49er Worlds at Lake Garda - Overall
by Jerelyn Biehl 20 Jul 2009 17:09 BST
12-19 July 2009
Outteridge and Jensen retain world title
Nathan Outteridge with Iain Jensen as crew, has retained his World title by sailing a consistent series and strong medal race. Australians Outteridge and Jensen were always in the hunt for the title, but confirmed their status the last few days by sailing smart and fast.
Great Britains John Pink, 2001 29er World Champion with Rick Peacock as crew, secured 2nd overall breaking the points tie with Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello of Italy and sailing to 3rd in the medal race. The Sibello brothers fell with a 7th in the medal race losing boats in the last leg. Peter and Soren Hansen of Denmark led the medal race from start to finish moving them from 10th to 7th in the overall standings.
Outteridge and Jensen were pleased with their finish but both commented that they could not celebrate for long as they needed to focus on the 29er Worlds in which they are both sailing, which starts Monday at the same venue.
The race for the silver fleet was secured by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke of New Zealand with Jan Hauke Erichsen and Hans Jakob Dethleffsen of Germany winning the bronze fleet handily.
Medals and SEIKO watches were handed out to the podium winners in the gold fleet as well as the winners of the silver and bronze fleet. SEIKO has been a Class sponsor for several years and continues to support skiff sailing at a high level.
For more information, video, photos and results see www.49er.org and www.49erworlds.org