Laser Masters Worlds: Two points separate top three overall - Day 3
by International Laser Class Association 12 Sep 2019 02:52 BST
12 September 2019
2019 Laser Masters World Championships - Port Zelande, The Netherlands © Thom Touw
The Laser Masters Worlds have reached the mid-point of the championship being sailed in Port Zélande, the Netherlands. Just under 300 competitors are competing in various divisions in the Standard and Radial fleets.
Two more races (R5 & R6) sailed for all fleets except GM/GGM, which has sailed up through R5. Overall, the regatta is on schedule and sailors will be using the reserve day to rest up – no sailing on Wednesday September 11
The forecast for light air this morning held true, with an on-the-water postponement before the Radial fleets started the first set of races. RC set a short (0.4 nm) trapezoid for the 5 to 7 knot winds, but, still, the GMs & the GGM/Legends had their races shortened at intermediate marks, and all fleets waited on the NW breeze to fill before sailing their second races of the day (Race 6).
The NW breeze held through the afternoon, and built to 6-8 knots, for the Standard fleets. Their races didn’t begin until mid-afternoon, and the multiple general recalls in the Masters and the GM/GGM starts extended the day into the early evening. It’s just plain difficult getting 70 boats to start cleanly on a 300+ meter line!
Scores after Day 3 are extremely competitive, with only a few points separating the leaders in most fleets. Jared West (ESP) and Eduardo Van Vianen (ESP) are tied in Apprentice Standard, with Dave Ridley (NZL) following by one point. The largest leads are in the GGM Standard, with Wolfgang Gerz (GER) discarding a 3, and in Apprentice Radial, with Jon Emmet discarding a 2.
See the full listing of provisional results on the host website 2019-masters.laser-worlds.com.
In the end, a successful day overall with all boats off the water by 1930hrs. Marina Port Zélande offered up pulled-pork sandwiches at the hospitality tent, and boats were put away for a day of rest. Racing resumes on Thursday (12 September) for Day 4 of Laser Masters Worlds.
The championship finishes on Saturday.
For the Day 2 report click here