Everything was in place for the medal race in Hyères. Two racing areas were set close to shore, live speaker, many media boats,...even a full free breakfast to entertain the “non selected” sailors. The only “unknown” parameter was the wind! The weather team had predicted none less than 4 winds trying to squeeze in the bay of Hyères; 3 too many! While the sea breeze was expected, it is the westerly wind that saved the day allowing the Medal races to start with only one hour delay. The racing committees were once again very reactive and the schedule planed to near perfection by Regatta coordinator Bernard Bonneau and Principal race Officer, Ion Echave allowed racing on 8 classes. The women’s division in the RS:X and 470 were the only one to miss out and overall results are based on yesterday’s.

The surprise came from the lack of it! The Medal races confirmed the top two places in each class. In the Tornado, the Australian leaders had to leave early to race tomorrow in the...

2004 winner in Hyères, Thierry Schmitter (NED) dominated the Paralympic one person event on the 2.4mR.

“I consider this event like training. I regret the absence of French Damien Seguin or Heiko Kroger. However, I love sailing in Hyères, the conditions can be very different during all week which makes the event interesting.”

Helena Lucas won the last race, with Bjornar Erikstad (NOR) placing second and third overall.
First place French is local sailor, Gerard Fulgoni in 6th position.

Despite adding an extra hour to the time limit to 4.30 PM, the late arrival of the wind didn’t provide enough time to finish the daily schedule. With the wind dropping to 2 knots and the rain starting, there was no time to start the Medal race in the women’s divisions of the RS:X and 470.

The event victory turned into a dual race between the American Page Railey and the French Charlotte de Turckheim. Respectively 1st and second in the 2005 Laser radial Championship, the American had her eyes and boat set on the French who needed a 5 points difference on the leader to win the event. World number 1, Page Railey secured her second victory in a Grade 1 event this year with a 9th place. De Turkheim keeps her second place. The day’s winner is surely the Chinese Lijia Xu who wins the medal race and takes the Bronze medal in the event.

Well decided to sail a normal race despite his impressive lead in the RS:X Men, Dutch windsurfer, Casper Bouman has sailed today in what he calls an “horrific” race! “Nothing worked! I had a bad start, and then I was struggling for speed. I am a bit heavy and with the light wind and the rain, I tried to come back to the fleet and was only sailing bad!”
Starting to feel the pressure, the 20 years old Dutch could finish last and still win the race. “I was so much behind I was worried to miss the time limit.”
Despite racing his worse race in the championship, Casper was proud to take the first place in the first RS:X event in Hyères.
It was a close call for second and third place. Nick Dempsey (GBR) narrowly takes the Silver medal one point ahead of Piotr Myszka from Poland. Tom Ashley (NZL) wins the Medal race, he places 6th overall.

Tom Slingsby had just to make sure that direct rival Mate Arapov from Croatia was behind him to win his second title in Hyères. Covering the Croatian during the all race, Slingsby finished 4th to keep his title in a race won by French Thomas Le Breton. 2nd place went to Andrew Murdoch from New Zealand. The Podium is completed by Mate Arapov (7th) and Canadian Michael Leigh.

Perfect regatta ending for 470 team from Israel, Gideon Kliger and Udi Gal who win both the Medal race and the regatta they have been dominating from Day 1.
The Medal race is also respecting the ranking with Gabrio Zandona and Andrea Trani (ITA) in 2nd position while Benjamin and Romain Bonnaud from France takes the third place overall after a 4th place today behind the Japanese team of Seki/Yanagawa.

With the Australian Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby on their way to the Eurocat regatta in Carnac, the medal race in the Tornado was sailed with 9 boats. The Australians are getting the maximum penalty with 74 points. The Greek team of Paschalides/Trigonis takes the third position thanks to a victory in the medal race, in front of the World and European champions Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz. In 5th place, Xavier Revil and Christophe Espagnon (FRA) keep their regatta title. A 4th place for Roland Gaebler and Gunnar Struckmann is giving the German the 2nd position in the regatta.

With the top 2 crew advantaged by a big lead, the objectives and strategies were various on the Yngling course for the Medal race. While title holder, Barkow/Howe/Capozzi sailed without much pressure to finish second and win again in Hyères, the German strategy was to cover the British team helmed by American sailor Haberland to secure the lower step on the podium. Sarah Ayton, Emma Rowlinson and Sarah Webb score 12 points with a 6th finish to keep their earlier second position. The Russian team of Ilienko/Gaponovitch/Kovalenko won the race.

The wind increased to 8/9 knots for the Finn Medal race. After taking a very conservative start, Ed Wright found his usual speed to catch up on his opponents. He is rounding the top mark behind Jonas Hoegh-Christensen, followed by Marin Misura from Croatia. The Dane needs to win the race in order to get second place in the regatta. He will manage to conserve his lead for most of the short race, but Ed Wright passes him a few meters from the finishing line to win his 4th race and the regatta. Misura finishes 2nd and Hoegh-Christensen 3rd. The French Guillaume Florent loses his 3rd overall position for 5th after finishing 8th in the Finn Medal race.

The start cut the fleet short of 2 boats with the Danes Warrer/Kirketerp and the Polish team Stanczyk/Kuzmicki penalised for starting too early. Under the new system, this is costing them a double disqualification based on the Gold fleet size.

Yesterday leaders the Spanish Martinez/Fernandez and the British team Morrison/Rhodes, took the option on the right of the course, to lead the fleet. The Spanish increased their lead up to 25 seconds, to win the race and the regatta in front of the Skandia team GBR 2nd in the race and overall. Despite an average race (7th), the Sibello brothers threatened by a good performance from the German team of Bauer/Groy (4th) keep their third place.

Hopes for any racing looked pretty grim this morning. The water was glassy and the cloudy sky wasn’t a good omen for the appearance of the sea breeze like the previous day. The racing was safely postponed for all classes. Seeing no evolution by the end of the morning, some sailors were starting to pack their boat. With no racing yesterday in the RS:X it was important to get at least one race in for the Gold group in the Men to be able to go into the medal race tomorrow.
Around 2PM, a light wind from the south west reached the racing areas. The racing committees were ready to act quickly and sent all the classes out but the Tornados in an ultimate attempt to get some races in today.

The Gold groups in the RS:X Men, 49ers, Laser radial and Lasers; the RS:X women, the 49er silver group and the 2.4 were the only classes to race.
The 470 Men Gold, were racing when the wind dropped to 1 knot forcing the Race committee to abandon, cancelling by the same occasion the 47...

A quiet blue sea and bright sunshine welcomed the sailors ready to race their 4th day in Hyères.

Unfortunately the conditions at the end of the morning were more suited to sunbathing than sailing! The racing committee postponed all classes waiting for the sea breeze. Appearing timidly early afternoon with 5-6 knots near the coast, the wind was just enough to start the 7th race in the 2.4.mR class. Thierry Schmitter claimed his 5th race in the championship increasing his dominance on the fleet. Second place was taken by Bjornar Erikstad. The Norwegian is constantly improving in his first SOF participation. “My aim his for a top 3 placing.” After wining his first race ever in an international event yesterday, he is closing the gap on Helena Lucas who scored her worse result with a 4th place. “I started on the port end of the line” recalled Helena, “I heard the race officer calling GBR so I thought I was over and restarted, I found out later that I had a c...