As the first race day commenced on Mon 8 Aug, 1pm local time (Tue 9 Aug 12mn, S'pore time) for the Olympic’s Sailing Competition, sailors and spectators alike expected winds of 10 to 16 knots, south easterly, and picking up in afternoon with gusts of 20 to 25 knots. Visible rain clouds pointed to a possible afternoon drizzle.

As Singapore celebrates its 51st birthday, the nation's sailing squad saw three races for each of the RS:X classes; while the Laser Standard (Men) and Laser Radial kicked off with two races each. Stable wind conditions allowed races to finish on schedule.

First race in the Pao de Accuar course for RS:X Men and Women started with southerly winds of around 10 to 12 knots. Wind picked up at 13 to 15 knots on the 2nd and 3rd race. Charline Picon (FRA) took the lead after three races with one discard with finishing positions of 1st, 2nd and 1st. Followed by Stefania Elfutina (RUS), winner of Girl's RS:X event at 2015 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship. Audrey Yong came in 25th overall with 25th, 25th & 24th finishes.

For RS:X Men, hot favorite Nick Dempsey took the lead with 1st, 1st and 2nd finishes. Followed by London 2012 Gold Medalist Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED). Leonard Ong finished in 34th overall with 33rd, 33rd and 35th finishes.

In the next course, Escola Naval (Navy School in Portuguese), the lasers and radials started the race day with a short postponement, and races soon started with favourable wind conditions, and towards the second race with winds of 14 knots of south-easterly winds across the bay.

In the Laser fleet, Colin Cheng had a tricky start and he rounded 30th at first mark. He caught up at first upwind to 11th and and eventually finished 5th for the first race. At the next race, he had a decent start and rounded 8th at Mark 1, however he didn’t manage to maintain his lead and dropped to finish 20th in Race 2 – placing him 8th overall. Tonci Stipanović (CRO) leads after Day 1, followed by Julio Alsogaray (ARG).

For the Laser Radial fleet, Elizabeth had a good start for Race 1, rounded Mark 1 in 5th, but made some conservative game plan and lost out some positions for last leg of the race and finished 19th position. In Race 2, conditions weren’t in her favor as well as she came in 30th to finish 27th overall.

INTERESTING FACT

The iconic hill – Pao de Accuar – overlooking Guanabara Bay, means Sugar Loaf in Portuguese – Pao meaning bread and Accuar meaning sugar.

COLIN CHENG • LASER STANDARD

LASER MEN RACE RESULTS

RACE 1 • RACE 2