, 16 = 96.4

Nacra 17 – Gold fleet – 12 races (one drop)
7th Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AST) 1, 1, 4, 12, 6, 8, (13), 6, 13, 10, 7, 19 = 81 points
13th Ruben and Rita Booth 11, 2, 3, 3, 8, 19, 16, 10, (UFD), 6, 21, 11  = 110
19th Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown (ASF) (DSQ), 8, 11, 9, 3, 16, 18, 12, 18, 23, 6, 13 = 137
22nd Jake Liddell and Lucy Copeland (ASS) (UFD), 9, 8, 2, 6, 20, 19, 20, 20, 17, 16, 15 = 152

Nacra 17 – Silver fleet – 9 races (one drop)
29th Archie Gargett and Sarah Hoffman (ASF) 13, 13, 13, (15), 10, 10, 11, 5, 6 = 81 points

49erFX –Gold fleet – 13 races (one drop)
11th Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine (ASS) 3, 4, 1, 5, 9, 12, (23), 22, 9, 12, 12, 18, 7 = 114 points
16th Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot (ASS) 1, 4, (22), 12, 1, 18, 12, 21, 15, 8, 10, 19, 22 = 143 

49erFX –Silver fleet – 10 races (one drop) 
28th Tess Lloyd and Dervla Duggan (ASS) 16, 15, (21), 11, 8, 7, 8, 15, 1, 9, 7 = 97 points

470 Gold fleet – after 10 races (one drop)
30th Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas (ASS) 9, RDG, 4, 18, 16, 25, 24, 30, (BFD) 12,   = 149.75 points

470 Silver fleet – after 10 races (one drop)
53rd Sophie Jackson and Angus Higgins (ASF) 19, 5, (UFD), 23, 25, 16, 20, 22, 7, 28 = 165 points
59th James Jackson and Lily Richardson 28, 26, (29), 18, 29, 27, 26, 14, 25, 18 = 211

Formula Kite Women – Gold fleet – 16 races (three drops)
10th Breiana Whitehead (AST) 7, 3, 2 14, 6, 6, (19), 7, (20), 15, 9, 16, 8, 13. 9. 12 = 113  points

Formula Kite Men – Silver fleet – 8 races (two drops) 
39th Hector Paturau (ASS) 9, 12, 8, 13, (DNC), (21), 18, 10  = 70 points
51st Oscar Timm (ASF) 15, 17, 12, (21), 10, 18, (26), 21 = 93

iQFOiL Women – 22 entries – 14 races (three drops)
14th Samantha Costin (ASS) – 2, 4, 4, (20), 13, 13, 15, 15, 15, 16, (20), 15, 15 (DNC) = 127 points

iQFOiL Men – 21 entries – 14 races (three drops)
21st Jake Lilley (ASF) (DNC), (DNC), 19, 18, 19, (DNC), 16, 18, 20, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC, DNC = 220 points

For full results, please go to: https://sof.ffvoile.fr/official-notice-board/
 
By Di Pearson/AST media