Sail for Gold, an RS:X and sailing competition, took place last week, with Bryony Shaw and Nick Dempsey taking the wins. Held in Weymouth, Sail for Gold brings together potential Olympians in order to aid the selection process for Rio 2016.
Check out the full results, plus words from Nick and Bryony below…
RS:X 8.5
Bryony Shaw gave a masterclass in windsurfing this week as the world number two concluded her regatta with an unblemished scorecard. The Beijing Olympic bronze medallist was in scintillating form from the outset, finishing 18 points ahead of Spain’s Blanca Manchon in second and Izzy Hamilton in third.
“I am really pleased to win Sail for Gold again this year, it’s been good quality racing and it has been great to have Blanca Manchon from Spain over who has been my main rival all week.
“I have never won every race at a regatta before and it’s great to do that here in Weymouth and Portland. We have had a lot of time on these waters, training hard and as it’s a unique place I think that is one of the reasons why I have been going so well.”
Shaw concluded: “WPNSA is a fantastic venue for the sailing – the Olympic Games proved that – and the facilities here are still second to none so for any visiting teams it is a great place to come and train, and get settled before starting competition. Hopefully the Sail for Gold Regatta will continue to grow, deliver and be bigger and better next year.”
RS:X 9.5
RS:X Windsurfing World Champion Nick Dempsey has ruled the 9.5 fleet throughout the week. The Olympic silver medallist posted ten race wins form the 13 races completed, and finished today’s medal race in second behind Connor Bainbridge to claim his first gold medal since the same regatta in 2013.
“It’s been a week where it started off really tough in the light winds and then as the week has gone on the wind has got stronger, with today being a really nice windy medal race. It has been brilliant racing from the start all the way through, it certainly looks a lot easier when you look at the results than it actually was, but it’s great for myself and our GBR training group.”
After missing out on the podium at the two ISAF Sailing World Cup events in Hyeres and Palma, Dempsey admits that his performance this week has given him a timely boost as he heads into key regattas this summer.
“I’m really pleased with how I have been sailing recently, I got a bit of a kick-in in Palma and Hyeres earlier on in the year – it was expected but the last couple of months’ training have gone really well with everything starting to come tougher again and I’m starting to feel pretty good. I felt great this week and I now can’t wait to get out to Rio.”
