MEDEMBLIK. In their last regatta before the Olympic Games start in August the 470 women Steffi Rothweiler and Vivien Kussatz sailed a series of ups and downs and finished on rank eight. In the final medal race at the international Delta Lloyd Regatta on Sunday (25 May) in Medemblik, The Netherlands the pinta racing team capsized in strong winds and ended the race on the tenth and last place. But drawing the balance was positive in the end.
A damaged mast after a capsize in the medal race forced Rothweiler/Kussatz to end the race
The five days of racing showed all kinds of weather conditions from light and very shifting winds in the beginning to the concluding strong breeze. The different scenarios have been a good test, but brought on the other hand not only good results for the 470 duo. “That was a series with a lot of jumps and drops after all. We have now practised enough contest and want to prepare for China and the special conditions over there”, said Steffi Rothweiler, starting for the Wuerttemberg Yacht Club in Friedrichshafen at Lake Constance.
The helmswoman aims with this statement for the predicted light winds because they prefer such conditions, in which the Olympic 470 starters can show their enormous strength. But in the final medal race in Medemblik on Sunday the wind picked up to bring the opposite: “We had 22 to 25 knots”, said Rothweiler, which means force six. And the pinta racing team experienced a bad time. A capsize in the shallow Ijsselmeer has been their fate when the mast got stuck in the ground and was badly bend. They gave the race up and 20 points had to be added because the final results count twice.
The total of 100 points dropped the team to overall rank eight starting the final day as fifth. “It was a good and very intensive training, even if we could not improve our results at the end”, resumed the helmswoman, who sailed a little chipped on Sunday because she was hit by the boom the day before. “My head is much better now“, said Rothweiler, “and even the loss of the mast is bearable, as our best material is already in China“.
The Italian crew Giulia Conti/Giovanna Micol made their victory perfect finishing fourth in the medal race. They set of with a margin of ten points in front of the second placed Brazilian team Fernanda Oliveira and Isabel Swan. On third rank follows the Dutch duo Marcelien de Koning/Lobke Berkhout.
“Except of the Italian team the rest of the fleet did not sail very constantly. So in Qingdao we will concentrate on our own sailing instead of watching out for certain competitors”, resumed Vivien Kussatz (Spandau Yacht Club from Berlin) the last test before the Olympic regatta.
Final results 470 women at the Delta Lloyd Regatta
