It’s too close to call in the RS:X Men’s fleet. Britain’s Nick Dempsey celebrated his 30th birthday today, but wouldn’t have enjoyed his 28th place in the first race of the day. (pictured at top American sailor Ben Barger (USA-7) photo credit onEdition)
It was his first double-figure score of the week and it let France’s Julian Bontemps finish the day on equal points by way of a 4-3 scoring ling. Holland’s Dorian Van Rijsselberge is one point adrift of the leading pair after posting two second place finishes on the day. Joao Rodrigues (POR) regained his form to win the last race of the day and finds himself in striking distance just 5 points out but will need some help from the other sailors to make it to the podium. With only one discard for the whole regatta anything can happen and given the up and down performances with in the fleet no one can afford even a single bad race.
Notable performance of the day has to go to France’s Benjamin Tillier who surprised everyone by winning the day’s first race. Tillier has no shot at the podium but will certainly relish the victory as he builds momentum his campaign up for the upcoming world championships in Kerteminde, Denmark from August 26th thru September 5th.
