J/24 World Championship at Boltenhagen, Germany - Day 3
by Lina Nagel 3 Sep 2015 07:32 BST
31 August - 4 September 2015
Ian Southworth in a class of his own
On day 3 of the J/24 World Championships in Boltenhagen, Germany, the fleet faced winds of up to 20 knots. It was again Ian Southworth (GBR 5219) who sailed two excellent races and kept his lead over second-placed Mike Ingham (USA 5443). And today Travis Odenbach (USA 5432) also entered the stage.
With two more days to go, one team clearly has the form to win this year's J/24 World Championship. Ian Southworth and his crew, with a third and a first place today, are putting together a very consistent series. Southworth, who narrowly lost the worlds 2010 and ended up fourth in 2012 and 2013, is totally focused on finally winning this trophy. His crew has so far sailed five different J/24s and, with number 5, called "Il Riccio" which is Italian for "Hedgehog", they seem to have found the ideal setup.
But competition remains tough as there are two excellent and experienced US teams hot on the tail of "Il Riccio": Mike Ingham, with 2014 world champion Will Welles as a tactician, and Travis Odenbach, who is also a very skilled J/24 sailor.
Despite the strong winds, day three of the worlds saw the first all-female crew in the Top Ten: Ragna Thönnessen and her crew of "Juelssand" (GER 5313) finished in eighth position in the second race of the day. "This is our best result at a Word Championship so far", said bow woman Laura Hatje. "Sailing was great fun today, though the conditions were pretty tough for a crew as light as we are. After a good start, we found very good boat speed and took the right tactical decisions." The Juelssand Crew has been sailing together since 2008. With an average age of 25, they are one of the youngest teams in the fleet. "Ian and his crew are doing amazingly well", said Laura Hatje; "Our bet is that they will be the new World champions. But up to now, the results are very mixed, so racing stays exciting!"
With just a few points apart, the fight for the Top Ten stays tight. For Thursday, the weather forecast sees the wind decreasing to an average of 11 knots, which may favour the lighter crews like that of Tokuma Takesue from Japan, currently in fourth place.
On Wednesday night the crews gathered for the traditional "Champions Dinner" held by the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein who is organizing the event. The first warning signal on Thursday will be at 12:00 hrs. All races can be tracked live via Trac Trac.
Race Tracking to follow the races live can be found at www.tractrac.com/index.php?page=eventpage&id=592
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