Formula 18 Worlds at the Royal Belgian Sailing Club

Report from Hugh Styles:

The Royal Belgium Sailing Club hosted the 2009 Formula 18 Worlds championships at Knokke Heist, which finished on Friday afternoon. It was the most tense of finishes for the gold fleet as winds gusted to 30 to 40 knots on the Friday and brought capsizes and mistakes a plenty for many of the front runners.

Gold was secured by Coen de Koning and Thijs Visser on the Nacra Infusion for the second year running, followed in silver by Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch on the Shockwave and bronze for Hugh Styles and Ferdinand Van West on another Nacra Infusion. Friday was the only day of finals racing with three races and no discard, and force 5 – 7 wind conditions and a very high pressure situation for the leaders.

The world championships saw a stunning turn out of boats for this the 6th ever F18 world championships with 183 boats and a whole range of conditions, with 2 days racing lost to no wind and last day eventually abandoned due to too much wind.

After a windy race one the breeze then died and the racing was abandoned for the rest of Monday. Tuesday saw a light and fickle South Westerly wind come and then eventually die as it turned to the north, leaving the fleet down a days racing. Wednesday dawned brighter and light and a battle for the qualifying fleets against the strong tide (up to 3 knots), but the wind did come good and the fleet finally had a meagre 4 races, but still critically short of the 9 which had been scheduled by that stage. Thursday was meant to be a windless affair, but in the end a good sea breeze developed and this helped to get the tally of races to 6 and this was sufficient for the completion of the qualification series and a discard.

Going into Friday the overall positions were 1st Coen de Koning with a slim 1 point lead over Mischa Heemskerk in 2nd, Billy Besson in 3rd and Rob Wilson in 4th. Everything changed on Friday as it dawned with a forecast of gales! The fleet had a first start at 0900 for a potential 5 races in the gold and silver fleet finals. In the end the wind increased so rapidly that only 3 races were held and this meant no discard, and lead to a major change in the top 5 placings overall.

Race 7 closed the overall title fight with a win for Mischa and 2nd for Coen, 3rd went to Jean-Christophe Mourniac putting him in contention for 3rd overall.

Race 8 was where the tile fight changed massively. Glen Ashby sailing with Will Howden sailed a great race leading from start to finish, 2nd Mitch Booth, 3rd Gunnar Larsen and 4th Hugh Styles. The biggest upset was Mischa crashing out on the second downwind leg with a huge capsize and a 24th finish with Coen also capsizing in a massive crash into the finish line.

This meant it was all to play for in the last race.

Race 10 started in 22 knots reaching 28 knots, gusting 35 knots and above, half way up the first beat! Its was a great finish for Mitch Booth winning from Hugh Styles and Ferdinand Van West in 2nd, (this was good enough to move them from 10th overall over night to bronze overall at the end of the regatta). 3rd place went to Rob Wilson, who sailed a great last day and clinched the silver on the podium.

So, for the second year running, Coen de Koning with Thijs Visser in their Nacra Infusion won, Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch in a Shockwave were second and Hugh Styles and Ferdinand Van West were third in their Nacra Infusion.

Many thanks to Hugh Styles sponsors, Nacra Europe, Gill, Towergate Mardon, Holt, Marlow Ropes and all of the friends, family and supporters of the team.

Report from Rob Wilson:

The Royal Belgian Sailing Club in Duienberg was the host for the 6th Formula 18 World Championships. The turnout was fantastic with 183 professional and amateur entries from around the world. The week provided very challenging conditions in terms of weather from very light to extremely windy. This gave the race officer a very difficult job trying to complete the 15 race series. Having said that, 9 good races for the 180 boats were completed, all in decent racing conditions.

Overall winners were Coen de Koning/ Thijs Visser (NED) with Rob Wilson/ Marcus Lynch (GBR) on equal points in silver. Hugh Styles and Ferdinand West (GBR/ NED) bronze

Going into the last day there were any of about 5 boats that could realistically win the title. First Coen de Koning/ Thijs Visser (Holland/ Nacra) and second Micha Heemskirk/ Tentij Bastiaan (Holland/ Wildcat) had a ten point lead over Billy Besson (France/ Nacra), Rob Wilson/ Marcus Lynch (GBR/ Shockwave) and Francois Morvan (France/ Shockwave). However with 4 Gold fleet races scheduled, a ten point lead is not much of a buffer.

Sure enough, once racing started in the testing conditions there were a few upsets. As the day progressed the wind increased from 20 to 30 knots, and critically the tide changed meaning wind against tide creating huge seas. In the first race of the day Heemskirk and De Koning extended their lead, taking first and second. Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch kept their hopes alive taking 4th moving up to 3rd overall.

Race two the wind increased slightly and the tide began to change, the first victim was overall leader Mischa Heemskirk, who pitch poled in a large gust on the second run. This put the team under real pressure to win the championship. Cat legend Glen Ashby, sailing with Will Howden took the bullet bringing them up the leader board with Mitch Booth in 2nd. De Koning took 11th with Rob Wilson in 6th.

So going into the final race Coen de Koning had the overall lead with Brits Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch behind. After a watch synch error, Heemskirk crossed the line early getting black flagged, putting him out of contention. The wind was at its strongest and the waves were difficult to say the least. Mitch Booth finished on a high, winning the last race with Hugh Styles and Ferdinand West 2nd. Wilson and Lynch took 3rd place with De Koning and Visser in 13th.

This put the De Koning and Visser on equal first with Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch, with the Dutch team taking the win on number of firsts. Hugh Styles and Ferdinand West had a strong last day moving up to Bronze medal position.

Gold - Coen de Koning and Visser, 37 points – Nacra Infusion
Silver - Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch, 37 points – North/Shockwave/GUL
Bronze - Hugh Styles and Ferdinand West, 58 points – Nacra Infusion

For full results go to www.f18worlds2009.com/results

Silver Fleet

There was more drama in the silver fleet as Martin and Sam Chadder battled to maintain their Silver fleet crown. As defending champions the pressure was on. The Brits rose to the occasion taking a 6, 13, 2 for the day sealing their victory with a 7 point lead over AUS Don Dull and Vincent Maudieu.