RS-X World Windsurfing Championship - Gold on day 4 for Lee-El Korsiz

by Mariana Peccicacco on 7 Mar 2013 The RS:X World Windsurfing Championships will come to a close tomorrow in Búzios, Brazil, but the Israeli-Lee El Korsiz is already celebrating another title, the third in a row. With light winds, the Race Committee did only two of the three races scheduled for today and Lee won the first and was 18th in the second, which became her discard. With this result, she opens 21 points lead that secures her Gold medal.

'I have 21 points over Maayan, which is enough to secure the championship. I am very happy, it’s my third consecutive title and now I’ll have to do one more tattoo', she said showing a big star tattoo that represents each one of her victories.

Among men, the Brazilian Ricardo Winicki, Bimba, made the second best average of the day, finishing second and sixth. He returned to fifth place overall, tied with Byron Kokkalanis GRE third, and Nimrod Maschia ISR in fourth.

'Being back in the top ten in the world is great. I’m feeling good, feeling at home. On the second race I choose the wrong side, doing the first rounding in 18th, but I managed to recover. The Windsurf is very fast and it’s not possible to do a match racing at the medal race. You have to sail like it’s the first race of the championship, go out there and win,' he said.

If the day was good for Bimba, Dutchman Dorian van Rijsselberge, the Olympic champion in London, cannot say the same. He could not sail well in light winds and dropped to second place, nine points behind the British Nick Dempsey, the silver in London 2012.

'In the first race I went to the left side and the wind got stronger from the right. In the second race I managed to make a good start and went to the right side, and didn’t see the pressure that came from the left, which resulted again in a bad race,' he said.

Dempsey says he is comfortable for the last day. 'Today the wind was weaker, which makes things slower. The wind was shifting again, very demanding tactically. For the medal race, is good to do the right thing at the right time, without much planning,' said the British that can be the first two time world champion of RS: X. The Englishman won the competition in 2009, racing at home in Weymouth.

Tomorrow, the medal race is scheduled for 12pm (1500GMT) at Búzios Vela Clube, in Maguinhos Beach. Only the top ten men and women will race. This is the most important race of the championship and has double score, cannot be discarded and its result will be used as the first tiebreaker. The other sailors will go to the water too, to do a single fleet race, after the medal race.

Results:

Men’s fleet after ten races and one discard
1. Nick Dempsey, GBR, 26 points
2. Dorian Van Rijsselberge, NED, 35 p
3. Byron Kokkalanis, GRE, 41 p
4. Nimrod Mashiah, ISR, 41 p
5. Ricardo Winick Santos, BRA, 41 p

Women’s fleet after ten races and one discard:
1. Lee-El Korsiz, ISR, 28 points
2. Maayan Davidovich, ISR, 49 p
3. Bryony Shaw, GBR, 52 p
4. Charline Picon, FRA, 63 p
5. Tuuli Petaja-Siren, FIN, 65 RSX Worlds website