22nd September 2003 - Day Four

For the first time in the regatta the sailors left shore with a 10 knot sea breeze. The gold fleet, which comprised the top 44 sailors after the qualifying series, were scheduled to be first fleet to start. After a postponement and relaying of the start line they didn't start until 12.30, by which time the breeze had filled in to the predicted 15 knots.

In the first gold fleet race a distinct split occurred in the fleet on the first windward leg with two of the top four sailing in either direction. Series leader Gustavo Lima POR and Andrew Murdoch NZL were in the group favouring the left hand side of the beat while six times world champion, Robert Scheidt BRA, and Micheal Blackburn AUS sailed to the right.

At the first mark the right hand side prevailed with Blackburn rounding in first position, closely followed by Ed Wright GBR and Gareth Blanckenberg RSA. With the high standard of the fleet the entire fleet rounded within 40 seconds of each other, after a 1 mile leg taking 19 minutes..

Racing a single loop course Blanckenberg and Blackburn rounded the gate simultaneously with Blanckenberg rounding the starboard mark and Blackburn the port. Although racing remained close the South African held a narrow lead at the top of the beat. On the downwind legs Blanckenberg extended his lead to eventually cross the line 38 seconds ahead of Blackburn with James Howard GBR finishing third. Defending champion Robert Scheidt finished sixth and series leader Gustavo Lima eighth.

Race winner Blanckenberg, when asked where he thought he won the race, said: "With the building seas and breeze there were big gains to be made if you got a couple of waves right".

The second race again saw a difference of opinion about which was the right side of the course to sail, with the fleet spread all the way across the course. However in the end clean air and boat speed were the key as leaders at the top mark were Mark Mendelblatt USA, who had worked the left side, and Gustav Carlsson SWE, who had been on the right side.

On the down wind Carlsson showed good speed to take over the lead. Lima had worked his way through to second whilst Mendelblatt had dropped back to 10th. On the second beat positions remained fairly static with the exception of Scheidt and Blanckenberg RSA, who moved through the fleet to gain third and fourth places respectively.

Carlsson rounded the second windward mark with a 20 second lead over Lima. However this was to prove not to be enough, as Lima passed him on the downwind leg as they approached the bottom mark. On the short reach to the finish Lima held his lead for a narrow victory.

After the first two races of the finals Lima has extended his lead to 6 points over Scheidt because Lima discards his 8th place today. The bronze medallist from Sydney, Blackburn, who was placed third overnight, lost some ground to the leaders after only managing a tenth in the second race to score 12 points for the day. He was quite relieved at his finishing position, as he had rounded the first mark well into the twenties.

Overall results after 8 races (1 discard)

1.Gustavo Lima POR 10pts
2.Robert Scheidt BRA 16pts
3.Michael Blackburn AUS 25pts
4.Mark Mendelblatt USA 31pts
5.Andrew Murdoch NZL 33pts
6.Gareth Blackenberg RSA 36pts
7.Vasilij Zbogar SLO 38pts
8.Daniel Birgmark SWE 39pts
9.Ed Wright GBR 40pts
10.Gustav Carlsson SWE 42pts

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