RS Tera World Championship at Gottskär, Sweden

by Zoë Handley 15 Aug 2008 08:44 BST

The first RS Tera Sport World Championship in Gottskär, Sweden was a huge success with 50 boats from seven nations enjoying nine races in idea sailing conditions. The standard was consistently high for such a new and young fleet of sailors, especially on the last day when the wind exceeded 20 knots ensuring some thrilling racing in large seas and big grins all-round.

The fleet was treated to a real master class by 14-year-old Herman Tomasgaard of Norway who sailed an outstanding series, producing a string of firsts to become the first RS Tera World Champion. But racing was always close and Herman was pushed all the way by girls from Turkey and Sweden. Eventually only one point separated the girls with Arya Sevgen of Turkey (27 points) just taking second overall from Beatrice Törnsten of Sweden (28 points) in third place.

Turkish sailors also finished 4th and 8th which meant that Turkey and Sweden were equal Top National Team at the RS Tera Worlds 2008 ahead of the Italian and Danish teams. The five members of RS Tera Team GBR found that the Scandinavians and Turks had taken Tera sailing to the next level, but enjoyed the sailing and got in plenty of practice for the first UK RS Tera Nationals at Hill Head SC on 16th/17th August. Lawrence Gibbons of Chipstead SC lead the GBR charge with 22nd overall followed by Ross Blackledge of Herne Bay in 27th overall.

The championship was run together with the RS Feva Worlds and Mirror Europeans, ensuring that there was also plenty of activity onshore as well as on the race course. Paul Handley, designer of both the RS Tera and RS Feva, was pleased to open the first ever RS Tera Worlds. Many thanks are due to the organising clubs Björlanda Kile and Kaparen, as well as the competitors and their families and coaches for making such an exciting event. We would also like to thank race officials, the international judges as well as Principal Race Officer Jerome Nutte from France for excellent race management.

The next international event for RS Teras will be the European Championship in Lake Garda, Italy next year. Jon Partridge from the International Class Association hopes to see even more Teras as the class continues its rapid increase in popularity. If you are interested in more information please contact Jon at www.terasailing.com