Scott fights back on day five in Rio<\/p>\n
Written by RYA | 19 August 2015<\/p>\n
Two top three results for the Finn World Champion on another long race day in Rio<\/p>\n
Giles Scott put his \u2018trying start\u2019 to the Olympic Test Event behind him with two solid scores on Wednesday (19 August) setting him just six points behind the Finn series leader with three more days of racing to go.<\/p>\n
Wind delays were once again prevalent across the course areas on the fifth day of the Aquece Rio International Regatta, with the outermost courses enjoying the best of the breeze late in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
With just three races on the scoresheet instead of the scheduled six by this stage of the competition, the Finn fleet was especially keen to see some action \u2013 none more so than World Champion Giles Scott, who\u2019s endured a tough start to their event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a bit of a trying start to the regatta with a bit of a monumental error on my behalf, thinking I saw a pumping flag when it wasn\u2019t actually flying, which resulted in me being disqualified from a race,\u201d explained Scott, who was crowned champion at this same regatta a year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday it was very necessary for me to get out there and put two very good scores on the scoreboard and fortunately I was able to do that,\u201d continued Scott, who posted a race win and a third to elevate him to fourth place overall after five races.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re now halfway through the opening series so there\u2019s still an awful lot more sailing to be done in what look to be some pretty tricky conditions, so it\u2019s still certainly all to play for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just one race was possible for the 470 men\u2019s and women\u2019s fleets, but both saw gains for the British crews. Olympic silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark posted in third in their race to see them into second overall, two points from the American leaders, while Luke Patience and Elliot Willis are up to fourth in the men\u2019s double-handed class.<\/p>\n
They picked up a seventh in their only race of the day, and are just seven points from the top spot with a potential five more fleet races and a medal race to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually jinxed it a couple of days ago when I said \u2018wow this is so slick\u2019.\u00a0 We\u2019d go out and race at 1pm each day and come in and it was grand.\u00a0 Sure enough then two days of waiting came,\u201d said Patience of the wind delays.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe finally got to race today.\u00a0 It was an interesting day actually. We towed out through absolutely no wind and when we finally got to our race course there was breeze there.\u00a0 This venue\u2019s still proving to be a challenge and you never quite know what you\u2019ve got until you actually get on your race course.\u00a0 But we had good winds and a good race and all was fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have five races left and then a medal race – that\u2019s a huge amount of points in a regatta in the grand scheme of things \u2013 if we get them.\u00a0 It\u2019s really tight \u2013 as ever in the 470 fleet everyone yo-yos in the top position, no-one is dominant so it\u2019s feeling like a real scrap so far this week, in a good way.\u00a0 No race has been over until the last dying moments.\u00a0 I think the whole regatta will be like that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the penultimate day of competition for the RS:X men\u2019s and women\u2019s windsurfing fleets, they managed just one of their planned four races apiece in the fickle winds across the Guanabara Bay courses.<\/p>\n
Bryony Shaw posted a seventh to book her place in the 10-boat women\u2019s finale on Thursday, but Nick Dempsey\u2019s 19th wasn\u2019t enough to make the cut into the men\u2019s medal race and he\u2019ll end this Olympic Test Event in 13th place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this week\u2019s been pretty tough \u2013 certainly tougher than I thought it was going to be,\u201d said the disappointed double Olympic medallist.<\/p>\n
\u201cRio\u2019s a pretty difficult place to sail.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been here for a month now and am slowly getting my head around it.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t sailed brilliantly this week, I\u2019ve made mistakes and I\u2019m not on the pace.<\/p>\n
Dempsey continued: \u201cThere\u2019s eleven months to make a few changes, step it up a little bit and I\u2019ll come back in 11 months\u2019 time in the right place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alison Young posted a fifth in the sole race for the Laser Radial fleet to keep in touch of the top three spots, while Nick Thompson is poised sixth in the closely-fought Laser class with a tenth on the water today.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Nacra 17 crews faced a three hour wait between their two races, with John Gimson and Hannah Diamond picking up 11,7 to see them into seventh overall while the twilight racing for the 49erFX was worth the wait for Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth.\u00a0 They finished second and are in ninth place overall.<\/p>\n
The 49er class was the only one to see no racing at all on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Racing will be brought forward to 1200 local on Thursday (20 August) in a bid to catch up with the schedule.<\/p>\n
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