Allen RS Feva Worlds at Compagnia della Vela Grosseto - Day 4
by Tatiana Gammacurta 25 Jul 2013 22:49 BST
21-26 July 2013
The penultimate day of racing at the RS Feva World Championship 2013 at the Compagnia della vela Grosseto was dominated by the British teams. With four races held for each fleet (260 degrees wind rising to 14 knots in the afternoon), there are now four British teams in the top four positions in the Gold standings which will decide the new World Champions.
The new leaders are Hannah Bristow and Bobby Hewitt (GBR 4610) on 15 points as a result of two wins and a 14th-place finish delivered today. Their performance pushed fellow Brits Wells/Todd (BGR 4332) back to second with 21 points (3,5,7) ahead of fellow countrymen Brown/Davies (GBR 4768) in third on 33 points (6,6,1).
This edged the Italian teams off the podium with Margherita Porro and Francesca Andrea Dall'Ora (Associazione Nautica Sebina) slipping into 4th position (46 points) after taking an 8th, a 10th and a 2nd position today, although they are solidly placed at the top of the women's standings. Behind them in 5th are still more British sailors, Grade/Prescott (46 points) followed for now by the reigning World Champions Leonardo Stocchero and Gianluca Virgenti (CV Toscolano Maderno), on 56 points after a very up-and-down day indeed (BDF,14,8).
The Brits are also dominating the other two fleets with Ozanne/Lewis leading in the Silver and Strauss/Mitchell in the Bronze.
Tomorrow will see the two final Gold races being staged (along with three for the Silver and the Bronze), starting at 11:55. Once the racing on the water is over, the prize-giving ceremony for the Bronze, Silver and Gold winners will take place on the Compagnia della vela Grosseto with the announcement of the new RS Feva World Champion.
Complete provisional standings (subject to protest)
Statements from today:
Jop Dutilh, president RS Feva International Class: "We are delighted to have staged four out of four regattas today. The guys are a bit tired after a whole day out on the water but I could see how enthusiastic they were about the experience too."
Mario Dullia, coach RS Feva Italia Class: "There's a very calm, sporty atmosphere between all the teams in the Class. The results speak for themselves and I'm very satisfied with everyone. They take on each day's racing with huge enthusiasm regardless of where they are in the standings. Stocchero-Virgenti are fighting very determinedly indeed and won't spare themselves tomorrow either in attempting to make the podium theirs. Porro-Dall'Ora consolidated their lead in the women's title battle very nicely, while Tognoni-Quilici, the best of the Italians in the Silver, are doing very well in third too, and Parisi-Gajio, another women's duo, are first of the Italians in the Bronze."
Marco Borioni, president Compagnia della vela Grosseto: "Excellence, another great day's sailing. We managed to get four starts which shows how good the organisation is once again. All of the teams are happy and are singing the praises of the course. Lastly, all the Compagnia della vela Grosseto teams are doing great, starting, of course, with the two girls in the Gold, Arianna Botticini and Federica Celentano."
rsfevaworlds.org