Allen RS Feva World Championships at Yacht Club de Carnac - Day 5
by Bill Tucker 1 Aug 2014 11:20 BST
26 July - 1 August 2014
Snakes and ladders for most on a tricky day. The fleet was held ashore for an hour and a half whilst the gradient breeze flopped about and the seabreeze settled. It was a light 8kts that saw the Gold fleet set off. By the second race the wind had increased to a lovely 12kts but then shifted 20 degrees right towards the end of the second Gold race but during the sequence for the second Silver. A postponement and course realignment later Silver and bronze got off. Jerome Nutte, the superb race officer, was working his teams hard to keep racing going in a fair manner and to be fair – they succeeded. By the end there had been many shifts and increases and decreases in pressure posing real challenges for the sailors. Top wind speed was probably about 14-15kts and bottom end was probably the 8kts for the days first race.
Whilst most suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune the superb Piers Nicholls & Freddie Peters staged a monumental recovery to ping in a 5,2,3 day to go second overall. Given that they were 'managing' the regatta overall the equally impressive Harvey Martin & Bobby Hewitt stuck in an 8,1,4 to create a big advantage going in to the last day with only two more races to count and no more discards. Markus Lilienthal & Uko Rasmus Tideman from Estonia are the current bronze position holders but their daily score shows the real story – 17,4,16!
The points gap between 4th and 10th isn't huge so there is still a lot to play for. Nikol Stankova & Vaclav Brabec lead the charge for the CZE team, followed by Bo v Wendel de Joode & Thies Verploeg (NED), James Hammett & Ben Todd (GBR), Willemijn & Manus Offerman (NED), Will & Matt Taylor (GBR) Simonas Jarsovas & Gabrielle Petraityte (LTU) Edward Norbury & Charlie Hutchings (GBR).
For the Ladies trophy NOR Caroline Heiberg & Marie Bordal have taken a grip but it is still very tight between Jessie Main & Poppy Gilks and Hannah & Maddie Bristow. In the Juniors Jack Lewis & Lucas Marshall have a good lead on Ben Batchelor & Erin Murphy and Jaroslav Cermak & Petr Kostal. In the family categorythe Offermans (NED have a slim 4 pts over the Taylors with the Armstrongs not far away.
The Silver fleet currently ahs the tightest battle going on – 1pt separates the top 3! The Cunliffe's (GBR) from Jean Leo Touffet & Jade Saunier (FRA) and Tristan payne & Jake Carpenter (GBR)The bronze fleet saw the the weirdest coincidence of the event - big riser in the standings Roscoe Martin & Maddie Wylie had exactly the same scoreline in Bronze as big Brother to Roscoe, Harvey, had in the Gold fleet – 8,1,4 –weird! But the leaders are Martijn Jessurun & Nynke Nell (NED) from Thore Wagner & Lara Marie Liebherz and then the boys mentioned.
Error correction: mea culpa – We referred yesterday to the wrong school winning the beach games. It was off course Tonbridge School – many apologies to you. Just one day to go and (if the seabreeze arrives) it'll be good. Either way there will be celebrations aplenty at the end!
Follow the action via daily updates on the RS Feva Class website at www.rsfeva.org twitter #rsfevaworlds Facebook www.facebook.com/RSFeva and Instagram rssailing.
Full RS manufacturer support will be available for the duration of the event.