M32 Series Scandinavia: Gothenburg
by Ben Blake 20 Jun 2017 15:24 BST
15-17 June 2017
M32 Series Scandinavia: Gothenburg © William Ulrich-Hareblad / M32 Series
Jonas Warrer may be in his rookie year as an M32 skipper, but he showed no signs of it in Gothenburg this weekend as he took his all Danish team to the top of the leaderboard on day two of the regatta and held the top spot through to the end, topping the podium at the first M32 Series Scandinavia event of the 2017 season.
M32 Series sailing is about racing in city centres, and nowhere is this more true than in Gothenburg, Sweden. Racing shore-to-shore in the tight space between the city mainland and the island of Hisingen meant that teams were faced with tough tactical decisions and crews were pushed to their maximum having to tack frequently up the short beat.
2016 Series champion Ian Williams with GAC Pindar dominated on the first day of sailing with strong starting technique and fast boat speed across the full racecourse. After four back-to-back wins at the end of last year it looked as if he picked up exactly where he left off in September.
Friday saw conditions turn to gusting, patchy wind through the breaks in rain. This inconsistent breeze pushed teams from first to last place in an instant and gave a real shake up of the leaderboard by day's end, seeing Danish skipper Jonas Warrer make his way to the top of the leaderboard. Warrer was closely tailed by Pieter-Jan Postma's Sailing Team NL and CHINAone Ningbo skippered by Phil Robertson - three teams at their first ever M32 Series event.
Summer certainly arrived on Saturday morning and with it brought a strong stable breeze. The race committee pushed through an impressive eight-race program across the afternoon, none of which were without drama. Jonas Warrer continued to excite crowds with his fine-tuned crew work delivering huge acceleration out of manoeuvres and passing boats in the final metres before the finish line directly in front of the race village all day long.
Foreign teams owned the podium at this event with local Gothenburg based FLUX Team skippered by Johnie Berntsson just missing out in fourth place. Jonas Warrer had the top spot all tied up, but a protest hearing after racing was to decide second and third on the podium following a heavy collision where Phil Robertson's CHINAone Ningbo boat was forced out of action. Being awarded average points for the race saw Phil hold on to his silver medal position and Ian Williams took up the third spot.
The dramatic events of the final day saw four of the seven teams receive penalty points for collisions or pushing their luck just a little too far, proving that city centre racecourses deliver close-quarter action that can enthral crowds.
The next stop for the M32 Series Scandinavia is Risør on the west coast of Norway, with other stops taking the Series to city centre locations in Helsinki, Aarhus and Stockholm.
Overall Results:
1. Jonas Warrer (Wallén Racing) - 62pts
2. Phil Robertson (CHINAone Ningbo) - 67.8pts
3. Ian Williams (GAC Pindar) - 68pts
4. Johnie Berntsson (FLUX Team) - 85pts
5. Pieter-Jan Postma (Sailing Team NL) - 89pts
6. Nicklas Dackhammar (ESSIQ Racing Team) - 93pts
7. Sam Gilmour (Neptune Racing) - 96pts
For detailed results see www.m32series.com