Nacra 17, 49er and 49erFX Worlds at Clearwater, Florida - Day 2
by Katy Nastro & Andy Rice 11 Feb 2016 06:49 GMT
9-14 February 2016
49erFX Demolition Derby... (by Katy Nastro)
Day two of the 2016 World Championships appeared sunny, with a chance of another windy day. The FX girls were proposed to go out at 11 am, but were held for a bit on shore due to that same old windy/wave sea state that sent the boys packing the day before.
FX
And they're off! The girls FX Sailors were sent out for the first race of the day in a breezy 16 knots. The women made it out to their designated race courses in similar wavy conditions to the day before. The competitors were ready and raring to go with the first
warning blown, but with the breeze building to 18+ at times, the race committee made an executive decision to put up the postponement flag and send the sailors in. Kahena Kunze of Brazil noted, "We were definitely able to sail, but I think the race committee made the right decision to not start the race. It could have been bad otherwise." Postponement came down at 2:15pm and the women were then sent back out to try, try again.
The second go at it amounted to only one race being sailed for the ladies. The afternoon breeze came down slightly - enabling the fleet on each course a decent start.
Compared with the conditions earlier in the day, most sailors felt the morning was definitely the lesser of two evils. Jena Mai Hansen and Katija Salskov-Iverson started the race with confidence and then noticed after the first upwind leg the breeze was building. On their downwind, they were able to sail deep, but after capsizing they realized sailing cautiously was better than falling to the inevitable reality of skiff sailing in waves. "We got fifth, and we capsized on the first downwind. We thought we were being a little too aggressive, then [after the capsize] we said 'Okay we need to get into safe mode here,' and we actually managed to do fine. There was so much weed though, so it was really hard to
get around. It affected our steering a lot so it made it hard to jibe."
The Danish pair was in third going into the top mark, but after their capsize they fought against the fleet to make an impressive comeback finishing fifth on the Blue course. Jena and Katija recently finished 4th at the 2015 Worlds and are competing in this event against two other strong Danish teams for the right to represent their country at the Olympics.
Many of the top FX boats came barreling into the finish leaving the scores a close call. Dutch sailors Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz had the best performance of the day on the Yellow course, keeping their wits about them to be able to sail into first. The German team of Leonie Meyer and Elena Stoffers charged in at similar pace, placing second overall. Both the Netherlands and Germany are using this regatta to help finalize their selections for the Rio games. Australia's Tess Lloyd and Caitlin Elks cruised into third, with Erin Rafuse and Danielle Boyd of Canada swiftly after.
"We were fourth at the second windward leg, then hit a forest of
trees at the top mark. We had no speed going into a tack because
of the weeds and so we ended up capsizing, de-weeding, then had
to like come back up to the mark because we had drifted so low,"
said Danielle Boyd in a shivering wet state. They were able to
make gains downwind securing their fourth place position across
the finish line.
On the Blue course, Maiken Foght Schutt and Anne-Julie Schutt
sailed their way into first with the Spanish veterans Tamara
Echegoyen and Berta Betanzos very close behind. "It was really
hard to try to ride the waves, but we were happy with the result
because we found in this race you just have to survive. So now, we
finally start the Worlds!"
Berta Betanzos is a World Champion in the 470 class, while her
crew Tamara is an Olympic gold medalist in the Elliot class. They
recently finished 6th at the 2015 World Championships. Next
came the top British boat of Charlotte Dobson and Sophie
Ainsworth, along with New Zealand's Erica Dawson and Ellie
Copeland who were not present at the 2015 Worlds, but recently
finished 19th at the Miami Sailing World Cup.
49er
The gentlemen trickled into the boat park with hesitation as they
had a bit of a feeling the breeze would not cooperate for the ladies.
Postponed on shore until 3:30pm, the sailors reached the opening
of the channel to find the FX sailors cruising in marking the end
of Day 2.
An atypical winter for the Clearwater area, although the
conditions we've seen in the last two days are sometimes
characteristic of this venue. Day 3 will begin bright and early in
the hope of giving the sailors more time out on the water to
conclude their qualifying round.
Qualifying from the 9-11th of February. Silver and Gold fleet racing from the 12-14th with the Medal races on the 14th. The main hub of information will on www.49er.org
Norregaard Hits The Turbo in Turbulent Conditions (by Andy Rice)
Allan Norregaard and Anette Viborg Andreasen rocketed up to second place overall in the Nacra 17 World Championships, the Danish duo showing a rare mastery of the demanding conditions on the turbulent waters of Clearwater Beach, Florida.
After failing to score a finishing in the single race of day one, the Danes were the only team to finish inside the top 10 of all four races, held in 20 knots and very rough, steep waves. Scores of 2,6,5,6 have shot the 49er bronze medallist from London 2012 into second overall, although still some way off the series leaders and winners of the past three Nacra 17 World Championships, Billy Besson and Marie Riou. The French stars sit at the top with scores of 1,1,4,1,(15), while their compatriots and training partners Moana Vaireaux and Manon Audinet sit 4 points behind the Danes in 3rd overall.
The top two French teams managed to put the stress of a measurement protest behind them last night when the French were accused of having illegally adjusted the daggerboard cases that hold the curved foils that help lift the boat out of the water at high speed. Small changes in the angle of attack of these foils can make a big difference to performance, so this part of the boat is millimetre-critical. To the relief of the two French teams, the International Jury found in their favour and they bounced back with an impressive performance on the water.
Vaireaux seemed unfazed by the protest, speaking after racing today. "It was OK, it can happen, we do a mechanical sport. It is part of the game and we know we did nothing wrong, so it was good to come back [with a good performance today]. Billy and Marie are three-time World Champions, so everyone is looking at them, and we train together with them. People are asking questions, but we didn't do anything wrong. It's the game, it's sailing, we have to go through that."
Even in the bright Florida sunshine, sailors were shivering as they came ashore. "I only brought my summer wetsuit," smiled Vaireaux, trying to warm up in the afternoon sunshine. "But today's conditions were good for us, we like the big waves and big wind. It was really shifty during the races but we made good decisions. Upwind it was about choosing your moment to tack in the wind shifts."
Other sailors that showed bursts of pace in the big breeze included the Italians, Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri, who won the last race of the day, and Tom Phipps and Nicola Boniface from Great Britain who won the second race of the day, even if they didn't know it at the time. "It was very close at the finish, and we thought the Argentineans crossed the line before us," said Boniface, grinning after her first ever race win in a World Championship. "Always good to win a race, makes you smile!" The winning strategy was simple enough. "We went fast in the right direction and protected on the other boats. Today was quite a lot about boatspeed, if you went fast and got around the course safely you were going to do pretty well."
The Argentineans they just pipped to the post were Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli. Lange, sitting in 15th overall, was not happy with his day, although at least the 54-year-old Olympic medallist has secured his place at Rio 2016 where he will represent Argentina for the sixth time at an Olympic Games. "Today's conditions were very difficult for us, we are not well practised and we suffered with lack of speed and a couple of mistakes. But it's good to be here, and with my sons here as well." His sons, Yago and Klaus Lange, are racing at the 49er World Championship also taking place in Clearwater, and they too have qualified to represent Argentina at Rio 2016.
After four big races, the fleet is looking forward to some recuperation time this evening, to warm up and to refuel. "We've burned more calories than we can consume," said Germany's top Nacra 17 sailor, Paul Kohlhoff. "Today was really challenging, very big waves, but tomorrow looks like it's going to be much lighter winds."
Qualifying from the 9-11th of February. Silver and Gold fleet racing from the 12-14th with the Medal races on the 14th. The main hub of information will on www.49er.org
Treacherous in Clearwater; Nacras sail four and FX get underway (from Jodie Bakewell-White, Yachting New Zealand)
Harsh conditions prevailed on day two of the 2016 49er, 49erFX and Nacra World Championships on now in Clearwater, Florida where strong breeze and choppy seas caused further disruption to the schedule.
The Nacra fleet managed four races, but the 49erFX completed just one to open their Championship, while the 49er fleet featuring Peter Burling and Blair Tuke did not complete any racing today.
Sailing in two fleets the 49erFX got underway today. After no racing on day one, and just one race possible today they find themselves two days into the six day regatta with just one race on the board. Race organisers will do their best to catch up lost ground over coming days.
Both the New Zealand women's skiff crews in Florida started solidly despite the treacherous conditions, each recording a single-digit result from today's race. Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland will be pleased to record a 4th place, while NZL Sailing Team's Alex Maloney and were 6th in their race.
The rough and rugged sea state, which is compounded at the Clearwater venue by the shallow nature of the sailing waters, once again took its toll and NZL Sailing Team's Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders didn't come away unscathed on day two recording a DNF in the second race of the day.
Aside from that Jones and Saunders placed 23rd and 24th in races two and four, but bounced back with a 10th to round out the day. They hold 26th overall with five races complete.
22 year old Jones (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) and 25 year old Saunders (Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club) paired up to campaign the new Olympic multihull class in 2013 and represented New Zealand at the 2015 Rio Test Event sailed last August at the Olympic venue where they finished 5th. At last year's Nacra World Championships, sailed last July in Arhus, Denmark, they placed 4th.
Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson, New Zealand's younger combination in the Nacra class fared slightly better on day two of the 2016 Nacra 17 World Championship; with a 28, 27, 13 score-card from today they are lying 22nd overall in the 43 strong fleet.
Mackay (19 years old and from the Napier Sailing Club) and Wilkinson (20 years old and from the Ngaroto Sailing Club) combined forces in the Nacra 17 Olympic multihull class last year sailing 2015 Oceanbridge Sail Auckland in February and then attending their first major international in May last year when they sailed at Delta Lloyd Regatta in the Netherlands. They are part of Yachting New Zealand's Aon Fast Track Squad which aims to accelerate the standard of the most talented sailors from being top international youth sailors, to top international Olympic campaigners.
Harsh conditions make for action packed day two (from Cora Zillich, Australian Sailing)
It was another day of tough conditions with plenty of action on day two of the 2016 Nacra 17, 49er, and 49erFX World Championships in Clearwater, Florida with only the Nacra 17 fleet getting a full set of four races in on Wednesday, 10 February 2016 EST local time. The 49erFX completed just one race to open their Championship, while the 49er fleet featuring Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) did not complete any racing.
After no racing on day one, and just one race possible on day two the 49er/FX fleets find themselves two days into the six day regatta with just one race on the board. The rough and bumpy sea state, which is compounded at the Clearwater venue by the shallow nature of the sailing waters, once again took its toll. Race organisers will do their best to catch up lost ground over coming days.
In the Nacra 17 it was an up and down day two for World #1 Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) who had two high scores (16, 20) plus two top five (4,5) finishes. Unfortunately, their score was later changed to an OCS (premature start) in the last race, which meant a race result change to 44th and thus a drop to 13th overall.
"It was a pretty tricky day. It was still a big sea state out there and some good breeze. We had four races back-to-back with big shifts and big waves so it was a really tough day," Jason Waterhouse said.
"We're not feeling too comfortable at the moment, the boat feels a bit slow and we don't feel we have the right set up. We lost our good spinnaker due to the storm when our gear floated away, but we'll just take it on. And overall we're happy with the results in the end after a long day."
And describing an action-packed Jason added: "There was plenty of action out there, I lost Lisa over board at one bottom mark, which was pretty interesting. Lisa clung for dear life on the foot strap and I managed to drop the spinnaker and get her back on board. Luckily she was alright and it was just at the bottom gate so we only lost ten boats so it wasn't too bad. Then at the last top mark we were second around when we caught a huge bit of weed and we lost about six boats in twenty seconds. That was a bit frustrating but we managed to crawl back to a fourth. Tomorrow looks lighter and warmer, which we're all looking forward to."
Sailing in two fleets the 49erFX finally got underway on Wednesday and also had an action-filled day with lots of capsizes across the fleet. The fleet was first sent out in the morning to attempt a race, but had to come back ashore with coming back through the entrance to the harbour being one of the biggest challenges at this regatta venue.
"We were postponed in the morning, as they needed to wait for the sea state to get smaller so we could sail. When we went out the waves were still pretty big and we were sent back in again. It's quite challenging to come back in and we had to come up with a bit of game plan just before we came down wind to stay upright and not break any rigs or bodies and to be safe. There were lots of white caps and it was a bit like on a surf boat, going down a wave and trying to stay safe," Eliza Solly described.
And skipper Olivia Price added: "I don't think I've been out in conditions that bumpy before. It was a bit hairy at times and when the wind picked up it became pretty hard to really function and get upwind that much."
In what was a hairy day for all sailors, Australian Sailing Squad's Tess Lloyd (VIC) and Caitlin Elks (WA) managed to get around the course the best posting a third in the one and only race of the day, which puts them into fifth place overall.
Olivia Price (NSW) and Eliza Solly (VIC) posted 15th to be ranked 29th overall, while Haylee Outteridge (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) finished the day with a 17th and sit in 33rd overall.
"When we finally got to race in the afternoon it started out ok, but then the tide started to change and the sea state got a lot worse and it was a big day," Haylee Outteridge said.
"We didn't really know where we were coming in the racing as everyone was upside down and all over the shop. We hung in there ok but on the last down wind we had a big capsize and I got stuck in the foot strap and I got swept away from the boat with Nina having to come to my rescue. We'll check our rig after the capsizes as the mast goes straight down to the bottom when that happens and hopefully we'll be all good to go for tomorrow.