6th August 2010

The three final races held today between Sir Keith Mills' TEAMORIGIN and Larry Ellison's BMW ORACLE Racing at the 1851 Cup in the Solent, saw the British afterguard of Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson claim victory over the 2010 America's Cup champions from the US led by James Spithill.

This week in Cowes, the 1851 Cup regatta saw TEAMORIGIN come out on top on the first two days of windward-leeward match racing. However victory on Thursday in the re-enactment of the 1851 race clockwise around the Isle of Wight, which spawned the America's Cup, the pinnacle event in yacht racing, went to BMW ORACLE Racing, just as their forebears on America had 159 years earlier. While TEAMORIGIN were ahead on points going into today's match racing, morally it was even between the two teams.

BMW ORACLE Racing claimed the first of the final day's triple points scoring windward-leeward races to even the score with TEAMORIGIN.

In this Ainslie nearly managed to lock Spithill into ‘dead man's corner', the area of the start box behind the pin, however both were early for the line and the highly experienced BMW ORACLE Racing skipper managed to wriggle back into contention. TEAMORIGIN had the upper hand up the first part of the beat, but by the first mark rounding BMW ORACLE Racing had taken the lead. At the weather mark TEAMORIGIN were on BMW ORACLE Racing's transom and in attempting to get the inside overlap, weren't able to achieve this, and the British crew ‘expressed their frustration' to the umpires and their opponents for which they were duly awarded with a penalty for ‘dissent'.

From here the British team trailed the Americans around the race course, their defeat as BMW ORACLE Racing crossed the line coinciding with the British team's spinnaker bursting.

Race two provided a fantastic display of the drama possible in top-level match racing.

In this TEAMORIGIN swapped sides in the pre-start to take the right side and a favourable shift soon after the start gun caused them to move to take an early lead.

This was to be the tightest race of the day as was proved on the first run, when BMW ORACLE Racing were on TEAMORIGIN's transom creating a wind shadow. To get out of this situation Ben Ainslie luffed his opponent, causing the spinnaker on Spithill's boat to touch them resulting in a penalty being awarded to BMW ORACLE Racing. The American team managed to slip ahead after this, leading for the next lap, but not by enough to clear their penalty before the finish - but this was not without considerable effort spent trying: On the final run both boats at one point found themselves pointing the wrong way up the race course as TEAMORIGIN attempted to prevent the American boat completing its penalty turn. Eventually the two boats did finish the race neck and neck, but with BMW ORACLE Racing having failed to complete their penalty. 7-4 to TEAMORIGIN on points.

In the final race today with the wind exceeding 20 knots, Ben Ainslie once again excelled in the pre-start shovelling his opponent well beyond the right side of the start box. This resulted in both boats being late for the start line, but with TEAMORIGIN ahead by a boat length and in control. BMW ORACLE Racing attempted to engage through the race, but were too far behind. The American team's fate was sealed when during the spinnaker hoist on the final rounding of the weather mark they ran over their sail. This disaster handed TEAMORIGIN the race win, but also victory in the 1851 Cup Regatta with a final scoreline of 10-4.

Commenting on defeating the defenders of the America's Cup, Team Principle of TEAMORIGIN, Sir Keith Mills said "We've seen some of the best match racing this week in Cowes from two extraordinary teams. The event has really put the America's Cup back on the map and a British boat beating current America's Cup holders has made the whole event very special"

21st January 2010

British sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson added the Star class world title to their Olympic crown with victory in Rio de Janeiro.

The pair, who won the two-man keelboat class at the 2008 Beijing Games, dominated the Star worlds on the waters of the 2016 Games in Brazil.

Leading going into the sixth and final race, the Britons covered the Swiss, the only team that could topple them.
Both boats came well down the pack but the Britons did enough for victory.

The 33-year-old Englishmen scored a first, two seconds and a fourth, with a worst finish of 11th discarded, for a total of nine points going into the final race on Guanabara Bay, crossing the line 16th.

The Swiss pair of Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria, who trailed the Britons by eight points ahead of the last day, came 12th in the light winds to finish 11 points adrift in silver on Thursday.

Brazilians Torben Grael, the world sailor of the year in 20009, and Marcelo Ferreira came third in race six to claim the bronze medal. Percy, who was also Star world champion in 2002, admitted that the shifting winds had made for a challenging finale among the 81-boat fleet.

"We started off chasing Mazzari to the unfavoured end of the course, but when the wind shifted 40 degrees to the left it then became the favoured end of the course and we had managed to push them into a good position," he said.

"We managed to catch up so we were quite close to him in the end and then we were able to relax and enjoy the last lap of the course knowing we were world champions.

"Boat speed is 90% down to the crew and Andrew really made it easy for me this week enabling me to point the boat in any direction and go faster than anyone else."
Simpson added: "It's not been an easy week and we made some mistakes - it's a good reminder for us we've got some work to do to be the best for 2012 but we're really chuffed to have won."

Percy and Simpson were world bronze medallists in 2007, while Percy also won Olympic gold in the single-handed Finn class in the Sydney Games of 2000.

British team-mates John Gimson and Ed Greig finished the regatta in 41st place.

The next Star World Championships will be in December 2011 in Fremantle, Australia.

Overall results after six races (discarding the worst result):

1. Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (GBR) - 20 (2+11+2+1+4+16)
2. Flavio Marazzi/Enrico De Maria (SUI) - 29 (30+1+6+4+6+12)
3. Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) - 39 (5+25+21+7+3+3)
4. Lars Grael/Ronald Seifert (BRA) - 44 (35+15+12+10+2+5)
5. Alan Adler/Guilherme de Almeida (BRA) - 44 (6+5+11+13+9+74)
6. Diego Negri/Fernando Colaninno (ITA) - 52 (23+18+5+6+13+10)
7. Fredrik Loof/John Tillander (SWE) - 52 (8+9+18+19+11+6)
8. Eivind Melleby/Petter Pedersen (NOR) - 54 (9+10+4+16+16+15)
9. Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (BRA) - 64 (3+19+50+5+5+32)
10. Johannes Babendererde/Timo Jacobs (GER) - 66 (1+8+39+8+15+34)

15/01/2010

Star sailing gold medallists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson will be putting the newest Olympic venue through its paces when racing at the Star World Championship which gets underway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday (16 January).

After missing the 2009 Worlds in Sweden, which clashed with Simpson's wedding, the pair are determined to assert their place in the 81-boat fleet, which boasts 11 former world champions including the 33-year-old Percy, who won the title in 2002.

"This event is a great marker for us, and missing the 2009 worlds due to my wedding means we are even hungrier for this one," Simpson explained.

"There will be no Worlds for another 22 months so it would be great to take home the title and keep it for such a long period."

The Skandia Team GBR duo know that, with such a competitive fleet - particularly in Brazil which Percy describes as "the home of Star sailing" - winning a first world title together won't be easy.

But they've been logging up the training hours at the venue with a training camp in December, which included a trip up Sugar Loaf Mountain to assess the racecourse conditions and tides in the harbour.

"The Brazilians have a great Olympic pedigree in this class," said Percy. "They boast three Star World Championship winning teams and a total of 14 Olympic medals between them!

"These guys know the water well and we need to keep an eye on them. The European teams are here in force with the ever-strong Swedish, Swiss and French teams also having put in a lot of Rio training hours ready for this event."

"We are here to win," added Simpson, "but there are some strong teams and medalling at the Worlds is never an easy task with only six races, one slip up can cost you dearly."

Percy and Simpson are joined at the Star Worlds by fellow Skandia Team GBR crew John Gimson and Ed Greig, who are entering their second season in the campaigning in the class.

Gimson and Greig also spent some time getting to know the Rio waters prior to Christmas, competing in the Star South American Championships where they finished 11th in a fleet containing seven former World Champions.

The Star World Championship will be held at the Yacht Club of Rio de Janeiro, with one race per day scheduled from Saturday 16 January to Friday 22 January. Wednesday 19 January is scheduled as a reserve day.

To follow Skandia Team GBR's sailors in action, visit www.starworlds2010.com

19/09/2009

Britain won two golds, four silvers and a bronze on the final day of the Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth.
Olympic Star champions Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson were awarded gold after light winds cancelled the final medal race in their class early on Saturday.

Nic Asher and Elliott Willis clinched 470 gold after their last race was able to go ahead in the afternoon breeze.

Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell (470), Lucy Macgregor's matchracers, Ed Wright (Finn) and Bryony Shaw all won silvers.

Pippa Wilson and Saskia Clark completed the haul with bronze in the women's 470.

Percy and Simpson led by 13 points going into Saturday's deciding medal race, but the fresh winds of earlier in the week gave way to calm and the British duo were awarded the victory when the medal races for the top 10 in the Star, Finn and both men's and women's windsurfing classes were cancelled early on.

"It's a shame not to race today but it's the right decision by the organisers," said the 33-year-old Percy, who also won gold in the Finn in Sydney. "We all want to get out there and race but we don't want to ruin a great week with a bit of a charade."

The Britons scored three wins and a second among their eight qualifying races to beat Swedish pair Fredrik Loof and Johan Tilander.

"We sailed pretty well," added Percy. "We haven't trained much this year at all but I guess it's a bit of a hangover from all the training we did for the Olympics.

"We made a couple of mistakes and amazingly they're the things I'm annoyed about now rather than doing well. They were real schoolboy errors that cost us serious points but that's what practice does - it just makes the bread and butter easier.

"Bart [Simpson] was on fire all week as always, tactically downwind, which is his area, picking up places and upwind I was just getting us into good positions so we're pretty pleased."

11/07/2009

There were mixed fortunes for the British sailors in major regatta action on Saturday (11 July), with Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson clinching the Star European Championship title, and Giles Scott narrowly missing out on his first World Championship medal at the Finn Gold Cup.

Percy and Simpson were contesting the Star Europeans in Kiel, Germany – only their second event back in the two-man keelboat since taking gold at the Beijing Games last year.

The week-long regatta turned into a three boat battle at the top of the leaderboard between the Skandia Team GBR duo, Sweden’s Freddy Loof and Johan Tillander, and Olympic silver medallists Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada – ineligible for the European title as Brazilian nationals.

Scheidt and Prada led the regatta by a point over the Brits heading into Saturday’s final two races and managed to hold on to their overall lead at the end of the final day, while Percy and Simpson did just enough to clinch the European crown, finishing on equal points with the Swedes but taking the title on countback.

“It was frustrating to lose the overall regatta to Robert,” Percy explained, “but the other guys have been fully on it for nine months.  We haven’t been to the gym in nine months, or at least that’s what it feels like! – so all things considered it’s encouraging that we have the European title.”

“It’s a quiet year for us in the Star,” Percy continued, “The aim with our Star sailing this year was for enjoyment, to keep our hand in and give something back for our sponsors, Skandia and Citroen, so we’re happily surprised to be in the hunt!”

19/06/2009

Double Olympic sailing champion Iain Percy admits it has ‘felt weird’ preparing for his first event back in the Star since he and Andrew Simpson clinched gold in the class at the Beijing Games last summer. With the pair having originally planned to spend this year preparing for an America’s Cup challenge with the British Team Origin, ongoing legal wrangles with the event have put those plans on hold for now, giving Percy and Simpson the chance to compete together again in the men’s Olympic keelboat class at the penultimate leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup series in Kiel, Germany, which takes place from 20-24 June.

“Our plans have changed slightly,” Percy explained. “We would have been pretty full on preparing for the America’s Cup now but with the uncertainty still surrounding that, we realised we had an opportunity to get some of the building blocks in place for our Star campaign towards 2012.” “It has definitely felt weird – the last time you sail in the class you’re at your best and now after time away in different boats it feels clumsy and you’re making mistakes, which is just a reminder of how much difference a lack of practice makes!

“This event is part of that building process. It’ll help us to keep our hand in and it’s good for us to be able to do some Star sailing again so we can give something back to our sponsors, Skandia and Citroen, as well.” Percy and Simpson will be among 33 Skandia Team GBR sailors from eight classes who’ll be competing at this sixth leg of the World Cup, which also sees the first outing for the new modified Elliot 6m keelboat, which was selected for the women’s match racing event introduced for the London 2012 Games.

19/06/2009

Andrew Simpson had to fly home early from Kiel week on the eve of the medal race to receive his MBE. Andrew commented .....

"I felt truly honoured to receive the MBE from Princess Anne whom is the Patron of the RYA. It would have been great to meet the queen but Princess Ann told me the Queen  had the flu and apologised that she had to present the award instead. It was a great day for my parents , My Fiancé Leah and I.

I had to miss the last day of racing at Kiel week, a world cup event we were leading to receive the MBE. Luckily, our coach, Nick Harrison sailed the race and they managed to win the Bronze medal."

07/04/2009

Britain's double Olympic gold medallist sailor Iain Percy received an OBE today from the Queen for services to sport at a ceremony at Windsor Castle.

"I feel truly honoured to receive this OBE, It was fantastic to be part of Team GB in Beijing and to see so many team mates do well. It was also very special winning gold with Andrew, my best mate of 25 years."

The Beijing Olympics was Britain's most successful ever Olympic sailing event, winning six medals in total; four golds, one silver and one bronze.

"As well as others sailors being honoured, it's also good to see some of the coaches and support staff gaining recognition, we would not have won without their commitment and support.

Over the next couple of years I will be concentrating on competing in the Americas Cup with TeamOrigin before teaming up with Andrew again to defend our title in 2012.''