29er Worlds - Damage control on first day of Finals in Medemblik

by Diana Bogaards on 29 Jul 2016 Day 4 - It was about damage control on the first day of the final series of the 29er Worlds 2016 in Medemblik, Netherlands. Gwendal Nael and Lilian Mercier from France won this game and have taken over the lead, followed by their fellow countrymen Benjamin Jaffrezic and Chauvel.

The inconsistent breeze on Thursday July 28 caused some serious ups and downs amongst the Gold, Silver, Bronze and Emerald fleets. The Australian winners of the qualifying series are now in third position. Aleksandra Melzacka and Maja Micinski from Poland made an impressive gain, by climbing from place 42 to 6 on the leader board.

'It was a lot more tactical racing than yesterday', said Race official Kallf upon arrival in the harbour. The finals started this morning with a nice western breeze of 8-9 knots. While the bronze fleet was finishing its third race, the wind direction suddenly changed to the south. As a result, all other races were cancelled and the waiting game commenced. After two hours of keeping up nerves and concentration, the meanwhile north northwestern breeze was stable enough for today's last race with 5-7 knots.

Gwendal Nael and Lilian Mercier remained consistent with 6-8-8, which pushed them from fourth to first position overall with a fifteen points lead. Yesterday's leaders Tom Crockett and Harry Morton from Australia commenced with two steady results (5-5), but got it wrong in the third race, resulting in a 30thplace. Since there is no discard yet, they had to carry that bad result. They are now third overall, but on equal points with second placed Benjamin Jaffrezic and Chauvel and with Crispin Beaumont and Tom Darling behind them.

'It was a decent day, pretty average', said Crispin Beaumont and Tom Darling. The British sailors scored 8-16-14. 'The conditions were tricky. We got some consistent results in, so we are quite happy to not having really bad ones in that fickle wind. Lots of teams were up and down on the scores.' Beaumont and Darling are in their third 29er year together: 'So, we know each other pretty well. We are just hoping that our last Worlds, which is this one, pays off and that we get a good result.'

Quinn Wilson and Riley Gibbs from the United States were less fortunate in the variable circumstances. They dropped from the third to the twentieth position.

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Girl power

By finishing 2-1-7 Melzacka and Micinski are back in the lead of all female teams, one place ahead of their Australian competitors Annabelle Davies and Hayley Clark. The Polish girls had a promising start of the Worlds. They were seventeenth overall after the first three qualifying races, but then they lost more and more ground. 'We were not that consistent in the qualifying series, because we were struggling in the strong winds yesterday. We are quite light, so we had some problems. The day before we had a DNF, because of lack of wind. Only the top 15 boats managed to finish that race', explained Melzacka and Micinski. They just made the cut for the Gold fleet and today the tide turned with their best score of the day 2-1-7.

'In the second race, we were top five and took over the lead at the end of the first downwind. We were pretty fast. In the last race we had a very bad start, but we stayed focused and did not give up. I don't know how it happened, but we finished seventh.'

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks hopeful for those who prefer stronger winds, as the breeze will be 12 to 18 knots, first coming from the southwest and later shifting to the west. Four races are scheduled.

Provisional top five gold fleet after three races:

1 FRA 8 - Gwendal Nael and Lilian Mercier, 26 points

2 FRA 2232 - Benjamin Jaffrezic and Chauvel, 41

3 AUS 2262 - Tom Crockett and Harry Morton, 41

4 GBR 16 - Crispin Beaumont and Tom Darling, 41

5 NZL 1874 - sebastian Lardies and Scott McKenzie, 50

Leader silver fleet: AUS 1934 - Ezra Pritchard and Tom Cunich

Leader bronze fleet: BRA 2533 - Breno Segabinazi Kneipp and Ian Paim

Leader emerald: POL 2375 - Michalina Manikowska and Marianna Website

Day 3 - It was a big third and last qualifying day for big boys at the 29er Worlds 2016 in Medemblik, Netherlands. The southwestern breeze increased from 8-10 knots in the morning to about 20-21 knots during rain showers in the afternoon. Four races were sailed, resulting in big gains and losses. Where the Australian leaders Tom Crockett and Harry Morton extended their lead, dropped the Slovenians Rok Verderber and Klemen Semelbauer dramatically from second to nineteenth place. The qualifying series are now completed. As of tomorrow, the fleet will be divided into gold (50), silver (50), bronze (64) and emerald (64).

'Today, it was harder for the teams in the backfield', commented Ren Kalff, race officer on course C. 'They showed more capsizes, but they were still smiling. You could see the sailors enjoying the fun in strong winds. Due to the offshore direction, there were no waves, which made it easier to deal with the conditions.'

Crockett and Morton were indeed flying on the IJsselmeer. The Aussie friends for life, they grew up together, scored three bullets and a sixth position. The British duo Crispin Beaumont and Tom Darling managed to finish only top three, which lifted them from fifth to second place overall.

The Americans Quinn Wilson and Riley Gibbs entered the top three with their score 4-1-1-5. 'It was windy and cold', they said after returning to the harbour. 'The first race was tricky. The wind went up and down and I think it was the closest and lightest race today. There was a pretty big pack fighting.' Two other American teams also made it to the top ten of the qualifying series. 'That is really great. We had a good training team. We are progressing a lot. It is nice to see that all the hard work is paying off.'

The Danish team also has two boats in the first ten. Both are from the Royal Danish Yacht Club, that appointed former Laser Radial sailor Alberte Lindberg as coach. Lindberg quitted racing in 2012 and started coaching her husband Anton Dahlberg in the 470 and some 29er and 49er teams. Lindberg: 'We are here with four teams and our goal was to qualify for the gold fleet. Hopefully we will fight into top ten the rest of the regatta.' About today's races she said: 'It was quite windy and shifty. We also had rain showers coming in. It was basically like in Denmark with shifty conditions and an offshore breeze. We always feel at home in the Netherlands.'

Another remarkable loss came from the Argentineans Santiago Duncan Loinaz and Elias Dalli, who dropped from tenth to 34th. The Aruba team of Odile van Aanholt and Bart Lambriex however climbed on the leader board from place 37 to 13 by finishing 3-4-2-4. The top all female duo Annabelle Davies and Hayley Clark from Australia won today's first race and added a 9-6-7 to their qualifying score, resulting in the fourteenth position overall. The final result of the qualifying series count as one for the final series, to start tomorrow on Thursday July 28.

Despite the Dutch weather, the Regatta Center Medemblik will be covered in Brazilian style tonight. Competitors, coaches, volunteers and organizers will enjoy the barbeque with Olympic theme, as warming up for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Final top ten of qualifying series after ten races and two discards:

AUS 2262 Tom Crockett and Harry Morton, 12 points
GBR 16 Crispin Beaumont and Tom Darling, 19
USA 2003 Quinn Wilson and Riley Gibbs, 23
FRA 8 Gwendal Nael and Lilian Mercier, 24
NED 21 Cas van Dongen and Robin Becker, 27
DEN 2375 Marcus Piron Kirketerp and Sebastian Wright Olsen, 28
DEN 2374 Casper Ladefoged and Jakob Precht Jensen, 29
USA 2186 Alie Toppa and Jacob Rosenberg, 34
USA 2497 Neil Marcellini and Ian Brill, 34
HKG 9 Yann Thierry d'Argenlieu and Nathan Bradely, 35

Day 2 - After a long second day of waiting and racing at the 29er Worlds 2016 in Medemblik, Netherlands, the Australians Tom Crockett and Harry Morton took over the lead. They are two points ahead of the Slovenians Rok Verderber and Klemen Semelbauer, who hold on to their second place overall. The best score in the very light and variable conditions came from the all female team Annabelle Davies and Hayley Clark from Australia. They are now leading the girls.
Tuesday July 26th commenced quietly with about 0 knots of wind speed on the Ijsselmeer. All 228 teams representing 29 countries had to keep their nerves and concentration until the AP flag was lowered at 13:30 hours, when the northeastern breeze was stable enough to start racing. After that first race in 4-6 knots the wind dropped again and then shifted to the northwest and picked up a little bit.

Dutchmen Cas van Dongen and Robin Becker knew how to play these challenging circumstances and jumped from the 21st to the fourth position overall with a 6-1-2. Becker: 'The conditions suited us well, because we are a light team. The breeze was shifty and gusty, so we had our eyes out of the boat. We kept our concentration up by doing some activities on the water. We were playing games with the coach. You have to keep laughing. We were spiced up and I think that was one of our strong points for the final two races of the day.'

Although Tom Crockett and Harry Morton, who have been sailing together for only two months, prefer stronger conditions, as predicted for tomorrow, they did well in today's light circumstances. They finished second, third and first. 'We didn't have the best start in race three, but half way up the beat we extended out a bit and led to finish', said Morton, who won the 2014 Worlds in the 29er with helmsman Kurt Hansen. The Aussies were battling with the Argentinean team of Santiago Duncan Loinaz and Elias Dalli, who scored two bullets and a ninth place today. Morton continues: 'In the first race we had a good start and were leading at the top mark, but the Argentineans sailed more consistently and got us in the end. In today's second race we were a bit up and down, because of the shifts.'

Gwendal Nael and Lillian Mercier from France climbed on the leader board as well. Finishing first, eighth and again first lifted them from the fourth till the third position overall, on equal points with the Slovenians Verderber and Semelbauer. 'The first and last race went really well, but the second one was very difficult. We had a bad start and finished eighth, which is our discard.'

But the most impressive comeback comes from the Aussie girls Annabelle Davies and Hayley Clark, who scored two bullets and a second, the best score of the day. Coming from place 77 yesterday, they are now eighteenth overall an first all female team.

According to the weather forecast, the wind will be back tomorrow. The southwestern breeze will build from about 12 to 16 knots, gusting to 25 knots. That provides the fleet with very different conditions and challenges.

Top five after three races and one discard:

1.AUS 2262 - Tom Crockett and Harry Morton, 9 points

2.SLO 2318 - Rok Verderber and Klemen Semelbauer, 11 points

3.FRA 8 - Gwendal Nael and Lilian Mercier, 11 points

4.NED 21 - Cas van Dongen and Robin Becker, 16 points

5. GBR 16 - Crispin Beaumont and Tom Darling, 17 points