ISAF Sailing World Championships - Racing underway in Santander +Video

by Jeff Martin, Int'l Laser Class/ISAF on 13 Sep 2014

2014 ISAF Sailing World Championship, Santander - Veronika Fenclova ISAF

At the ISAF Sailing World Championships, the thick fog that covered the harbour in Santander at the start of the day soon burnt off and gave way to a light five to seven knot breeze from the north east allowing the Laser and Laser Radial Fleets to get afloat and start the event.

After a delay ashore there was a further postponement afloat waiting for the wind to fill before the start of the four race qualification series.

The 120 boat Women's Laser Radial Fleet is split into two groups of 60, each scoring points from one to 60. In this size fleet a good start is critical especially as the right hand side of the course was favoured and in the lighter conditions boat speeds are similar. Those sailors that were able to put together two single figure results were guaranteed a place in the top ten whilst others were having death and glory results not necessarily in that order.

Veronika Fenclova (CZE) had a big smile on her face as she explained, 'In the first race I had a good start and led at the first mark but I could not hold my position downwind and dropped to third even though we did change places several times before the finish.' In the second race she led from start to finish, 'I had a good lead which protected me on the downwind.' Fenclova's results were better than she expected as she has had a year off from sailing although she has been training hard for a month at Santander prior to the championship.

Min Gu from China is already looking like a worthy successor to the retired Olympic Champion Lijia Xu as she shares the same points with Fenclova at the top of the pack.

2014 ISAF Sailing World Championship, Santander - Laser fleet start © ISAF

In the record 76 nation Men's Laser fleet, sailing on a nearby course to the women, the story was much the same with Juan Maegli from Guatamala scoring exactly the same as Fenclova. He said 'I had two good starts and went right both times. I had good speed and concentrated on trying to be consistent.'

He has created a four point gap over second place Tom Burton (AUS) who scored a fifth and third.

2014 ISAF Sailing World Championship, Santander - Juan Ignacio Maegli © ISAF

Defending champion Robert Scheidt BRA saw his fellow countryman Bruno Fontes finish four places ahead of him but he has been around enough to know that there is still a long way to go in this event, 'I did not get far enough right for the shift. I struggled to catch up and could only get back to 13th. I was happy to finish second in the next race.'

Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow to conclude the qualification series before the fleet is split into a gold, silver and bronze. A final six race series will be followed by a Medal Race.

Laser Radial Overall Results

Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	Race		Points
Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	1	2	Total	Net
1	CZE	CZE 207167	Veronika Kozelska Fenclova	3	1	4.00	4.00
2	CHN	CHN 200041	Min Gu	4	2	6.00	6.00
3	BEL	BEL 207177	Emma Plasschaert	2	5	7.00	7.00
4	NED	NED 206333	Marit Bouwmeester	8	1	9.00	9.00
5	CHN	CHN 201213	Dongshuang Zhang	5	4	9.00	9.00
6	LTU	LTU 202781	Viktorija Andrulyte	11	3	14.00	14.00
7	ITA	ITA 206452	Joyce Floridia	5	9	14.00	14.00
8	GBR	GBR 206363	Chloe Martin	10	6	16.00	16.00
9	SWE	SWE 202659	Josefin Olsson	2	16	18.00	18.00
10	GER	GER 205277	Svenja Weger	12	6	18.00	18.00
11	ITA	ITA 206464	Silvia Zennaro	16	3	19.00	19.00
12	PER	PER 182332	Paloma Schmidt	11	8	19.00	19.00
13	CRO	CRO 199082	Tina Mihelic	10	9	19.00	19.00
14	NOR	NOR 204904	Marthe Eide	16	5	21.00	21.00
15	DEN	DEN 207194	Anne-Marie Rindom	14	7	21.00	21.00
16	FIN	FIN 202670	Tuula Tenkanen	20	2	22.00	22.00
17	BEL	BEL 207179	Evi Van Acker	15	7	22.00	22.00
18	FRA	FRA 204062	Pernelle Michon	8	17	25.00	25.00
19	GBR	GBR 206251	Alison Young	13	12	25.00	25.00
20	NZL	NZL 202441	Sara Winther	7	19	26.00	26.00
21	JPN	JPN 199066	Manami Doi	6	21	27.00	27.00
22	ISR	ISR 189296	Oren Jacob	4	24	28.00	28.00
23	NZL	NZL 192281	Susannah Pyatt	18	11	29.00	29.00
24	DEN	DEN 207195	Sarah Gunni Toftedal	1	29	30.00	30.00
25	ESP	ESP 198726	Alba Elejabeitia	7	23	30.00	30.00
26	NED	NED 195725	Daphne van der Vaart	9	21	30.00	30.00
27	URU	URU 196957	Dolores Moreira Fraschini	21	10	31.00	31.00
28	USA	USA 184454	Erika Reineke	1	31	32.00	32.00
29	RUS	RUS 203245	Elena Vorobeva	17	15	32.00	32.00
30	POL	POL 206825	Paulina Czubachowska	20	14	34.00	34.00
31	FIN	FIN 200655	Niki Blässar	21	14	35.00	35.00
32	USA	USA 206526	Claire Dennis	15	20	35.00	35.00
33	VEN	VEN 191954	Daniela Rivera	19	18	37.00	37.00
34	CZE	CZE 196989	Markéta Audyova	25	13	38.00	38.00
35	CHI	CHI 207076	Clara Ben-Amor Nunez	23	16	39.00	39.00
36	CAN	CAN 200605	Isabella Bertold	28	12	40.00	40.00
37	BRA	BRA 175470	Odile Ginaid	14	26	40.00	40.00
38	GBR	GBR 206886	Hannah Snellgrove	9	33	42.00	42.00
39	CRO	CRO 199055	Ana Zelic	31	11	42.00	42.00
40	FRA	FRA 196544	Mathilde de Kerangat	27	15	42.00	42.00

Laser Overall Results

Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	Race		Points
Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	1	2	Total	Net
1	GUA	GUA 204113	Juan Ignacio Maegli Aguero	3	1	4.00	4.00
2	AUS	AUS 199012	Tom Burton	5	3	8.00	8.00
3	AUS	AUS 199015	Matthew Wearn	7	2	9.00	9.00
4	ITA	ITA 188953	Giovanni Coccoluto	1	9	10.00	10.00
5	BRA	BRA 206757	Bruno Fontes	4	7	11.00	11.00
6	NED	NED 204566	Nicholas Heiner	3	10	13.00	13.00
7	AUS	AUS 206019	Ryan Palk	5	9	14.00	14.00
8	NED	NED 206745	Rutger van Schaardenburg	14	1	15.00	15.00
9	BRA	BRA 206755	Robert Scheidt	13	2	15.00	15.00
10	CAN	CAN 197120	Lee Parkhill	8	7	15.00	15.00
11	NOR	NOR 204758	Kristian Ruth	15	1	16.00	16.00
12	GBR	GBR 206940	Lorenzo Chiavarini	2	14	16.00	16.00
13	GER	GER 207457	Tobias Schadewaldt	3	13	16.00	16.00
14	SWE	SWE 1996173	Jesper Stalheim	12	4	16.00	16.00
15	NZL	NZL 197250	Thomas Saunders	11	5	16.00	16.00
16	GER	GER 207189	Philipp Buhl	15	2	17.00	17.00
17	NZL	NZL 196871	Sam Meech	12	6	18.00	18.00
18	CRO	CRO 204731	Tonci Stipanovic	6	12	18.00	18.00
19	USA	USA 194180	Christopher Barnard	7	11	18.00	18.00
20	GER	GER 206231	Theodor Bauer	10	8	18.00	18.00
21	GBR	GBR 201402	Nick Thompson	1	18	19.00	19.00
22	USA	USA 203751	Erik Bowers	18	3	21.00	21.00
23	SIN	SIN 197538	Colin Cheng	2	20	22.00	22.00
24	TUN	TUN 172850	Youssef Akrout	5	17	22.00	22.00
25	GBR	GBR 205648	Martin Evans	16	6	22.00	22.00
26	IRL	IRL 206936	James Espey	6	16	22.00	22.00
27	AUS	AUS 206762	Luke Elliott	20	3	23.00	23.00
28	CRO	CRO 207268	Filip Jurišic	8	15	23.00	23.00
29	CAN	CAN 207130	Robert Davis	2	22	24.00	24.00
30	POR	POR 206743	Rui Silveira	4	21	25.00	25.00
31	GER	GER 194755	Fabian Gielen	19	6	25.00	25.00
32	FRA	FRA 206836	Antony Munos	9	16	25.00	25.00
33	FRA	FRA 205708	Eliot Merceron	1	25	26.00	26.00
34	CHN	CHN 205006	JIAN QIAO	14	13	27.00	27.00
35	NZL	NZL 206026	Andy Maloney	18	10	28.00	28.00
36	USA	USA 182345	Charlie Buckingham	6	23	29.00	29.00
37	AUS	AUS 192624	Mitchell Kennedy	21	8	29.00	29.00
38	ITA	ITA 199697	Alessio Spadoni	12	17	29.00	29.00
39	BEL	BEL 207180	Sam Vandormael	8	23	31.00	31.00
40	CYP	CYP 206766	Pavlos Kontides	20	12	32.00	32.00