Tornado World Championships in Cadiz Overall
by Tornado Press 25 Sep 2003 09:09 BST
High speed action for the Tornado fleet at the ISAF World Sailing Championships © G. Hohr
The Aussies Silver Medalists Bundock and Forbes have proved their excellent campaign towards the 2004 Athens Olympic Games with one more title. The team arrived for the Worlds in Cadiz bringing with them a couple of first places: 1st in the Athens Regatta, 1st in the Europeans, amongst others.
The 2003 World Title is the 4th for Darren (1998, 2001 and 2002) and the 6th for Forbes (1989, 1992, 1998, 2001 and 2002) who also won a Bronze Medal in the 1992 Barcelona Games.
The “Levante” came back to farewell the Tornado sailors. It was a short visit though. Race 10, the last one for the fleet, started full of expectations for many sailors. A good race today could bring the British back to the first position, dependent on a bad one for the Australians.
The Tornados started their first last attempt for a better position at 1:10pm with 10-11 kt. The “Levante” (easterly wind) left and yesterday’s “Poniente” (westerly wind) came back canceling the race. The second start happened at 3:37pm with 7kt, black flag and new hopes.
The British McMillan/Bulkeley and the Australians had a very close race, “ We would stay with them all day if necessary “, says John Forbes after winning today’s race. The British arrived second after a 3 boats came back.
“Leigh and McMillan are sailing very well and they deserved the Vice-Champion Title” adds Darren Bundock without hiding the happiness for one more title.
The Argentineans Lange/Espinola had a lay-day today: the third position was guaranteed and the chance of getting the second was almost impossible. “We decided to go on the coach boat and watch them racing. You can actually learn a lot by only studying their tactics”, says Santiago Lange.
Roland Gaebler and Gunnar Struckmann kept the overall 4th position and qualified Germany for the Olympic Games. The other countries that qualified in Cadiz are: Great Britain, Netherlands, United States, Italy, Spain and Puerto Rico.