Youth Olympic Sailing: Natasha Yokoyama wins first race in Byte CII class

By Les Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

East Coast Park, Friday, August 20, 2010 — Singapore’s Natasha Yokoyama won her first race in the Youth Olympic Games sailing competition today. She came back first in the Race 6 of the Byte CII class.

Celine Carlsen had the lead before Natasha managed to pull into first place and edge the Dane in a close finish.

Natasha is fourth overall in the standings with 47 points. Lara Vadlau of Austria leads on 20 points, followed by Carlsen (34) and Constanz Stolz (40) of Germany.

In the boys’ Byte CII category, Darren Choy finished third in Race 6. Darren was second at one point before Zan Luka Zelko of Slovenia overtook him to eventually second.

Darren is third overall in the category with 33 points, behind Haufe Florian of Germany in second (27) and Kaarle Tapper of Finland in first (25).

In the Bic Techno 293, Audrey Yong finished second in Race 6.

The race saw Audrey and her Thai counterpart Siripon Kaweduang-Ngam establish a substantial lead over their competitors at one point. Six sailors were flagged for OCS, including Naomi Cohen of Israel who is third overall in the standings. Cohen was flagged because she fell into the water over the line.

After six races, Audrey Yong is second in the overall standings with 15 points, one more than Siripon Kaweduang-Ngam of Thailand. Naomi Cohen of Israel is third on 17.

Singapore’s Team Manager, Serena Wong, was pleased with the trio’s performance today. She said, “I’m happy with the results, especially with the Bytes (Darren and Natasha), as they managed to climb a few places.”

“It was a pretty good day today. They made good tactical decisions, and did not take unnecessary risks.”

Serena stressed the importance of consistency in such a tight competition across all classes.

“We should put in more clean races. Sailing conservatively and consistently will really help them, as the points are relatively close, especially in the Byte Boys and windsurfing Girls.”

The sailing camp is a happy one, especially after today’s encouraging results.

“It was overall a very good day after the rest day, as we have a tendency of going slack after one,” said Serena.

“Spirits are high. They will now get their daily massage and rest for tonight, and tomorrow will be another day of competition.”

All three Singapore sailors will be in action again tomorrow, Saturday, August 20th at the National Sailing Centre.

For Singapore fixtures and results, go to our 2010 YOG fixtures page