Laser Standard & Radial Youth World Championships at Kiel - Day 3
by Hermann Hell 13 Aug 2016 19:56 BST
9-16 August 2016
Strong winds, early starts and capsizing
Only one race was sailed on Saturday at the Laser Youth World Championships (U-21) in Kiel. With winds of 20 to 25 knots and gusts up to 30 knots (beaufort seven), the race committee sent the round about 200 sailors back to the marina due to increasing winds of an approaching cold front. While the lead changed in the men's fleet of the Laser Standard, when Jonatan Vadnei from Hungary did win that one race and thus took over the lead, the dominating sailor in the women's fleet of the Laser Radial, Monika Mikkola from Finland could defeat her top position despite having capsized and finished the race in fourth position. The best German remains Nik Aaron Willim (Schleswig/Germany, Norddeutscher Regatta-Verein), who did defend rank three with the third place.
With a strong current pushing the sailors across the start line, there were many start attempts necessary, until the three groups (two group for the men, and one for the women) could properly sail their race. While in the men's fleet one general recall was normally enough to send the fleet onto the race course under "black flag", the women were not in the race until the third attempt. 15 early female starters could be recognised and were disqualified for that race.
Jonatan Vadnei did start at the left end of the start line. "I waited for the left shift and then I crossed the whole fleet and was the first at the windward mark", stated the Hungarian sailor (18) from Balatonfuered. On the second downwind, he could then get away from the Swiss Nils Theuninck (19, Lausanne), who was almost sailing on the same level until then. "I am very happy with the second place of course", said the student of biomedicine. "I was trying to control the right side. Because the forecast was saying the winds would turn to the right side. That paid off in the end. “
Nik Willim did continue to stick to his conservative strategy: "I started pretty much in the middle. There were shifting conditions. I did not arrive too well at the top, since the fleets were coming from both sides." But with good speed he could take over some competitors and was the third across the finish line. "Maybe I'm gonna take some more risks in the next days and start at the sides", the sailor from the Sailing Team Germany is more confident about his abilities.
The Russian Maxim Nikolaev did win the race in the blue group. "I was on the left side. With one tack and full speed I was approaching the windward mark." The 20-year old student at the sports university in Moscow is on the water almost all the time. At the U-21 Worlds, he did already had two yellow flags (for non-allowed pumping with the sail) and a discard, so he now is - despite the fact that he is on rank seven - sailing "just for fun". His objective for the future are the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo.
"I was swimming quite a lot", said the top ranked Monika Mikkola (Finland) in the women's Laser Radial. She was in the lead, when she capsized on the second upwind. She crossed the finish line in fourth position - and thus did defend the overall lead. "But if you have a chance to win...", she was not really satisfied with the result. The British Ellie Cumpsty did benefit from that. "I got a bit nervous downwind and I nearly capsized." But she did stay afloat.
Cumpsty had chosen to go through the middle and did turn with the shifts. She won the race and did move up overall onto rank five. The French sailor Marie Barrue was one of the early starters and thus qualified in the fifth race. She now moved down from rank two to six overall. But she did not give up the fight to win a medal: „Tomorrow I will win both races!“
The qualifier round of the Laser Youth World Championships will continue on Sunday, 11am.
The races of the women in the Laser Radial on Sunday can also be watched live on the event website:
U-21 World Championship in the Laser Standard (men): (5 races, 1 discard)
1. Jonatan Vadnei (Hungary), places 1, 6, (9), 1, 1; 9pts
2. Joel Rodriguez (Spain), 1, 2, (5), 1, 5; 9pts
3. Nik Aaron Willim (NRV, Germany), 4, 5, (8), 3, 3; 15pts
4. Max Gallant (Canada), 7, 11, (24), 3, 2; 23pts
5. Santiago Sampaio (Portugal), 3, 4, 10, 7, (18); 24pts
6. Romain Simonnot (France), 6, 3, 6, (18), 12; 27pts
16. Max Wilken (Germany), (20), 16, 1, 5, 19; 41pts
U-21 World Championship in the Laser Radial (women): (5 races, 1 discard)
1. Monika Mikkola (Finland), places (4), 1, 1, 1, 4; 7pts
2. Maud Jayet (Switzerland), 1, 5, (7), 4, 3; 13pts
3. Maité Carlier (Belgium), 2, 4, 4, 3, (8); 13pts
4. Vasileia Karachaliou (Greece), 5, 2, 3, (12), 7; 17pts
5. Elli Cumpsty (Great Britain), 6, 7, (19), 6, 1; 20pts
6. Marie Barrue (France), 3, 21, 2, 2, (58 bfd); 28pts
22. Laura Bo Voss (Germany), 24, (28), 14, 7, 21; 66pts
www.laserworldskiel2016.com