RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup Day 1 - Strong performances and jitters

by Laurie Fullerton on 24 Oct 2014 RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup 201 - Hamilton Bermuda, First day jitters marked the start of the 12th annual Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup. Racing featured strong performances from a trio of nordics including Christian Spodsberg of Denmark now leading the race with three points, Mainio Ormio of Finland with nine points and Kasper Nordenram of Sweden who is in the top 10.

In second place, Adam Larson of Bermuda has seven points and had a great day on the water today. Larson, whose family is still without electricity after Hurricane Gonzalo, said he has been getting to bed a lot earlier these days and feels that the conditions also favored his performance today.

For Denmark’s Christian Spodsberg who had a second and first place consecutively, he was careful to start in the middle and hang back a little on a crowded line. 'There was nice wind and I was very pleased with the way I sailed today. It was great.'

'I did play the middle of the course but I also do well in the light air so I was lucky we had two light air races today,' Larson said. 'I also plan on going to bed early again tonight. That is one of the benefits of not having any electricity.'

With heavy rain delaying the event so that the morning start was postponed until after 1 p.m., the enthusiasm of the competitors did not wane as the rain abated. Two races were completed today, with first day jitters creating a scenario where a number of sailors were 'black-flagged' after getting to the starting line early.

For Canadian national champion Theodora Horangic her two races were a bit of a disappointment but she said that 'I felt like I was much more comfortable in the venue. Sometimes people get scared when there are black flags but I just did not take any big risks today.'

For the 14 nationalities racing today, coach Tom Herbert Evans said that he was impressed by both their talent and the 36 local Bermudians in the regatta. 'It was a tough day for Bermudian Campbell Patton who was sailing a great race but had a difficult break with a black flag. Others sailed very well including Christian Ebbin who had a great regatta and young Azhai Smith did a great job with his first regatta ever.'

Evans added that it is hard to tell where the fleet will be over the next few days as there were a number of competitors who were over early or black-flagged today. 'We do have the kind of weather forecasted that will make it a very interesting regatta for both lighter and heavier competitors.'

The Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup is now in its 12th year, with nine races to go before the final race on Sunday just prior to the finals of the Argo Group Gold Cup.

'Unfortunately the weather kept us onshore all morning but we were really happy to get two good races in,' said regatta chairman Somers Cooper. 'The first day of a major regatta like this one does sometimes give competitors the first day jitters but everyone has gotten the jitters out so it looks like it is going to be a great event.'

RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup 2014 - Day one results.

Event website

Rank	SailNo	HelmName	R1	R2	Total	Nett
1st	DEN 8387	Christian Spodsberg	2.0	1.0	3.0	3.0
2nd	1099	Adam Larson	4.0	3.0	7.0	7.0
3rd	FIN 970	Mainio Ormio	7.0	2.0	9.0	9.0
4th	BRA 3515	Joao Emilio Vasconcellos	9.0	5.0	14.0	14.0
5th	ISV 937	Mateo DiBlasi	3.0	12.0	15.0	15.0
6th	GBR 6288	Haydn Sewell	10.0	6.0	16.0	16.0
7th	SWE 4582	Kasper Nordenram	13.0	4.0	17.0	17.0
8th	ARG 3413	Inaki Gurmindo	8.0	11.0	19.0	19.0
9th	1226	Camille Chin-Gurret	5.0	16.0	21.0	21.0
10th	1939	Jordan Etemadi	14.0	8.0	22.0	22.0
11th	CAN 1629	Theodora Horangic	16.0	7.0	23.0	23.0
12th	103	Luke Madeiros	20.0	9.0	29.0	29.0
13th	SUI 1630	Martina Mueller	17.0	14.0	31.0	31.0
14th	POL 1216	Julia Szmit	23.0	10.0	33.0	33.0
15th	1224	Christian Ebbin	12.0	21.0	33.0	33.0
16th	1010	Sebastian Kempe	18.0	15.0	33.0	33.0
17th	NZL 4534	Jordan Stevenson	21.0	13.0	34.0	34.0
18th	1002	Nasojay Hall	22.0	17.0	39.0	39.0
19th	ANT 2	Rocco Falcone	1.0	41.0 BFD	42.0	42.0
20th	1511	Grace Reeves	24.0	19.0	43.0	43.0
21st	ITA 8153	Alexandra Stalder	6.0	41.0 BFD	47.0	47.0
22nd	2511	Leyli Walker	25.0	22.0	47.0	47.0
23rd	1117	Fiachra McDonnell	31.0	20.0	51.0	51.0
24th	1054	Jacob Pimentel	26.0	25.0	51.0	51.0
25th	1001	Micah Thomas	11.0	41.0 BFD	52.0	52.0
26th	1044	Aiden Lopes	29.0	23.0	52.0	52.0
27th	2001	Rian Geraghty-McDonnell	28.0	24.0	52.0	52.0
28th	428	Christopher Adderley	27.0	28.0	55.0	55.0
29th	USA 19302	Payton Thompson	15.0	41.0 BFD	56.0	56.0
30th	1005	Teji Simons	30.0	26.0	56.0	56.0
31st	1004	Nasojah Hall	41.0 RET	18.0	59.0	59.0
32nd	1234	Felix Cutler	19.0	41.0 BFD	60.0	60.0
33rd	1006	Zakai Wolffe	32.0	29.0	61.0	61.0
34th	1111	Daylon Whitter	35.0	30.0	65.0	65.0
35th	1007	Cole Summers	34.0	31.0	65.0	65.0
36th	1205	Magnus Ringsted	33.0	32.0	65.0	65.0
37th	1011	Ahzai Smith	41.0 OCS	27.0	68.0	68.0
38th	1028	Cameron Lucas	41.0 OCS	33.0	74.0	74.0
39th	2311	Ethan Edmunds	36.0	41.0 DNF	77.0	77.0
40th	1008	Campbell Patton	41.0 OCS	41.0 BFD	82.0	82.0