11 months ago

The final day of racing at the ISAF World Cup event for the Paralympic classes in Weymouth and Portland saw two gold medals and one silver for Britain’s sailors on Friday, June 8.

All ten Olympic classes and three Paralympic classes were confined to shore on day five of the Sail for Gold Regatta, with RYA event organisers taking the decision to call off all racing in Weymouth and Portland with strong winds throughout the day.  

The SKUD duo and four time world champions Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell along with the Sonar team of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas both clinched the gold medal, while Helena Lucas narrowly missed out on a clean swoop for the Paralympic team with a silver in the 2.4mR event.  

With Paralympic racing cancelled on the final two days at the 2012 Sail for Gold Regatta with gusts of up to 40 knots battering the Olympic venue, the GBR boats had their fate decided on the six race series completed in the first three days of the regatta.  

Rickham and Birrell have missed out on the Sail for Gold crown on the past three attempts, to finally clinch the gold medal and their third consecutive ISAF Sailing World Cup title two months prior to the Paralympic Games, Birrell insists it’s the perfect confidence boost. 

“It feels fantastic to finish the regatta with a gold medal here in Weymouth and Portland. We came here wanting to win this event and we have done, so that’s great!"Niki Birrell

"Obviously we want to win the Paralympics in September so the overall result here wasn’t as important as the Games, buts it’s a great boost to have won.”  

“We had a similar situation in Hyeres with a similar forecast at the end of the week and we didn't get to go racing. We were in silver position then and that was very frustrating so when we saw the forecast for the end of this week, me and Alex made it our absolute top priority to be leading by Wednesday night because we thought this might happen."

With Weymouth and Portland offering up light breeze on the opening day of the regatta to gale force winds today, Birrell explains you can never be certain of what the 2012 venue will throw their way.  

“You can get anything down here in Weymouth and Portland. People always ask what the normal conditions are – this week we have had everything from 3-4 knots on Monday to it being blown off today with 40 knots so you can always expect the unexpected.”  

“The past few years we have always had to settle for silver so to walk away with gold is fantastic. There is still one or two areas of our sailing that were not doing as well as we need to be so we will be working on those for the next ten to eleven weeks. Hopefully we can get these fixed and tidy up on a few areas so we are as strong as we can be for the Paralympic Games.”  

“Britain's never had a medal in Paralympic sailing, there is a bit of pressure but we'll just carry on training, working hard, racing fast and see what's in store.” Niki Birrell

In the Sonar fleet, 2012 IFDS Worlds bronze medallists John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas, had done enough earlier in the week to secure a hard-fought gold in the three-person Sonar class, finishing two points above the Dutch trio of Hessels-Rossen-Veen.  

“I was quite disappointed actually that racing got cancelled, it would've been good to get more practice in before the Games,” said Thomas.  

“We had an average start to the regatta but we improved on the second day and we wanted to continue with that through the week. It was a pretty tough competition, all the guys who were competing are going to be here at the Games, it was a strong fleet, everyone sailed well.”  

Gold in the 2.4mR event went to the Dutchmen, Thierry Schmitter, with Skandia Team GBR’s Helena Lucas finishing level on points in second after the six-race series.  

“I’m obviously happy with the silver medal but at the same time a little frustrated as I was so close to the gold. I was in fourth in the last race on Wednesday which would have given me the gold but at the last minute I was pipped over the line when the boat from Norway caught a good wave – it was so close and so frustrating as I kind of knew it was the last race of the regatta. But it’s still good to medal and obviously its September that counts!  

“This week has given me the opportunity to test all my kit in pretty much all the wind conditions which is a big tick of the box!” said Lucas. With today’s racing cancelled, Lucas feels the gold medal would have been achievable if the 2.4mR class were given one more race.  

“I would certainly like to have think if we were given one more race I could have gone on to win gold this week – In the strong breeze I’m definitely quick and very quick downwind so hopefully with my speed it could have been a completely different story. However you can’t control the weather unfortunately, so never mind!” 

“It’s definitely made me even hungrier for the Paralympics finishing on equal points with the top boat and I have proved that I can do it even though I didn’t sail the best regatta."Helena Lucas

Knowing that there are still areas that I can still improve on is great. It’s September that really matters so hopefully it will all fall into place for me then,” concluded Lucas.