IRSA World Championship at Limone sul Garda, Italy - Update
by Henning Faas 29 Sep 2016 13:50 BST
24-30 September 2016
The leaderboard is developing as expected with a tight battle for the title amongst the top seven sailors. Currently leading is the reigning World Champion Brad Gibson GBR but only one point ahead of Matteo Longhi ITA and another three points clear of Marc Pomerade FRA. Yannik Rossignol FRA, Graham Bantock GBR, Lincoln Mc Dowall AUS and Chris Harris GBR are all in contention with 15 points separating them from first, so it's all to play for in the last two days of racing.
On Saturday September 24th the 17th IRSA Marblehead World Championship was officially opened. The 76 participants, waving the flags of the 15 nations represented at the event entered the the centre of Limone. Forming a large circle in the old market place in central Limone they were welcomed by Limones Mayor Franceschino Risatti, Andrea Corsato the chairman of North West Garda Sailing and the Chairman of the RC Sailing Federation Modelvela Italy Idalgo Pierini. The official speeches ended with the words "above all I wish you all good wind."
With consistently sunny weather 40 races have been sailed in 5 groups. As expected, the mornings feature a northerly breeze that dies at around 10:30 and is replaced with the southerly Ora at about 13:00. The open venue is developing the expected waves, with some sailors having significant problems in these conditions not often found in RC sailing. The race team is using the conditions as good as possible with racing starting early in the morning at 9:00 and the continuing through until 18:30.
Sailing is on an "Up and Down" course within a circle of buoys and the actual marks are anounced by the Race Officer just before the start. The seven umpires lead by Gordon Davies and Chris Atkins (Vice President at World Sailing) initially had trouble keeping up with the fast-sailing Marbleheads. Incidents between boats were in the most cases resolved between the skippers involved. Nevertheless it came to a few protest hearings which were then handed to the international jury to rule on.
On the evening of September 28th, the Lay Day, there was a gathering of the Marblehead sailors present in Limone. The Chairman of the International Marblehead Class Committee Matteo Longhi reported on the development of the class over the past two years. Further, the establishment of a class organization (ICA) independent from IRSA was discussed and it has been agreed to establish a working group by January 1st, 2017. This group will be tasked with defining and taking the next steps in the process of founding a Marblehead ICA.
During the event Nigel Winkley (Chairman RC Sailing devision of the German Sailing Association DSV) and Henning Faas (the Deputy Chairman) reported on their bid for the 2018 World Championship to be held in Germany by SV Biblis. A decision by IRSA on the hosting of the 2018 Worlds is expected by the beginning of 2017.
We have another two days of exciting competition ahead of us, where changes at the top of the list as well as the following places can be expected.
The Top Sailors:
Brad Gibson GBR 42
Marblehead class World Champion in 2012 and 2014. He will be defending his title and looking for the hat trick with his internationally and nationally undefeated Design "Grunge". For the first time since its launch in 2012 other participants from England will be competing with the Grunge. Brad is also a top contender for the 10R title having sailed his newly designed Ten Rater "Trance" at the recent UK National Championships beating the reigning World Champion Graham Bantock.
Matteo Longhi – ITA 24
Winner of the National Championships in France, Italy and Switzerland. He will be looking to put maximum pressure on the English at the top. Most recently, he was able to achieve a close second at the UK National Championships behind Brad Gibson. One of the quiet sailor racing the newly design "Nioutram" by Marc Pomerade from France is seen as one of the non-UK contenders.
Marc Pomerade FRA 44
The developer of the "Nioutram" driving his new design on the front of the field, already with the predecessor of the "Tramontan" he could achieve some success. Obviously he has made with the new design once again a step forward.
Graham Bantock GBR 95
Multiple World, European and reigning World Champion in the Ten Rater Class. Second in the World Championships in 2012 & 2014 in the Marblehead class he is looking to go one position better. Sailing this own designs "Quark" in Marblehead and "Diamond" in the Ten Rater Class he will be a strong contender.
More information and regular updates can be found on the event website at worlds2016.marbleheadclass.org and worlds2016.tenrater.org
For more information on the Radio Sailing and the World Championships visit
www.radiosailing.org