ISAF Sailing Worlds, Santander - Americans rise in Laser and Radial

by Will Ricketson on 14 Sep 2014

Charlie Buckingham, Laser - 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships Santander Mick Anderson / Sailingpix.dk http://sailingpix.photoshelter.com/

After months of training together at locations on three continents, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider Laser athletes jumped up the leaderboard as a group on day two of racing at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain.

In the men’s Laser class, Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) executed one of his best single-day performances at a World Championship. Buckingham had a 2,8 scoreline in two races, and now sits in eighth overall in the 147-boat fleet. 'The two races were very different today, so I was happy to come away with what I did.' said Buckingham. 'The first race had a solid sea breeze, while it died and shifted before the second race. In that second race, I rounded 20th at the first mark after a big error, but ground my way back.'

Not far behind Buckingham was his high school, college and national team teammate Chris Barnard (Newport Beach, Calif.), who finished with a 10,2 and is now 12th overall. Barnard has been the most consistent American Laser sailor so far, with a scoreline of 7,11,10,2. 'I’m content with the results today, but now it’s time for the real racing to start,' said Barnard, who referred to the fact that gold fleet competition begins tomorrow. 'I’ve now spent one full year campaigning full time [for the Olympics], and this week will be a good gauge of how far I’ve come. So far I think there’s been good improvement.' Also staying in the top group with another solid day was the US Sailing Development Team’s Erik Bowers (Excelsior, Minn.), who notched a 16,8 and is in 25th overall.

Erika Reineke, Laser Radial - 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships Santander © Mick Anderson / Sailingpix.dk http://sailingpix.photoshelter.com/

US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider Laser Radial athlete Erika Reineke (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) finished 9,8 in two races today, and vaulted from 28th to eighth overall. Reineke has now scored top-10 finishes in three out of four races, including win in race 1.

Under the tutelage of multiple medal-winning coach Mark Littlejohn (Auckland, New Zealand), the American Laser and Laser Radial groups have trained extensively together in Miami, Florida, Santander, Rio de Janeiro, and Long Beach, California. Long Beach is known for its consistent breeze and a typical sea state that closely matches that of the Worlds venue in Santander. It has proven to be an ideal training location for American sailors, who operated out of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club for an extended period this Spring. Clearwater Community Sailing Center in Clearwater, Florida (A US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider Official Training Center) was instrumental in providing boats to make these full-team Laser and Radial training camps happen.

Farrah Hall, RSX - 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships Santander © Mick Anderson / Sailingpix.dk http://sailingpix.photoshelter.com/

In 2014, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider athletes, coaches and partner organizations have put in many hours of work that may now be paying off at the World Championships.

In the men’s and women’s RS:X fleet, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider athletes saw their first day of racing. The top performer in the women’s fleet (35th out of 62) was 2012 Olympian Farrah Hall, who has enjoyed improved results in the past year. On the men’s side, the team is led by Carson Crain (Houston, Texas), who sits in 39th in a fleet of 97. The US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider is being coached this week by two-time Olympic windsurfing medalist Michael Gebhardt (Ft. Pierce, Fla.). 'RS:X sailing, like any Olympic class, requires significant exposure to top international competition,' said Gebhardt. 'It is also an incredibly physical type of sailing, sort of like combining a boxing match and a marathon. I think our new generation has a lot of potential, and I’m excited to watch them improve.'

On day three of the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships, the men’s and women’s 470 classes will hold their first races. The RS:X fleets will have their final day of qualifying competition, and the Laser and Laser Radial fleets will hold their first gold, silver and bronze division races.

Notable US Results (Overall), Day Two:

Laser Men (147 boats):

• Seventh, Charlie Buckingham, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider
• 11th, Chris Barnard, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider
• 20th Erik Bowers, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider

Laser Radial Women (120 boats):

• 10th, Erika Reineke, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider

RS:X Men (97 boards):

• 39th, Carson Crain, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider

RS:X Women (62 boards)

• 35th, Farrah Hall, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider

Laser Men – Overall Results

Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	Race				Points
Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	1	2	3	4	Total	Net
1	BRA	BRA 206755	Robert Scheidt	(13)	2	1	3	19.00	6.00
2	NED	NED 204566	Nicholas Heiner	3	(10)	1	4	18.00	8.00
3	AUS	AUS 199012	Tom Burton	5	3	(8)	2	18.00	10.00
4	BRA	BRA 206757	Bruno Fontes	4	7	(9)	3	23.00	14.00
5	SWE	SWE 199617	Jesper Stalheim	(12)	4	5	5	26.00	14.00
6	AUS	AUS 206019	Ryan Palk	5	9	(13)	1	28.00	15.00
7	NED	NED 206745	Rutger van Schaardenburg	14	1	1	(50) RET	66.00	16.00
8	USA	USA 182345	Charlie Buckingham	6	(23)	2	8	39.00	16.00
9	CYP	CYP 206766	Pavlos Kontides	(20)	12	4	1	37.00	17.00
10	GUA	GUA 204113	Juan Ignacio Maegli Aguero	3	1	(50) BFD	14	68.00	18.00
11	GBR	GBR 201402	Nick Thompson	1	(18)	11	7	37.00	19.00
12	USA	USA 194180	Christopher Barnard	7	(11)	10	2	30.00	19.00
13	AUS	AUS 199015	Matthew Wearn	7	2	10	(29)	48.00	19.00
14	NZL	NZL 196871	Sam Meech	12	6	2	(43)	63.00	20.00
15	NZL	NZL 197250	Thomas Saunders	11	5	(22)	5	43.00	21.00
16	CAN	CAN 197120	Lee Parkhill	8	7	6	(22)	43.00	21.00
17	GBR	GBR 206940	Lorenzo Chiavarini	2	14	(29)	6	51.00	22.00
18	ITA	ITA 188953	Giovanni Coccoluto	1	9	(36)	13	59.00	23.00
19	GER	GER 207189	Philipp Buhl	15	2	(20)	6	43.00	23.00
20	CRO	CRO 204731	Tonci Stipanovic	6	12	5	(27)	50.00	23.00

Laser Radial Women – Overall Results

Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	Race				Points
Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	1	2	3	4	Total	Net
1	CZE	CZE 207167	Veronika Kozelska Fenclova	3	1	(12)	3	19.00	7.00
2	LTU	LTU 202781	Viktorija Andrulyte	(11)	3	1	4	19.00	8.00
3	NED	NED 206333	Marit Bouwmeester	(8)	1	2	7	18.00	10.00
4	CHN	CHN 201213	Dongshuang Zhang	5	4	(32)	1	42.00	10.00
5	BEL	BEL 207177	Emma Plasschaert	2	5	(24)	5	36.00	12.00
6	FIN	FIN 202670	Tuula Tenkanen	(20)	2	3	10	35.00	15.00
7	SWE	SWE 202659	Josefin Olsson	2	(16)	8	5	31.00	15.00
8	USA	USA 184454	Erika Reineke	1	(31)	9	8	49.00	18.00
9	GBR	GBR 206363	Chloe Martin	10	6	4	(16)	36.00	20.00
10	BEL	BEL 207179	Evi Van Acker	(15)	7	1	14	37.00	22.00
11	FRA	FRA 196544	Mathilde de Kerangat	(27)	15	6	3	51.00	24.00
12	ITA	ITA 206452	Joyce Floridia	5	9	10	(20)	44.00	24.00
13	DEN	DEN 207195	Sarah Gunni Toftedal	1	(29)	22	2	54.00	25.00
14	CRO	CRO 199082	Tina Mihelic	10	9	7	(39)	65.00	26.00
15	NZL	NZL 202441	Sara Winther	7	(19)	10	13	49.00	30.00
16	ISR	ISR 189296	Oren Jacob	4	(24)	13	14	55.00	31.00
17	GBR	GBR 206886	Hannah Snellgrove	9	(34)	5	17	65.00	31.00
18	FRA	FRA 204062	Pernelle Michon	8	17	(20)	6	51.00	31.00
19	DEN	DEN 207194	Anne-Marie Rindom	14	7	(16)	12	49.00	33.00
20	GBR	GBR 206251	Alison Young	13	12	(36)	8	69.00	33.00

RS:X Men – Overall Results

Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	Race		Points
Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	1	2	Total	Net
1	FRA	FRA 77	Pierre le Coq	1	1	2.00	2.00
2	FRA	FRA 1	Louis Giard	1	3	4.00	4.00
3	POL	POL 82	Piotr Myszka	4	2	6.00	6.00
4	NED	NED 9	Kiran Badloe	2	5	7.00	7.00
5	FRA	FRA 6	Julien Bontemps	4	3	7.00	7.00
6	GER	GER 3	Toni Wilhelm	3	4	7.00	7.00
7	BRA	BRA 1	Ricardo Santos	7	1	8.00	8.00
8	POL	POL 126	Przemyslaw Miarczynski	2	7	9.00	9.00
9	GRE	GRE 8	Byron Kokkalanis	6	4	10.00	10.00
10	NED	NED 8	Dorian Van Rijsselberge	3	8	11.00	11.00
11	GBR	GBR 1	Nick Dempsey	5	6	11.00	11.00
12	ESP	ESP 7	Ivan Pastor Lafuente	11	2	13.00	13.00
13	ITA	ITA 88	Mattia Camboni	6	7	13.00	13.00
14	GBR	GBR 931	Tom Squires	5	10	15.00	15.00
15	POL	POL 182	Pawel Tarnowski	13	5	18.00	18.00
16	NZL	NZL 151	Jon-Paul Tobin	9	10	19.00	19.00
17	POR	ARG 8		14	6	20.00	20.00
18	SUI	SUI 36	Mateo Sanz Lanz	11	9	20.00	20.00
19	POR	POR 75	João Rodrigues	14	8	22.00	22.00
20	CHN	CHN 1	Aichen Wang	9	13	22.00	22.00

RS:X Women – Overall Results

Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	Race			Points
Pos	Nation	Sail Number	Crew	1	2	3	Total	Net
1	FRA	FRA 4	Charline Picon	1	1	(4)	6.00	2.00
2	MEX	MEX 9	Demita Vega de Lille	1	4	(17)	22.00	5.00
3	GBR	GBR 9	Bryony Shaw	5	(11)	1	17.00	6.00
4	FRA	FRA 22	Eugénie Ricard	(9)	1	5	15.00	6.00
5	POL	POL 8	Zofia Noceti-Klepacka	(16)	3	3	22.00	6.00
6	NED	NED 171	Lilian De Geus	2	(10)	5	17.00	7.00
7	GBR	GBR 30	Isobel Hamilton	6	2	(7)	15.00	8.00
8	POL	POL 21	Malgorzata Bialecka	(6)	5	3	14.00	8.00
9	ISR	ISR 10	Maayan Davidovich	4	(10)	6	20.00	10.00
10	ISR	ISR 9	Hadar Heller	(21)	9	2	32.00	11.00
11	BRA	BRA 8	Patricia Freitas	(9)	2	9	20.00	11.00
12	FIN	FIN 1	Tuuli Petäjä-Sirén	7	6	(15)	28.00	13.00
13	CHN	CHN 3	Qiaoshan Weng	13	(14)	1	28.00	14.00
14	RUS	RUS 271	Stefania Elfutina	(21)	12	2	35.00	14.00
15	ITA	ITA 157	Marta Maggetti	(12)	4	10	26.00	14.00
16	ITA	ITA 11	Laura Linares	7	7	(8)	22.00	14.00
17	NZL	NZL 8	Natalia Kosinska	10	5	(18)	33.00	15.00
18	ITA	ITA 46	Flavia Tartaglini	2	(17)	14	33.00	16.00
19	BRA	BRA 49	Bruna Martinelli Cesário de Mello	(20)	7	9	36.00	16.00
20	POL	POL 104	Kamila Smektala	8	8	(12)	28.00	16.00