Tramontane turns up the heat at the Nacra 17 World Championships

by CEM on 6 Sep 2017 After a relatively benign, gentle introduction Tuesday to the Nacra 17 World Championships - the first ever in flying, foiling 2020 Olympic mode, La Grande Motte’s Baie d’Aigue Mortes in the South of France’s Camargue region, progressively turned up the heat today as the NW’ly Tramontane breeze kicked in for the afternoon.

A solid 3,4,4, for the day from Denmark’s Lin Ea Cenholt Christiansen and Christian Peter Lubeck moved the Aarhus 2018 World Championship Test regatta winners six points clear of Great Britain’s Ben Saxton and Katie Dabson.

The Tramontane took its time to build. Racing got away in a modest 8-9kts for the first qualifying heats of the day for both fleets before an enforced break waiting for the forecast breeze, which could be seen tantalisingly close, hovering to the west of the large, open bay before it the white horses of the Camargue finally lined up to produce two excellent contests, taking many of the crews to the edge of control, learning finer points of the processes and pitfalls of the different foiling modes. The cross offshore breeze had enough reach to windward to kick up some challenging waves at times.

It was good day for the strong Italian Nacra 17 squad who started their ascent of the leaderboard. Recently crowned European champions Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti, universally acknowledged as among the fastest teams upwind, bounced back from a bit of a lacklustre first day with a second and first gained as soon as the breeze was in, to move up to third. Best scores of the day came from compatriots Vittorio Bissaro and Maelle Frascari who sailed to a 1,2,3 after three midfleet results on Tuesday.

“On our race course surviving was the key.” Tita reported, “We were not doing anything in particular downwind, just surviving and then upwind we were a little faster. The second two races were out of control, it was windy, we were flying some of the time then not flying, jumping. But we are quick upwind and that made a difference.”

Of their upwind speed the Italian helm who raced in Rio in the 49er before partnering up with Banti who has a full quadrennial in the class under her belt, Tita contends, “ There is no secret. I come from the 49er and even if I came to the class looking to fly upwind but it is not working so far. We are sailing like a normal cat upwind and flying only for little spells. On our race course surviving was the key. We were not doing nothing in particular downwind, just surviving and then upwind we were a little faster.”

Rio gold medallists Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli capitalised in the first race after an excellent pin end start to put themselves in a position to pounce when the regatta leaders made a mistake at the second top mark. Helm Christiansen fell off the boat as she completed a swift tack at the mark in front of the Argentinian duo. They sailed past to take their first winning gun of 2017, their first victory together since Rio. Their second race did not go so well as their main traveller broke on the approach to Mark 1, compromised thereafter they finished eighth. With a sixth in the third race Lange and Carranza Saroli are now up to tenth.

“We were top three when we dropped the traveller down and it went ‘bang’. That is a mistake. Every race counts a lot for us for our confidence. I enjoyed the day, it was good fun and we are learning together race by race. Today we learned how much we really have to catch up after my injury. I damaged my ligament in my knee reaching on Garda when Santi fell on it. We had sailed for ten days and then I was out for three weeks. So it is good to be back.” Recalled Saroli.

For Spain’s double Olympic medallist Iker Martinez, lack of training time in the Nacra 17 may be compensated for by sheer experience, a clear head and focus and the sheer drive promoted by missing out on Rio selection. Now having been sailing for six months with Olga Maslivets, Martinez explained they have done little training since the Iberostar Princesa Sofia Regatta and missed the Europeans, but they have done some Moth sailing and he has been busy with the GC32 circuit racing. They won the third heat in the breeze today, their second race win of the series after triumphing in Race 1 and move up to fifth overall.

Martinez smiled, “For us this is just the start of the story and so we don’t want to be putting pressure on ourselves this early. But we had a good day with 4,7,1, winning a race in the breeze is good. We keep learning together. Even though we decided on this Olympic campaign six months ago we have not yet done that much sailing together and so to win today is good. In the stronger wind you had to sail well under spinnaker and we did that. As long as the seas are flat it’s fine. We pushed a bit harder in that last race. I think everyone feels the same, we will all get better with more training. And after all the problems we had with the boats it is great to be here and to have a championship started and under way.”

Thursday is the last day of qualification races before Friday and Saturday’s Finals racing. The local forecast is for a day similar to today, light winds in the late morning before the Tramontane NW’ly returns.

Nr	Bow#	Sail Number	Team	Club	T	N
1	53	DEN 283	Lin Ea Cenholt CHRISTIANSEN Christian Peter LÜBECK	KDY	25.0	13.0
2	25	GBR 299	Ben SAXTON Katie DABSON	GWSC	25.0	19.0
3	36	ITA 370	Ruggero TITA Caterina BANTI	Fiamme Gialle	33.0	21.0
4	69	FRA 343	Moana VAIREAUX Manon AUDINET	SGV	28.0	21.0
5	15	ESP 246	Iker MARTINEZ Olga MASLIVETS	Club Nautic Arenal	33.0	22.0
6	11	GBR 201	John GIMSON Anna BURNET	Rudyard lake	36.0	22.0
7	39	NZL 341	Gemma JONES Jason SAUNDERS	Murrays Bay Sailing Club	36.0	22.0
8	5	AUS 317	Jason WATERHOUSE Lisa DARMANIN	Australian Sailing Team	36.0	24.0
9	14	ESP 028	Fernando ECHAVARRI ERASUN Tara PACHECO van RIJNSOEVER	Club náutico sanxenxo	37.0	24.0
10	1	ARG 226	Santiago LANGE Cecilia CARRANZA	CNSI	34.0	25.0
11	31	GER 342	Paul KOHLHOFF Alica STUHLEMMER	KYC	42.0	27.0
12	2	ARG 372	Mateo MAJDALANI Eugenia BOSCO	CNSI	44.0	29.0
13	47	URU 368	Pablo DEFAZIO Dominique KNUPPEL	YCU/URUGUAY	49.0	32.0
14	34	ITA 3	Vittorio BISSARO Maelle FRASCARI	Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Azzurre	50.0	33.0
15	12	DEN 281	Mathias BRUUN Anette VIBORG	Horsens Sejlklub	44.0	33.0
16	6	AUT 354	Thomas ZAJAC Barbara MATZ	BYC	57.0	38.0
17	10	BRA 230	João BULHÕES Gabriela NICOLINO	CBVela	52.0	40.0
18	40	NZL 261	Olivia MACKAY Micah WILKINSON	Napier Sailing Club	60.0	44.0
19	24	GBR 257	Chris RASHLEY Laura MARIMON	Royal London Yacht Club	59.0	45.0
20	35	ITA 363	Lorenzo BRESSANI Cecilia ZORZI	C.C. ANIENE	64.0	47.0
21	26	GBR 303	Tom PHIPPS Nicola BONIFACE	Restronguet	66.0	50.0
22	9	BER 301	Cecilia WOLLMANN Michael WOLLMANN	RHADC	73.0	51.0
23	45	SWE 356	Ida SVENSSON Hugo CHRISTENSSON	KSSS	76.0	54.0
24	21	FRA 266	Julien VILLION Bérénice DELPUECH	56016	70.0	54.0
25	27	GBR 366	Rupert WHITE Kirstie URWIN	Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy	73.0	55.0
26	17	FIN 282	Sinem KURTBAY Janne JARVINEN	NJK	79.0	59.0
27	19	FRA 358	Tim MOURNIAC Amélie RIOU	56068	84.0	59.0
28	49	USA 361	Riley GIBBS Louisa CHAFEE	St. Francis Yacht Club	85.0	60.0
29	33	ITA 374	Erica Edda RATTI Porro FRANCESCO	Centro velico 3V	85.0	67.0
30	44	SGP 359	Justin LIU Denise LIM	PA	89.0	69.0
31	3	AUS 156	Paul DARMANIN Lucy COPELAND	Manly16'SSC	94.0	73.0
32	29	GER 258	Jan Hauke ERICHSEN Luisa KRÜGER	FSC	98.0	75.0
33	7	BEL 340	Kevin BONNEVIE Isaura MAENHAUT	RBSC	100.0	75.0
34	8	BEL 297	Henri DEMESMAEKER Anouk GEURTS	RBSC	95.0	75.0
35	32	GUA 353	Jason HESS Andrea ALDANA	Club Náutico Los Sauces	98.0	77.0
36	41	PER 346	Javier ARRIBAS HARTEN Jarian BRANDES	Yacht Club Peruano	100.0	78.0
37	37	JPN 347	Shibuki IITSUKA Eri HATAYAMA	Security Protection Network	100.0	78.0
38	38	NOR 348	Nicholas Fadler MARTINSEN Martine Steller MORTENSEN	SSf	102.0	79.0
39	30	GER 329	Silas MÜHLE Romy MACKENBROCK	HSC	107.0	82.0
40	28	GBR 182	Jess DIARCY Owen BOWERMAN	+4528700472	112.0	89.0
41	18	FRA 085	Antoine TIFFON Eléonore SELLIN	CNM	119.0	96.0
42	62	RUS 345	Sergey DZHIENBAEV Daria IVANOVA	Voronez, CSK	122.0	97.0
43	43	RUS 367	Maksim OBEREMKO Iana STOKOLESOVA	Crymea	121.0	97.0
44	46	SWE 378	Emil JÄRUDD Cecilia JONSSON	RSYC	120.0	98.0
45	42	RUS 013	Viatcheslav SHELUDYAKOV Kristina SULIMA	Azov sailing club	127.0	102.0
46	20	FRA 245	Thomas TIFFON Morgane MACRET	CNM	131.0	107.0
47	16	ESP 337	Marina LOPEZ Joan Carles TONISASTRE	Club Nàutic Llançà	141.0	116.0