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Andrew's Sailing Gear |
ANDREW MURDOCH - YACHTSMAN |
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4 August Sailing Info on the Olympics Games. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Sailing
Competition 8th – 24th August 2008,
Prepared
by:Jodie Bakewell-White Media
Contact for the In
Contact details:
Email: jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz
Skype: JodieBW
Olympic
Blog:
http://www.nzoc.org.nz/Blog/BlogList.aspx?ID=6117
Racing Format & Scoring At the 2008
Olympic Sailing Competition a new Olympic Format will be used for the
first time. The Medal Race format was decided on by the ISAF Council at
the 2005 ISAF Annual Conference in For each
event the sailing competition will consist of an opening series and a
medal race. Eleven races are scheduled for each event in which During the
opening series, competitors score points equivalent to the position in
which they finished the race (i.e. first place scores one point, second
place two points). There are a number of letter scores awarded for
breaking the Racing Rules of Sailing (such as crossing the line early etc)
which usually incur a points score of the equivalent of a last-place
finish +1 point. The series
score of each boat is the total of their race scores, except after five
races they shall discard their worst race score. The top ten
boats (i.e. the ten boats with the lowest series score) at the end of the
opening series progress to the Medal Race (for the other boats the
competition is over and the positions from 11 upwards are final). The
Medal Race is sailed over a shorter course close in to the shore, with a
race target time of approximately 30 minutes. Scores in
the Medal Race are doubled (i.e. you score two points for first place,
four points for second place etc) and any letter scores (for crossing the
line early, kinetics etc) are calculated based on a fleet size of ten. The
Medal Race is officiated by on-the-water umpires, with sailors required to
make any protests during the race. For the top
ten competitors, scores from the Medal Race are added to their score from
the opening series to decide the final positions. Any ties in the overall
score at the end of the Medal Race shall be broken in favour of the boat
who recorded the better finish in the Medal Race. The Events & Boats In 2008
Laser –
Men’s one-person dinghy Total fleet:
40 Laser Radial
– Women’s one-person dinghy Total fleet:
26 RS:X – Men’s
windsurfer Total fleet:
35 RS:X –
Women’s windsurfer Total fleet:
28 Finn –
Heavyweight Dinghy Total fleet:
26 Star – Men’s
Keelboat (Two-person) Total fleet:
16 470 – Men’s
two-person dinghy Total fleet:
30 Local Time –
Time difference
Website links www.sailing.org/olympics - The ISAF Olympic Games microsite will
have live competition information, international news and photography. Key
Documents, background information and Olympic sailing history will also be
available here. www.yachtingnz.org.nz – The YNZ
website homepage will carry daily wrap-up reports focussed on the
www.nzoc.org.nz – Check out
the NZOC site for blogs with regular updates during competition from the
likes of Jo Aleh, as well as a blog from Jodie Bakewell-White with regular
updates during competition days. http://www.sailing2008.org/en/ – The official site of the Olympic
Sailing Regatta in English Reports, Quotes & Information
About the
The
purpose-built Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre will host the Olympic Sailing
Competition. The Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre is
located on The Olympic
Sailing Centre site covers 45 hectares, 30 of which are being used for the
Olympic Sailing Competition (the remaining 15 have been sold to help
finance the build). The principle buildings on the site are the Qingdao
Olympic Village, Athletes Centre, Administration Centre, Media Centre and
Logistics Centre, covering a total area of 138,000 sq m. The Olympic
Village, Athlete and Administration Centre are clustered close together at
the north of the venue. The 30,500 sq m boat park separates them from the
Media Centre, which is situated at the south of the venue, on the near end
of the Breakwater. The Breakwater is 534 m long and provides a
high-capacity and well-sighted viewing area. The
Logistics Centre is located on the east of the venue, whilst the Olympic
Memorial Dock, where the Olympic Torch will be located, is to the
west.
About
The 11
sailing events of the 2008 Olympic Games will be held in the coastal city
of Climate The Sailing Team In 2008
The Support & Coaching Team
3 July: Last World Ranking release before the Olympics: Andrew Murdoch World #2 Kiwi Olympic Sailor, Andrew Murdoch, has moved up one place in the latest World Rankings to be World #2. The ISAF world rankings are the last ones to be released before the Olympics and confirm the great year that Andrew has had in preparations for the Olympics. Andrew has finished in the top 3 for most of the Grade 1 Regatta he has entered in 2008. Andrew is currently in China for his last training sessions before Olympics. Andrew, like the rest of the sailors training in China, is hoping the Green Algal Bloom which is invading the sailing area will be able to be controlled. Barbara Kendall, who is also training in China, recently hit one of these green islands at speed and promptly cart-wheeled off the front of her board as she was brought to an abrupt halt.
Chinese Authorities are confident they can control this problem and have moblised 10,000 people to help. They are looking at installing a 50km fence across the sea to stop the green bloom from floating onto the Race Course.
29 June Kiel Day 5 Andrew Murdoch 3rd in Medal Race at last Regatta before the Olympics New Zealand's Olympic Representative in Men's Single Handed Dinghy, Andrew Murdoch, has just finished third in the Medal Race of the Kiel Week Regatta in Germany. Kiel Week, with over 4,500 sailors competing, is the last ISAF Grade 1 Regatta before the Olympics. Andrew Murdoch finished the Regatta strongly with a 3rd in the double points Medal Race sailed by only the top ten sailors out of the 156 in Andrew's fleet. The 3rd place in the Medal Race took Andrew to 7th overall after Andrew had led the Regatta earlier in the week. World #1 Tom Slingsby from Australia won the Regatta after finishing 2nd in the Medal Race.
The Medal race was sailed inshore in lighter sailing conditions, which are similar to those expected at the Olympics so Andrew is pleased with his 3rd place. Andrew now heads to China for some practice before heading back to NZ before heading to China again for the Olympics. Andrew is happy with his preparations so far for 2008 and is expected to at least retain his #3 World Ranking after this event. 28 June Kiel Day 4 Andrew Murdoch makes the cut for the Top 10 Medal Race Andrew Murdoch has maintained his position in the Top 10 at the completion of the Gold Fleet racing at the Kiel Week Regatta in Germany. The Top 10 Sailors will now sail a double points Medal Race tomorrow to determine their final place at this last ISAF Grade 1 regatta before the Olympics. The Top 10 sailors are from 10 different nations and most of them will be sailing in China representing their countries at the Olympics in August. World #1 Tom Slingsby from Australia is the runaway leader and only has to finish the race tomorrow to win the Regatta. The last 2 podium places are realistically only able to be secured by the Canadian, Portuguese and Swedish sailors. Racing today was in strong 15 to 25 knot winds and cold rain, the exact opposite of the conditions expected at the Olympics. Conditions allowed the scheduled 3 races to be sailed and Tom Slingsby wearing the leaders Yellow Jersey dominated the first two races and has such a commanding lead of the Regatta that he was able to sail home while the rest of the fleet sailed the last race in the strengthening winds. Andrew Murdoch steadied the ship today after yesterday's disappointment of losing the Yellow Jersey and recorded a 9th, 7th, and 31st in the 3 races.
New Zealand's women Olympic Rep Jo Aleh dropped out of the Top 10 today and will miss the Medal Race as she collected another maximum points Black Flag Penalty which she is unable to discard. Jo has sailed well at this Regatta and is looking in very good form for China. Andrew Murdoch will head into the Medal Race tomorrow determined to improve his position as he has beaten everyone in the Top 10 over the course of the Regatta. 27 June Kiel Day 3 Wrong Side of Crazy Day drops Andrew Murdoch to 5th Conditions at Kiel Week in Germany, the last big Regatta before the Olympics, were described as "crazy" today. Kiwi number 1 Andrew Murdoch, who was the joint leader overnight, got the worst of it, recording an uncharacteristic 24th and a Did Not Complete (maximum points) in the final race. The Race Committee had scheduled 3 races, but in the 180 degree wind shifts they struggled in the challenging conditions to set square start lines and were only able to complete two races. A storm front was expected but all sailors and race officials got was lots of rain and plenty of crazy wind shifts. Andrew Murdoch's scores of 24 and 53 for the day drop him back to 5th on 32 points (he is able to discard the 53) as about half of the leading sailors suffered similar results in the "crazy" day. World #1 and joint overnight leader with Andrew Murdoch, Tom Slingsby from Australia, was on the correct side of the big wind shifts and recorded a win and a 2nd to retain the Yellow Jersey and comfortably lead the Regatta on 8 points. The second placed sailor, Rasmus Myrgren from Sweden, has almost 3 times as many points with 21.
Stronger more stable winds are forecast for Saturday, the last day of finals racing, and Andrew needs the maximum amount of races to be sailed to allow him to claw his way back up the leader board. The goal is to stay in the top ten and qualify to sail in the final, double points and non-discardable, Medal Race on Sunday. NZ's Olympic Representative in Womens Laser Radial, Jo Aleh, had a good day and is currently in 4th in the Women's event. Andrew and Jo are both well positioned to make the Medal Race for their respective fleets. 26 June Kiel Day 2 Andrew Murdoch tied for the lead with World #1 New Zealand's Olympic representative in the Single Handed Laser Dinghy, Andrew Murdoch, dominated his fleet in the 3 races sailed today. The Kiel Week Regatta in Germany is the last Regatta before the Olympics for most of the sailors Andrew Murdoch will be competing against in China. After 2 days Andrew Murdoch is tied for the lead of the 156 boat fleet with World #1 Tom Slingsby from Australia. The 156 sailors are split into 3 fleets for qualifying and yesterday Murdoch and Slingsby had a win and 2nd as they sailed against each other in the same fleet. Today there where in different fleets and both won their respective first 2 races with Murdoch coming 3rd in the last race of the day and Slingsby 4th. They are now tied for the lead on 5 points after allowing for one discard now that 5 races have been sailed. Tied for 3rd place behind them is yesterdays leader from Portugal, Guatavo Lima & Greek sailor Adonis Bougiouris on 9 points. The next best Kiwi sailor is Josh Junior from Wellington who has 42 points in a tie for 32nd.
Sailing conditions were perfect today along the Kiel Fjord which allowed the organisers to complete the scheduled 3 races per day. A Westerly breeze of 11 16 knots, with gusts up to 20 knots kept the Lasers planning and surfing around the course and the sailors working very hard when sailing upwind. Many of the Olympic sailors have been on strict weight loss programmes for the light winds expected in China so today was a bit of a shock as most sailors are well below their normal body weights. It was partly sunny with cloud cover which can be very cold in Northern Germany and the photo above shows Tom Slingsby wearing the leaders "Yellow Jersey" which the organisers have introduced in the this Regatta along with a Pink & a Green Jersey for 2nd & 3rd. Tomorrow Andrew will be wearing the "Yellow Jersey" for the first day of the 2 day, 6 race finals series, before the Top 10 sail off in the Medal race on Sunday. Andrew said of today's racing: "Racing has been pretty tight, but I have been doing well in the tight situations and have been making some good decisions so far which is great. I have been starting well, but we had a few black flag starts today and some recalls which made things tough. You have to be right there pushing the starts but you can't get Black flagged so it is very tricky." Of the sailing conditions he said: "Yep it was hard work, it probably got up to 20 knots but also was dropping out to 10 knots or less at times. I certainly worked hard today, I am still feeling fit and well though" With the two race wins Andrew pretty much led from start to finish. In the third race he picked the big left hand shift just before the start and started at the favoured Pin end: "In the 3rd race we had a big shift left prior to start, I was at the pin end and tacked over as soon as possible, it faded back to left and a few of the guys who had got onto port earlier did well, I rounded the top in 4th the first time. I managed to fight back to 2nd at one stage but finished 3rd" 6 Race finals series starts tomorrow. 25 June Kiel Day 1 Great Start to Kiel Week for Andrew Murdoch New Zealand's Olympic representative in the Men's One Person Dinghy (Laser dinghy), Andrew Murdoch, has made a great start to the last major sailing regatta before the Olympic Games. Andrew, currently ranked #3 in the World, started the Regatta with a win and a 2nd which leaves him tied on points for second place with World #1 Tom Slingsby from Australia. The Laser fleet has a massive 156 boats sailing, so the Regatta organisers have had to split the sailors into 3 separate fleets. These fleets will be changed each day with the intention that all sailors will get a chance to sail against each other. Later in the Regatta the Top 50 sailors from qualifying rounds will be split off to sail in the Gold Fleet to determine the overall winner .
Today Andrew Murdoch was arguably sailing in the hardest of the 3 fleets, with World #1 ranked sailor and 2007 & 2008 World Champion Tom Slingsby from Australia in his fleet. The conditions today were challenging as the winds were unstable ranging between 6 & 12 knots and swinging between the East and the South East. Andrew got a good start in the first race and he battled hard with Tom Slingsby all through the race to beat him at the finish and win the race. In the 2nd race of the day Andrew got another great start and again duelled with Slingsby but this time the World Champion won with Andrew 2nd. Andrew enjoyed the days racing and said of the day: "I started well in both races and duked it out with Slingsby in both races, lots of fun!" The firsts and seconds leave Andrew and Tom Slingsby tied for 2nd place on 3 points behind 2003 World Champion from Portugal, Gustavo Lima, who sailed in a different fleet and won both his races on 2 points. 4th place on 6 points is Abe Torchinsky from Canada. Other Kiwi's in the fleet are Josh Junior 18th, Matt Coutts 50th, Max Andrews 73rd, Sam Meech who will be representing NZ at the Youth World Championships soon was 81st. Tomorrow the fleets will be changed again as qualifying racing continues. (For Sailors) Andrew has been using the Rooster Layered DS system for 2008 supplied by www.nzsailing.net and on his last trip back to NZ we updated his sailing equipment for the Olympics. An article on the changes Andrew has made for the Olympics will be released shortly. To give you some idea of the magnitude of the changes, at the start of the year Andrew was using the large size Pro-Hike Shorts with the standard leg and the large Hike Pads. In the races today he used the small Pro-Hike Shorts with the standard leg and the medium Hike Pads. Andrew uses the large, medium and small Hike Pads depending on conditions. Today he said: " I am loving the smaller size hikers and pads and I used the medium pads today" Big changes for
China! There are just under 50 days before the first race starts at the 2008 Olympics. New Zealand's representative in the Men's One Person Dinghy, Andrew Murdoch, is now in Germany for the last major regatta before the games. 4,500 sailors are expected, from more than 50 nations for the Kiel Week Regatta and they will sail in craft ranging from Olympic Class Dinghies to Offshore Yachts. Andrew will be competing in the most competitive class, the Laser, against 150 other sailors. Most of his competitors at the upcoming Olympics will be racing as they all take this last chance of serious competition before the games. Andrew is currently ranked 3rd in the World and is back in Europe after coming second in his last ISAF Grade 1 Regatta, the Semaine Olympique Francaise at Hyeres in France.
2008 has been a very busy year for Andrew with trips to China in preparation for the Olympics, while also competing on the ISAF Grade 1 circuit around the world. Andrew has had some great results so far this season and as part of his sponsorship by www.nzsailing.net we will be providing updates of Andrew's progress towards the Olympics. We will also be reviewing his results and preparation this season and providing some tips for all those sailors who want to sail as fast as Andrew. We will be publishing these news stories and articles on this website, so keep checking it regularly and click on the links on the right hand side to view Andrew's supporters. |
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