L’équipe suisse de voile pour les Universiades 2011 sera composée de quatre navigateurs romands. Guillaume Girod (19ans, Genève), Manon Luther (21ans, St-Sulpice) ainsi que Fiona Testuz (18ans, Lutry) et Anne-Sophie Thilo (23ans, Pully) s’envoleront mardi pour Shenzhen (Chine)
Lors des Jeux Universitaires 2011 qui se dérouleront à Shenzhen (Chine) du 12 au 23 août, la voile suisse sera représentée par quatre navigateurs romands universitaires. Il s’agit de Guillaume Girod (19ans, Genève) en catégorie Laser homme, de Manon Luther (21ans, St-Sulpice) en catégorie Raser radial femme ainsi que de l’équipage de 470 de Fiona Testuz (18ans, Lutry) et Anne-Sophie Thilo (23ans, Pully).
Guillaume Girod, navigateur de la Société Nautique de Genève, naviguera en Laser standard sur les eaux de Shenzhen. Régulièrement engagé sur le circuit des World Cups, il vient de terminer à une excellente 9ème place au Championnat du monde junior à La Rochelle.
Manon Luther du Club Nautique Morgien, défendra quant à elle les couleurs de la Suisse en Laser radial. Manon est également très présente sur le circuit de Coupe du monde. Elle est de retour d’un entraînement à Weymouth, plan d’eau des prochains Jeux Olympiques de Londres où elle a notamment été partenaire d’entraînement de Nathalie Brügger.
Fiona Testuz et Anne-Sophie Thilo forment un nouvel équipage de 470 dériveur double. Toutes deux navigatrices du Club Nautique de Pully, elles s’envoleront en Chine avec motivation et rage de vaincre dans leurs bagages. Fiona (barreuse et étudiante en HEC) et Anne-Sophie (équipière et étudiante en Sciences de la communication) ont choisi de s’entraîner dans le sud de la France sur un plan d’eau très similaire à celui qu’elles retrouveront à Shenzhen. Elles ont passé de longues heures sur l’eau pour préparer ces Universiades. Anne-Sophie Thilo raconte : « Nous avons choisi de bien travailler les manœuvres, les phases de départ et les sensations dans le bateau sur ce plan d’eau afin que cela soit de vrais automatismes ce qui nous permettra de nous concentrer d’avantage sur la tactique ». Ce championnat sera un peu particulier pour les deux jeunes filles du club de Pully puisque tous les concurrents recevront un bateau fourni par l’organisation. Fiona explique : « Nous avons dû nous entraîner mais aussi penser à préparer notre matériel autorisé et à relever toutes nos « marques repères » sur notre bateau afin de les reproduire sur le bateau en Chine. Nous n’avons pas le droit à l’erreur ni à l’oubli ! »
Toute l’équipe Suisse de voile sera encadrée par Ezequiel Schargorodsky (Coach) et Theresa Lagler (Team leader).La cérémonie d’ouverture se déroulera le 12 août 2011 et les compétitions de voile auront lieu du 16 au 21 août.
Blustery winds ranging from 19-24 knots welcomed the sailors on the sixth day of sailing at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the Olympic Test Event.
And it was the Australians that excelled throughout the day as Tom Slingsby took the lead in the Laser, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen went ahead in the 49er and Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page notched up double bullets.
Belcher and Page put their poor start to the regatta behind them as they won both of their races to move up to second overall in the Men’s 470. After the first four races of the regatta the Men’s 470 ISAF Sailing World Cup title holders had a card of 12-11-10-2 and were down by a considerable margin to leaders Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos (FRA). But they found their way on the third day of 470 sailing to stay in contention. Belcher said, “It was nice to be racing inside the harbour and to have that experience again. It felt more like our boat today. It felt normal. We settled down a little bit and we are getting used to the Olympic course.”
Overnight leaders Leboucher and Garos (FRA) remain in the lead after they maintained their consistency from the opening two days of racing. They came second in Race 5 and discarded their ninth in Race 6. They lead on 13 points with the Australians in second on 25 points and Japan’s Tetsuya Matsunaga and Kimihiko Imamura are third on 28 points.
In the Women’s 470 Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) continue to lead after a steady day on the water. The Brits discarded their eighth in Race 5 before coming second in Race 6 to end the day on 14 points. Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JPN) won Race 5 and came fourth in Race 6 to move from fifth to second overall on 24 points. Gil Cohen and Vered Bouskila (ISR) won Race 6 and jump up to third place.
Outteridge and Jensen (AUS) swapped places with Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez (ESP) in the 49er after the Australians recorded their third bullet of the regatta in Race 6. The Australians came fifth in Race 4 and seventh in Race 5 before winning Race 6 by six seconds ahead of Gianfranco Sibello and Pietro Sibello (ITA). On their day Outteridge said, “It was really good for us today. It was really windy and a bit shifty but the flat water was great. We had a shocker in Race 4 but that was down to me as I had a swim. We ended fifth because of that. But it didn’t hurt us too much as the Spanish had two swims.”
Outteridge and Jensen lead on 15 points with the Spaniards, who won Race 4, second on 18 points. Race 5 winners Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) are third on 21 points after finishing third in the days other two races.
Australia were once again at the top of the podium in the Laser as ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Tom Slingsby (AUS) put in another strong performance. The World #1 came ahead of Rutger Van Schaardenburg (NED) by six seconds in Race 5 but the Dutchman hit back in Race 6 taking a comfortable 31 second victory. Overnight leader Andrew Murdoch (NZL) went 11-4 to slip to second trailing Slingsby by eight points and Van Schaardenburg’s 2-1 moved him from eighth to third overall on 25 points.
World #1 Laser Radial sailor Marit Bouwmeester (NED) continued her fantastic regatta with her third race win and a second. With eight points she leads Annalise Murphy, in second on 26 points, and Krystal Weir (AUS), on 27 points, in third.
Pieter Jan Postma (NED) relished the windy conditions on the Weymouth Bay West course to pick up two convincing race wins in the Finn. The Dutchman won Race 3 by 52 seconds and Race 4 by 16 seconds and is third overall on 17 points. Ben Ainslie (GBR) continues to lead on 14 points despite a 6-5 with Jonathan Lobert (FRA) in second on 14 points. Ainslie maintains his lead after his win in Race 2 but with the discard coming into play tomorrow there may well be changes.
ISAF Sailing World Cup Star title holders Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) once again showed they are the team to beat in the 21-boat Star fleet. The Brazilians went 1-2 to lead on five points. Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (USA) won Race 4 but are seventh overall on 31 points.
The Brazilians nearest rivals are Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki. The Polish Star sailors are on 19 points and have a long way to go to catch up with the Brazilians.
The Laser, Laser Radial and 470 enjoy a reserve day tomorrow but the 49er, Finn, RS:X and Stars continue racing. Places 5-8 in the Women’s Match Racing will also be decided tomorrow before Tuesday’s Semi Finals.