2015 49er and 49erFX World Championships – Day 1 overall + Video

by Katy Nastro on 18 Nov 2015 2015 49er and 49erFX World Championships – The sun has risen and the men and women of the 49er and 49er FX fleets have begun the first day of the championship.

The weather for day one presented a ENE early with a bit of hazy sunlight, and reasonably warm temperature of 26 degrees. Just hot enough to get the FX sailors seeking shade and trying to shake the heat sleepy’s before their fleet headed out.

The men’s 49er fleet started in the morning session with the breeze slowly switching from ENE to a more Easterly 6-10 knot wind. Consistency was not the name of the game for most of the sailors in each group. Notable sailors whom usually place well in the top ten, and from the previous South Americans sailed very much all over the board. Sailors all noted it was quite difficult to read the patterns because, well, there weren’t any really! Currently standing in the top three places are: first- Croatia’s KOSTOV/ CUPAC, second- Spain’s PAZ BLANCO/ PAZ, and third - Poland's PRZYBYTEK/ KOLODZINSKI. Our other notable countries to watch, Argentina and Sweden, are currently sitting in sixth and 12th respectively. Argentina’s two top boats sit just one point away from one another. Can you feel them breathing down your neck boys?

For the women’s 49er FX fleet the afternoon posed a bit steadier direction, but the pressure variance was between 4-14 knots. They might’ve had more breeze to start but as the races were sailed, the breeze pressure slowly dropped making the final race a pretty light one! Apart from the top ten finishers, some digger races were common amongst mid fleet in this final race. Currently standing in the top three slots are: first- Denmarks’ NIELSEN/ OLSEN, second-France’s STEYAERT/ COMPAN, and third- Italy’s CONTI/ CLAPCICH. Denmark’s Nielsen and Olsen had a slam dunk of a day winning the first three races and throwing out only a fifth place finish. You go girls!

Countries yet to qualify for the women’s fleet from Norway and Ireland sit both in the top ten.

Day one down, but oh, so many more to go. The FX fleet will start tomorrow leaving the 49er fleet to hopefully see more breeze come in during their afternoon session. Wind forecast is looking similar to today’s and possible chance of thunderstorms early AM.