Olympic Games 1996

LASER - RACE 5 RACE REPORT - 25 July 1996

Race 5 for the Lasers began with a sea breeze from the south-southwest (190 degrees) at 18 knots and with a building sea.

At the first windward mark, Robert Scheidt (BRA) led in front of Vasco Serpa (POR) and David Hibberd (RSA).

The left side of the course was favoured by a large part of the fleet, but even so the boats were still greatly spread out over the course.

Ben Ainslie (GBR) staged a good recovery to move up through the fleet on both the upwind and downwind legs. Similarly Hamish Pepper (NZL) and John Harryson (SWE) also moved up in the placings finishing 6th and 4th respectively. However, it was BrazilÕs Robert Scheidt who took the lead by 35 seconds, from GBR, POR, SWE, NED and NZL.

When asked how he worked his way into second place, Great BritainÕs Ben Ainslie replied: "I was in sixth at the first mark, I took two places on the first run, I then took two places in the next beat and then I overtook POR on the last reach to the finish line." After the race, Ainslie said, "I feel great, but it was hard work."