Formula 18 World Championships in Italy - Day 3
by Formula 18 World Championships 10 Jul 2013 23:48 BST
5-12 July 2013
An 18-knot wind and more spectacular sailing in competition today. French sailors Bontemps (double victory today), Besson and Gabart finished the first six qualifying races in first, second and third positions respectively with Heemskerk fourth and the Italians Bissaro/Cesari ninth. Tomorrow the fleet splits into Golden and Silver groups with 4 races planned for each, starting from midday.
A 12-knot westerly that got up to 18 in the afternoon gave both the Formula 18 Worlds and the Compagnia della Vela Grosseto another great day's sailing today. The fleet of 161 teams were competing in the last two heats of the qualifying phase and are now preparing to embark on the final stage of the competition.
The French teams masterfully dominated the racing action, taking up the top three positions in the standings. First overall were Gurvan Bontemps and Benjamin Amiot (FRA 004) who had a practically perfect day of it with two consecutive victories the icing on the cake. They now have 10 points in the overall standings and lie ahead of FRA 1796 sailed by Billy Besson and Jeremie Lagarrigue (1,2), who are second on 11 points.
The third step on the podium went to Francois Gabart and Matthieu Vandame (4,4) who have 14 points. However, with one win and one 10th position finish, this morning's leader Mischa Heemskerk (NED 1796) is now on 15 points and has thus slid down into fourth followed by Brit Hugh Styles in fifth on 16 points (GBR 7) and his fellow Dutchman Jorden Veenman (NED 2010) in sixth on 27 points.
The Italians also performed very well today too, with Vittorio Bissaro and Lamberto Cesari (ITA 13) delivering an excellent score thanks to a seventh and a sixth position. They are now on 35 points which means they've moved up to ninth position overall, just behind Reiss/Whitehead's USA 888 (35 points) and Mitch/Jordi Booth (NED 2010) in seventh on 28 points.
Tomorrow the fleet will be split into two groups: the teams that finished in 1st to 81st positions will do battle in the Golden finals (11 Italian teams qualified for this section), while all the others will compete in the Silver finals. The race committee is hoping to stage 4 races tomorrow (starting at 12:00) and a further 4 on Friday to guarantee the two last days will deliver truly spectacular, edge-of-the-seat sailing.
Comments from the sailors
Gurvan Bontemps, helmsman FRA 004: "It was a good day. We sailed well. The regatta is a long way from over. There are still two days left and so we have to stay focused. Everything has been perfect the last few days: the course is fun, the wind is excellent, the surroundings are stimulating and...the pasta is fantastic!"
Francois Gabart, helmsman FRA 301: "The course was just perfect today. We're hoping to get the same conditions over the next few days. I personally am happy. Our strategy was to compete without taking any risks and we did just that. We're third which is very close to first and so all our goals are within reach. I have to say that I didn't expect things to go quite this well in the qualifying rounds."
Vittorio Bissaro, helmsman ITA 13: "We had two good races today. We tidied up the starts a little as they were the thing that worked least well over the last few days, so we're happy about that. The standard is incredibly high. We can't really set ourselves any goals for the finals yet. Except to keep pushing and trying to stay in the top 10."
Marco Borioni, president of the Compagnia della Vela Grosseto: "Today went even better. The committee was faultless from an organisational point of view at sea. Plus the feedback we're getting from all the competitors in general and the top teams in particular is absolutely positive, both regarding the location and the organisation, and that makes us very happy indeed."
Results: www.compagniadellavelagrosseto.it
Information: 2013.f18worlds.com
Photos: www.sailingandtravel.it/gallery-f18
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MondialiVela2013