Laser Radial Worlds at California Yacht Club - Day 3
by Rich Roberts 2 Aug 2006 08:08 BST
28 July - 4 August 2004
Breeze blows Tunnicliffe & Pillar to bigger leads
The brisk breeze on order for the 2006 Laser Radial World Championships finally arrived Tuesday after 2 1/2 days of single-digit zephyrs, but it wasn't universally welcomed.
Germany's Petra Neimann and France's Solenne Brain, sailing in opposite Blue and Yellow flights of the women's competition, won their races in the second round but slipped to 16th and 21st places in the second round after the wind swung hard right 30 degrees, revved up from 6 to 16 knots and kicked up a cotton field of whitecaps on erratic Santa Monica Bay.
Suddenly, the little Radials were surfing downwind and thrashing through the chop.
"I like it," Niemann, 27, said of the breeze, "but I didn't get the right shifts."
On the other hand, if she had her druthers, she'd take "medium" conditions any day.
And a funny thing about the sudden change in conditions: the overall leaders remained the same in both women's fleets, as well as the men's.
After six of 12 races scheduled through Friday, Anna Tunnicliffe of Florida, No. 2-ranked in the world, had a seventh and a ninth to stretch her lead from one to five points, with Poland's three-time world champion, Katarzyna Szotynska, in second place. The top five didn't change, just shuffled, as No. 1-ranked Paige Railey, 19, of Florida slipped to fifth with 12-12 scores, 19 points off the pace.
Now the 89-woman fleet will split into Gold and Silver groups---the former chasing the title currently held by Railey. Scores in the six qualifying races carry over.
With a 4-9 afternoon, Brazil's Fabio Pillar stepped out to a 14-point lead over Steven Krol of The Netherlands in the men's 71-boat fleet, but Croatia's Matija Longin had an interesting day---first in the wispy first race and 50th in the windy contest to sit 33rd overall.
"This is the [normal] August breeze we've been wishing for," said Bill Stump, principal race officer for the host California Yacht Club. "What is it---August first?"
The sudden wind changes occurred when the women's Yellow fleet was halfway up the first leg of the second race and the Blue boats were a minute and a half short of their starting signal. Stump quickly called for a postponement of the Blues, then---realizing the course was suddenly tilted to one side---ordered abandonment of the Yellow race.
"When the wind went that far right, everybody on the left was hosed," Stump said.
Good call. The wind stayed right the rest of the day, though dropping back down to 10 knots at the end.
But Niemann will take it. She has been sailing a Radial only since it was picked as the women's new Olympic single-handed dinghy, replacing the Europe, which Niemann sailed to 10th and 13th in the last two Olympics at Athens and Sydney.
"When it switched I was a little sad," she said, "but it's OK now."
She won the class at Kiel Week last year.
The Laser Radial Worlds are supported by sponsors Nestlé, producer of Arrowhead Water and PowerBar©; Vanguard Boats, Sailing World Magazine, Body Glove and the John B. and Nelly Llanos Kilroy Foundation. Their Web sites may be accessed through the logos in this release.
Class leaders: (after 6 of 12 races)
Women's Results after Day 3:
1. Anna Tunnicliffe, Florida (3-1-3-7-7-9), 30pts
2. Katarzyna Szotynska, Poland (12-7-1-2-7-6), 35pts
3. Karin Soderstrom, Sweden (7-6-9-4-2-8), 36pts
4. Solenne Brain, France (6-2-2-5-1-21), 37pts
5. Paige Railey, Florida (2-5-10-8-12-12), 49pts
Men's Results after Day 3:
1. Fabio Pillar, Brazil (15-12-5-1-4-9), 46pts
2. Steven Krol, The Netherlands (2-1-20-15-3-19), 60pts
3. Steven Le Fevre, The Netherlands (4-4-1-41-15-2), 67pts
4. Jon Emmett, Great Britain (18-2-25-16-6-1), 68pts
5. Ryan Palk, Australia (9-20-21-5-11-13), 79pts
Complete results and more information at www.calyachtclub.com