Aleh and Powrie share lead heading into finals

Date: 16th July 2010
From: Jodie Bakewell-White

Aleh and Powrie share lead heading into finals series

New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie head into the three day finals series of the 2010 Women’s 470 World Championship with a share of the lead.

Photo © Thom Touw

The qualifying round for the Women’s fleet was completed overnight off the Hague, Netherlands where the Men’s and Women’s titles are currently being contested. Once again, racing was interrupted, this time due to stormy, blustery conditions, and only one race was sailed late in the day.

Aleh and Powrie raced home to 3rd place and sit equal with Italian’s Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol who closed their gap on the kiwis on the leader board with a win in last night’s race. A race discard now comes into play also affecting the overall standings.

Early leaders Eric Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar of the USA are three points behind the New Zealanders and Italians tied at the top.

Aleh and Powrie first competed at World Championship level in the Olympic 470 class in 2009, Aleh moving into the double-handed class after competing at the 2008 Olympic Games in the single-handed Laser Radial. Aleh, 24 years of age, is at the helm with 22 year old Olivia Powrie her crew. Both girls represent Auckland’s Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Melinda Henshaw and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher have qualified for the gold fleet in 19th place after finishing 12th in last night’s race.

Reports indicate that regatta organisers and sailors alike were extremely frustrated by the inaccuracy of weather predictions which saw 180 plus boats head out in the morning in extreme sailing conditions which then worsened as wind challenged tide. The Women’s fleet sailed just the one race late in the day while the Men were unable to complete a race and progress to gold, silver and bronze fleets after an abbreviated qualifying series.

Geoff Woolley and Dan Willcox, as well as Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders have qualified for the Men’s gold fleet sitting in 23rd and 27th place respectively.

The titles will be decided and the world champions crowned after a medal race on the final day - July 18th. The New Zealand 470 crews are supported by coaches Nathan Handley and Hamish Willcox.

Provisional Results after qualifying rounds
Women’s 470 World Championship (62 boats)
1st = Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (2, 2, 1, 4, 3)
19th - Melinda Henshaw and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher (5, 12, 9, 19, 12)
53rd - Sarah and Emma Berry (28, 25, 30, 15, 25)

Men’s 470 World Championship (119 boats)
23rd - Geoff Woolley and Dan Willcox (37, 12, 5, 15, 5)
27th - Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders (16, 9, 15, 10, 6)
39th - Francisco Lardies and Finn Drummond (28, 8, 26, 14, 4)

Links:
Regatta website
International 470 class website

About this regatta:
The International 470 Class is the class of boat used for both the men’s two person and women’s two person dinghy events at the Olympic Games. Used as Olympic equipment since 1976, where the class was sailed as an open event before the introduction of separate events for men and women in 1988, the 470 is sailed in more than 61 nations around the world.

This year 119 men and 62 women are in the Netherlands to compete for the ultimate titles of 2010 Men’s and Women’s 470 World Champion. 

ends

© Scoop Media