Laser Radial Youth World titles 2014 - Overnight leaders hold on

by Jeff Martin on 2 Aug 2014 Laser Radial Youth World Championship . Dziwnów, Poland Day 5

A 3 hour wait ashore for a forecast change to the light offshore wind proved to be a wise and popular decision when a 12 knot wind built from the east and the shallow waters of the Baltic Sea produced good surfing waves. The move to Finals races with the two gold fleets on the same course provided an exhibition of close and exciting racing that was a joy to watch. For the sailors the pressure was building with the first windward leg being critical to get out of the pack.

In the girls first race overnight leader, Monika Mikkola FIN, was disappointed with her first leg especially as the person chasing her, Martina Cacho ESP rounded the first mark in a good position and went on to win. Mikkola said 'In the first race I chose the left hand side and the right hand side paid. In the second race I was fast downwind so I was able to move through the fleet.' Even after choosing the wrong side of the first leg she still scored a seventh place which most sailors would have been happy with. Her third place in the second was the result of a determined fight back to finish on the same points as Cacho who finished ninth to maintain her overall lead.

Behind the unchanged leading pair there was a re-shuffle of the places after Marina Erdi HUN scored the best results of the day to move up from fifth to third overall whilst in the opposite direction Maud Jayet SUI slipped to sixth after scoring two 18th places.

In the boys fleet the results were more stable with only one change in the top six. Nik Willim from Germany made an impressive start in the first race and worked the centre to right hand side of the first windward leg to lead at the first mark and through to the finish with the consistent overall leader, Joel Rodriguez ESP taking the runner up position. Gianmarco Planchestainer ITA got lost in the pack and scored his worst result of the series that demoted him to third overall after a fourth place in the second race.

Rodriguez consolidated his overall lead by winning the second race from Denmark’s Patrick Dopping but Willem also put in another good performance to get third place.

With two more races left to sail on the final day and lighter winds forecast it is all to play in both fleets for especially as a second discard comes in after ten races are completed.

Provisional overall results after 9 races with 1 discard:
Girls
1. Monika Mikkola FIN 27 points
2. Martina Reino Cacho ESP 34 points
3. Maria Erdi HUN 44 points
4. Magdalena Kwasna POL 48 points
5. Maite Carlier 57 points
6. Maud Jayet SUI 62 points
Boys
1. Joel Rodriguez ESP 27 points
2. Nik Willim GER 24 points
3. Gianmarco Planchestainer ITA 33 points
4. Nicol Villa ITA 34 points
5. Benjamin Wempe NED 46 points
6. Vladimir Evfimyevskiy RUS 48 points


http://www.dziwnowlaserworlds2014.com/