Team GBR medal winners

There were bronze medals in the both the men’s and women’s RS:X windsurfing events at Sail for Gold, with Nick Dempsey losing ground after a risky starting strategy in his closely-fought medal race.

Four sailors were within easy reach of gold – Dempsey included – but it was Portugal’s Joao Rodrigues who came out on top, with Dutchman Dorian van Rijsselberge in silver and Dempsey in the bronze spot.

“It’s always going to be close, you’ve just got to give yourself the best chance and I’m just a little disappointed that I made an error at the start,” Dempsey admitted. “The rest of the race was fine and I did everything I needed to do to beat Julien [Bontemps] so that was good. That’s what I didn’t do in China,” Dempsey said, recalling his Beijing Olympic heartbreak where he finished fourth.

Shaw, the Beijing bronze medallist, went into the medal race in fourth place and fought back hard to claim her podium spot.

“Going into the medal race I had a couple of Italian girls who I had to beat and keep an eye on the French girl as well. She rounded first on the upwind mark and so my heart was beating fast as I really had to do something to stay in the race,” Shaw explained.

“I had a lot of pressure on me and a lot of doubt, but I’m really really happy that I’ve come out with a medal.

“We can take a lot of positives from this event and there’s also a lot of learners so hopefully we’ll be vying for a medal in 2012!”

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Nick Dempsey at the RS:X Worlds earlier this year. Photo: Richard Langdon

Birthday boy Nick Dempsey, who turned 30 today, heads into Saturday’s RS:X windsurfing medal race at Sail for Gold, Weymouth, as part of a four-way battle for gold between France’s Julien Bontemps, Dutchman Dorien van Rijsselberge and Portugal’s Joao Rodrigues.

Bryony Shaw will challenge for the podium in the RS:X women’s event – she’s two points off of bronze, with rising star Izzy Hamilton also making the cut for the medal race.

The final medal races start at 1000 on Saturday (14 August) with the RS:X Women scheduled for 1230 and RS:X Men at 1330

For the latest news and information, visit www.skandiateamgbr.com or follow us on Twitter (@skandiateamgbr) for updates during the regatta.

Nick Dempsey, not in front here but currently leading the RS:X fleet

In spite of a tough day on the water, results of 7,5 were enough for Nick Dempsey to maintain his overall lead in the RS:X windsurfing event, where he’s now four points ahead of the second placed Julien Bontemps of France.

“It was a really tough day today,” explained the reigning World Champion, who celebrates his 30th birthday tomorrow (Friday).

“Normally gold fleet racing is pretty tough but then you throw in some new conditions and it was really difficult. The race officer set a pretty difficult startline so it puts a bit more risk into it all and makes it hard to get off the line with a safe start.

“It was a solid day, I’m pretty happy. When it’s like that, it’s just a case of limiting the losses a little bit. You’ve just got to be patient.

“I was hoping for some light winds to mix it up a little bit,” Dempsey continued, “but it doesn’t matter what you want – it’s what you get and you have to do it in whatever you get. That’s what we strive to do.”

Bryony Shaw is one point off the podium positions in the RS:X women’s event.

The Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta continues on Friday 13 August. Racing for the Paralympic classes concludes on Friday, with the final 10-boat medal races for the Olympic classes scheduled for Saturday 14 August.

For the latest news and information, visit www.skandiateamgbr.com or follow us on Twitter (@skandiateamgbr) for updates during the regatta.

Bryony Shaw in World Cup action. Photo: Richard Langdon / Skandia Team GBR

The penultimate leg of the 2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup series is set to get underway in Kiel, Germany, today (19 June), with a mix of youth and experience making up the 27-strong British team competing at the event.

With a number of Olympic classes World and European Championships looming, Skandia Team GBR has fielded a streamlined team for the Kiel regatta, with Olympic bronze medal-winning windsurfer Bryony Shaw, double gold medallist Sarah Ayton and Saskia Clark, and Lucy Macgregor’s world number one-ranked match racing team among the line-up.

Shaw has claimed a hat-trick of medals at the three European legs of the World Cup series, so will be hungry for a fourth in Kiel, while three of Britain’s leading 49er crews – Palma World Cup silver medallists Chris Draper-Peter Greenhalgh, 2009 world silver medallist John Pink-Rick Peacock and Dylan Fletcher-Alain Sign, the top GBR crew at the 2010 Worlds – have also made the trip.

In the 2.4mR Paralympic class, Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe will hope to make it a fourth straight World Cup podium spot for Skandia Team GBR in this single-handed event, with Lucas having sealed silver at the Palma leg of the series, and bronze at last month’s Delta Lloyd Regatta in Holland, while Pascoe secured bronze at the French Olympic Sailing Week, Hyeres in April.

Sarah Ayton and Saskia Clark will be the only Skandia Team GBR entry in the 470 women’s event, while in the men’s fleet the development squad teams of Phil Sparks-Chris Grube, Ben Saxton-David Kohler and Matt Mee-Ian Dobson will hope to shine.

Annie Lush will rejoin Lucy Macgregor in the Elliot 6m women’s match racing event, after missing the Delta Lloyd Regatta to observe at the Louis Vuitton Trophy, with Macgregor’s younger sister Kate stepping on board in place of Ally Martin, who’s sailing in Kiel with Mary Rook and Bethan Carden on the second British boat.

Alex Mills-Barton, fresh from his under 21 European silver medal last week in Estonia, will feature in the Laser fleet alongside Skandia Team GBR development squad sailors Rob Godwin, Eifion Mon and Robert Holmes.

Racing for the Olympic and Paralympic classes at Kiel Week starts on Saturday 19 June and concludes on Wednesday 23 June.

For the latest news and information from the British Sailing Team, visit www.skandiateamgbr.com

Bryony Shaw gunning for a medal in Holland

Skandia Team GBR’s windsurfers are in with a shot of the podium spots in Sunday’s medal races – Bryony Shaw hit form on Saturday with 2,1 for her efforts taking her into the bronze medal spot, while Nick Dempsey is currently fifth but just six points off of the silver medal spot.

Racing at the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik (NED) will conclude on Sunday 30 May.

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Nick Dempsey (in Hyeres rather than Holland, unfortunately...)

Day 1

Britain’s sailors were quick out of the blocks on the opening day of the ISAF Sailing World Cup series fifth leg in Holland (Wednesday 26 May).

GBR crews top the results tables at this early stage of the regatta in the 49er and 470 events, while Lucy Macgregor’s team secured a 100% record in their opening round of the Elliot 6m women’s match racing event.

RS:X World Champion Nick Dempsey picked up 3,1,3 from his three opening races.

Day 2:

It was a test of patience for all on the second day at the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, as the light winds across the Ijsselmeer led to long delays to racing on Thursday (27 May).

With many classes not released from the shore until the fickle breeze returned at 5pm, there were late finishes for the Laser, RS:X, Finn and 470 women’s fleets who returned home as the sun was setting at this fifth ISAF Sailing World Cup of the season.

Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw are in strong positions in the RS:X windsurfing fleets – Dempsey added a fourth to his scoreline in his only race of the day to remain in third overall, while Shaw saw a solid comeback on a tricky day to sit in fourth overall.

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Photo: Richard Langdon / Skandia Team GBR

Bryony Shaw was the stand out performer for Skandia Team GBR on the penultimate day of the ISAF Sailing World Cup event in Hyeres, France, on Thursday, as Britain secured 11 boats into Friday’s final races.

The Olympic bronze medallist Shaw took advantage of the improved wind conditions to extend her lead at the top of the RS:X women’s fleet to 18 points, meaning barring major upset, she can be confident of gold heading into the final day.

The 27-year-old secured another race win and a second from Thursday’s two races to pull ahead of nearest rival and Spanish training partner Blanca Manchon.

“It’s been a really demanding week – physically and mentally – not just on the water with the light winds we’ve had, but the delays are pretty draining as well,” Shaw explained.

“It’s great to be in such a strong position going into the medal race.  I knew that I was strong in the light winds so that’s been a bonus, but it’s also encouraging to know that the work that Dom and I have been doing on technique has really paid off and we’ve seen the benefits of that this week.

She continued:  “The medal race is all about putting on a good show for the media and spectators, so I’ll go out with the hope of winning it tomorrow.”

Racing at the French Olympic Sailing Week will conclude on Friday 30 April.

For the latest news and information, visit www.skandiateamgbr.com or follow us on Twitter (@skandiateamgbr) for updates during the regatta.

Bryony Shaw

Olympic windsurfing bronze medallist Bryony Shaw saw the best British performance on a testing first day of racing at the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres on Monday (26 April).

Light wind conditions continued to dominate the southern French venue, with speeds typically 4-5 knots across the courses, but Shaw managed to pick up a race win and a second to top the leaderboard in the women’s RS:X fleet after day two at this fourth leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup series.

Shaw, 26, was involved in a tough battle with Spanish training partner Marina Alabau around the race track.  The Spaniard crossed the finish line ahead of the Skandia Team GBR sailor in both races, but was disqualified from the second race for having crossed the startline early which handed the victory and the yellow leaders’ jersey to Shaw.

“It was good to get racing today,” Shaw explained.  “The wind was so fickle we had a number of general recalls and there was a lot of waiting around, but we did get in a couple of fair races, even if they were a hellish pump-off in such light winds!

“I had some good battles with Marina, I was right on her the whole time and we were fronting up the fleet.

“It was hard work today, both physical and tactical, but it’s great to be up there.”

RS:X men’s World Champion Nick Dempsey also saw a solid start to his regatta, with two third places from his two races seeing him in third overall.

Racing at the French Olympic Sailing Week is set to resume on Tuesday 27 April, with the final medal races scheduled for Friday 30 April.

For the latest news and information, visit www.skandiateamgbr.com or follow us on Twitter (@skandiateamgbr) for race updates during the regatta.