49er/49erFX World Championship in Argentina - Day 1
by International 49er Class 17 Nov 2015 07:21 GMT
16-21 November 2015
The sun has risen and the men and women of the 49er and 49er FX fleets have begun the first day of the 2015 World Championship.
The weather for day one presented an ENE early with a bit of hazy sunlight, and reasonably warm temperature of 26 degrees. Just hot enough to get the FX sailors seeking shade and trying to stay alert before their fleet headed out.
The men's 49er fleet started in the morning session with the breeze slowly switching from ENE to a more Easterly 6-10 knot wind. Consistency was not the name of the game for most of the sailors in each group. Notable sailors whom usually place well in the top ten, and from the previous South Americans sailed very much all over the board.
Sailors all noted it was quite difficult to read the patterns because, well, there weren't any really!
Currently standing in the top three places are: 1st- Croatia's KOSTOV/ CUPAC, 2nd- Spain's PAZ BLANCO/ PAZ, and 3rd - Poland's PRZYBYTEK/KOLODZINSKI. Our other notable countries to watch, Argentina and Sweden, are currently sitting in 6th and 12th respectively. Argentina's two top boats sit just one point away from one another in 6th and 7th.
For the women's 49er FX fleet the afternoon posed a bit steadier direction in same ENE vein, but the pressure variance was between 4-14 knots. They might've had more breeze to start but as the races were sailed, the breeze pressure slowly dropped making the final race a pretty light one! Apart from the top ten finishers, some higher point finishes were common amongst mid fleet in this final race.
Currently standing in the top three slots are: 1st- Denmark's NIELSEN/OLSEN, 2nd-France's STEYAERT/COMPAN, and 3rd- Italy's CONTI/CLAPCICH. Denmark's Nielsen and Olsen had a slam dunk of a day winning the first three races and throwing out only a 5th place finish.
Countries yet to qualify for the women's fleet from Norway and Ireland sit both in the top ten.
Day one down, but so many more to go. The FX fleet will start tomorrow leaving the 49er fleet to hopefully see more breeze come in during their afternoon session. Wind forecast is looking similar to today's and possible chance of thunderstorms early AM.
Event website: 49er.org/event/2015-world-championship
Update from Australian Sailing by Cora Zillich
In light conditions Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) posted two top ten results in the first two races of the day, but an OCS in the third and final race of the day pushed them back into 27th place on the overall leader board with another five race days to go.
"Today was a tricky day with five to ten knots all day and shifting twenty degrees, so it was hard to see what was going on. It kind of all looked the same on the water, so it was hard to be on the right side every time," Iain Jensen said about the conditions of the day and the challenges of reading the murky brown Buenos Aires water.
"We came away with a ten, five and an OCS, which is a bit disappointing. In general we sailed okay, but it's a shame about the OCS. Otherwise we would have had three races in the top ten as we were in ninth in that race," he added.
"Tomorrow we'll be in the afternoon slot and that's looking a bit better for the forecast. Tomorrow morning is again looking light and hopefully there will be an ok breeze by the afternoon. With the OCS we obviously have to make sure that we don't have another one in the qualifying."
After the first three races, Australian Sailing Team's David Gilmour (WA) and Rhys Mara (VIC) are the top ranked Australian crew in overall 18th (5, 16, 16) with Victorians Will and Sam Phillips following in 24th.
Queenslanders Joel Turner and Lewis Brake had an OCS in race two and sit outside the top-30 required for gold fleet after day one, but have another two days of qualifying to move back up the results ladder.
"It was super tough day with not a lot of breeze and we got caught on the wrong side of the course quite often. We were handling the boat well and sailed pretty quickly, but just got caught in the wrong spots and an OCS never helps the scorecard," Joel Turner said self-critically.
"There are still another two days of qualifying so we still got plenty of racing to go to get into Gold Fleet and climb up the results ladder. We need to switch our heads on, make sure we're still sailing fast and that we're sailing a little bit smarter. Anything can still happen with another seven races in qualifying."
In the 49erFX four races were sailed on day one with Australian Sailing Squad's Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA) posting an eleventh, tenth, twelfth and a third place in the last race of the day. This puts them into 18th overall after day one.
Update from Yachting New Zealand by Jodie Bakewell-White
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have opened their 49er World title defence with two race wins, and an 18th on the first day of the 2015 49er and 49erFX World Championships.
The regatta, which has attracted 61 boats in the men's 49er fleet and 44 in the women's 49erFX fleet, has just kicked off in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Another five days of racing are scheduled before the medals are decided.
Burling and Tuke, who were last week named 2015 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year, took a race win in their first race of the day, but an 18th followed in race two. Bouncing back they came away from race three with another win to lie 5th overall at this early stage of the series.
Talking last week after victory in the 2015 South American Championships, which served as a build-up regatta, Burling described the venue as tricky where the muddy coloured water made wind puffs hard to read.
"It is a really challenging place to get it right all the time – so it's going to be tough venue to sail the World Championships," he predicted. "It's really rewarding when you get it right."
A second kiwi crew, Markus Somerville and Aaron Hume-Merry, are also lying within the top ten with three single-digit results (9, 5, 9) from the first day of competition.
Currently standing in the top three places in the 49er are Croatia's Kostov and Cupac leading, Spain's Paz Blanco and Paz in 2nd while Poland's Przybtek and Kolodzinski are 3rd.