Rollercoaster ride of emotions in Enoshima's Olympic area: Bravely sailed, harshly penalised

On none of the previous days of the Olympic regatta did high spirits and low blows, good results and shocking news alternate as quickly as on this fourth day in Enoshima's Olympic harbour. The discrepancy between Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer's brilliant and spectacular victory in the Nacra 17 and the double disqualification of Luise Wanser and Anastasiya Winkel in the evening could hardly have been greater. While the mixed catamaran crew from Kiel were cautiously happy about their extremely successful start, the hard-hit 470 sailors, who had made a convincing start to their Olympic premiere on the water with fifth and ninth place overall, only found themselves in 19th place in the women's 470 Olympic fleet of 20 boats in the evening.

Tough double disqualification for Wanser/Winkel - reopening is requested

And that's what happened: A general check of the trapeze trousers of all 470 crews had revealed that the waistcoat of foresailor Anastasiya Winkel was 200 grams too heavy. Such an offence can be punished in different ways if it is classified as a violation of the class rules: with a points penalty or disqualification. The jury at the Olympic Games obviously wanted to set an example and disqualified the GER crew for both races of the day, as well as the Argentinian sailors Maria Belen Tavella and Lourdes Hartkopf. The German Sailing Team now wants to take action against this with rules consultant Craig Mitchell and apply for the proceedings to be reopened.

While the unfortunate sailors from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein now have to regroup for the races on Thursday, 470 women's coach Riccardo de Felice explained: "The class rules say that the harness trousers must not weigh more than three kilograms. The last time we weighed them, that wasn't the case either. When we weighed them today, they weighed 200 grams more. For the jury, that's a breach of the class rules, even if the 200 grams wouldn't have made any difference when sailing." Riccardo de Felice also knows how weight differences can occur with standard equipment: "The sailors personalise their trapeze trousers. For example, to make them stiffer in certain places." Nevertheless, there were no more changes after the last weighing of Winkel's trapeze trousers. The jury's harsh judgement could have been more lenient with a percentage penalty. The team now wants to refocus and concentrate on the upcoming races and the upcoming race to catch up. If the harsh judgement is upheld, the crew will have to fight to recover from the second 22 penalty points.

For the catamaran experts in the German Sailing Team, the start at least went according to plan: Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer knew how to play their cards well on Wednesday: They were fast, controlled and effective. The reward for their efforts after day one: with fifth place, an impressive win on the day and seventh place, they not only left a confident impression, but also took a promising second place behind the co-favoured Italian world champions Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti. "We are aware that only less than 20 per cent of the regatta has been completed. Now we can start tomorrow with the blue bib, even though we haven't earned it yet," said Paul Kohlhoff.

"We have to be more aggressive"

The German skiff athletes had a less than satisfactory day. The 49erFX sailors Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke had only just been pleased with their strong third place in race four, when they were followed by nasty setbacks in 14th and 12th place, which saw the Bavarian-North German duo finish the day in seventh place. Because double-digit results are not enough for them, the helmswoman and foresailor want to use the rest day to forge a new battle plan. "Above all, we need to have good starts, not let ourselves be passed to the back and be more aggressive to get where we want to be. We had the handbrake on too much today," announced Sanni Beucke combatively in the evening.

Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel also got away with a black eye, but were also not satisfied with 13th, 5th and 14th place, which dropped them back to eighth. An upset stomach meant that foresailor Plößel was not at full strength and lacked speed. Both should be back on Thursday when Plößel is fit. With 21 points in their account, they are only nine points behind the New Zealand top favourites Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who stumbled at the beginning and have worked their way up to fifth place. The 49er field is led by the Brits Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell ahead of the Germans' Spanish training partners: Diego Botin Le Chever and Iago Lopez Marra.