Sailing Magazine
pic by Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy
by Richard Crockett
The wind was up and down again yesterday in Sanya with cloud cover once again present across the racing area. An 8-12 knot breeze was present throughout the day with an increase when the sun broke through the clouds later on in the day.
The conditions obviously suited Calvin Gibbs as he is currently sailing himself into medal contention, being 4th overall.
Today (Wednesday) after the first race of the day he showed on the results sheet as 3rd overall, but after the following race where he finished 12th, he has dropped down to 4th overall.
His results so far after 6 races have not been as consistent as this talented young man would have liked, but with 4 races to go he has the ability to medal in this event.
His results so far are: 5; 22; 5; 6; 8; 12 – excellent results for most, but simply not consistent enough yet to be a strong contender. Let’s hope that his final 4 races are crackers with low single figure finishes.
Benji Daniel and Rivaldo Arendse, a very new combination with a bright future, are maybe not as high up the leaderboard as they may have liked, but in their first competitive 420 regatta amongst the best in the world, they can hold their heads high.
Michaela Robinson and Elsje Dijkstra in the Girls 420 are also battling. They had two reasonable races in the opening rounds, but have not been able to reproduce those again.
Sonja Stock was looking really good overall after 3 races, especially with her 5th in race 3. But since then the pressure appears to have affected her as her following three races have simply put her out of contention for a top 10 overall.
There is still more racing to come, but at this stage all eyes will be on Calvin Gibbs who has every ability to finish on the podium and medal in this event. He is only 2 points off 3rd overall and 6 points off 2nd overall.
South Africa is behind you Calvin, rooting for you all the way. Just do it!
Results
Laser Radial Boys (51 boats)
4 Calvin Gibbs
5 (22) 5 6 8 12
420 boys (25 boats)
21 Benji Daniel & Rivaldo Arendse
19 17 23 13 17 (24.0)
420 girls (25 boats)
20 Michaela Robinson & Elsje Dijkstra
14 17 20 (23.0)
Laser Radial Girls (40 boats)
25 Sonja Stock
25 14 5 (30) 29 26
