Dramatic last day at the F18 World Championship
by World Sailing 9 Jul 2019 07:13 BST
27 June - 4 July 2019
Bundock and Nicholas - F18 World Championship 2019 © Marc González Alomà
One would have guessed for close racing on the final day of the F18 World Championship in Costa Brava, Spain, but the truth was stranger than the fiction as the two leading teams did not stop playing cats and dogs.
When launching in the early afternoon, Australia's Darren Bundock and Conor Nicholas only had a three point advantage over Greece's Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigkonis, who led the Championship from race one to ten.
By respectively finishing tenth and fifth in Race 12, the two teams were locked on 21 points each and with two races remaining, more drama was to come.
Paschalidis and Trigkonis won Race 13 and as Bundock and Nicholas finished seventh, the Championship looked as if it was heading back to Greece. But the Australians fought back, winning the final race of the series and as the Greeks finished in 17th, Bundock became a five-time F18 World Champion.
There was similar drama for the final podium spot. Mitch and Ruben Booth (AUS) came within two points of Cruz Gonzalez Smith & Mariano Heuser (ARG) after winning the 12th race of the series. But their comeback was thwarted after a 24th in Race 13. The Argentineans held on to bronze.
On a more general perspective, the Championship has been viewed as success for the Class, thanks to Club de Vela La Ballena Alegre as well as an increase in skill of the fleet as well as emerging talents bringing new blood to the F18 Class Association.
Full results available here.