2015 Cadet World Championships – Day 1-2 overall + Video

by Fraglia Vela Riva on 4 Aug 2015 The Cadet World Championships are now under way at Riva del Garda. This double for the very young is an extremely organised class which boasts a long tradition.

Organising club Fraglia Vela Riva is hosting twelve nations including Australia, Argentina, Hungary, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Poland, Germany, The Czech Republic, Spain and Italy with three crews from Fraglia Vela Riva. This is the second time the World Championships have been hosted in Italy The last time was back in 1975 in Trieste.

There are two categories for the more than 120 skiffs taking part. There are the “Cadet Worlds” with at least seven crews and who qualified according their class ranking list and the “Cadet Promotional” with the younger crews. All the Italians in competition are in the promotional and from Fraglia Vela Riva with two male crews with Matteo Bolzonella-Edoardo Bustaffa and Brando Mattivi-Mattia Spagnolli and one female crew with Emma Gobbi at the helm and Marialena Iafrate. This is a new experience for Fraglia Vela Riva sailors who have always made a good showing being in the top twenty rankings. Today, second day of competition,we saw Matteo Bolzonello with Edoardo Bustaffa making a mark by winning the sixth race, the last of today's three bringing them to 11th place.

The Championships kicked off with two beautiful days with strong winds from the south sometimes reaching 20 knots. Standing out right away are the Australian and British crews who are doing better in the “Worlds “ category than in the “Promotional”. The second day also had winds from the south, which is normal on Lake Garda, Trentino. With another three races and the discard in place we are starting to see the best crews.

Worlds Category
It was a hat-trick today for Brits Jamie and Bettine Harris who extended their lead on Australians Abel-Allison who are in second place. Much further behind (by 11 points ) is the other British crew of Collyear-Bland who had done better with the stronger wind on the first day, 5-3-1 compared with today's 3-15-14. Coming between the Australians and Brits is the crew of Samarin-Remez of the Ukraine. They are paying for a disqualification in the very first race and in race five came in a good second place. Good partials in regatta five for Australians Sasson-Suda, third in regatta five as were compatriots Price-Ibbott who were second in regatta six and are fifth in the overall standings.

Promotional Category
The top ten are almost all British and leading with an eight point advantage is Ryan Wilkinson-Hamish Taylor who have been showing steady form over the first two days. Right behind them is Barr-Wilkinson and a further six points behind Wrankmore-Asquith who came second in the sixth race. Good partial first for the other British crew Colquitt Alexander and James in the the fifth race. As previously stated the best of the Italians are in eleventh place with Matteo Bolzonella and Edoardo Bustaffa ( Fraglia Vela Riva). Their form was a little up and down but then they surprised everybody with an outright win in the sixth race. Girls crew Gobbi- Infrate are also in the top 20. They are eighteenth. Further behind in thirty-fourth place are Brando Mattivi-Mattia Spagnolli.

Cadet: characteristics and facts
The 3.22mt skiff has a mainsail of 3.0 sq. a bow of 1.26 and a spinnaker of 4.25 sq. It is recommended as the first double for children of the Optimist age. In Italy it is still something of a novelty even though it was designed by Jack Holt in 1947 and is popular in 18 countries throughout the world. After the Topper this is another class that Fraglia Vela Riva has become acquainted with and is certainly making an impression with its organisation, attention to detail, enthusiasm a high international level not too mention multitude of parents in tow who wouldn't miss a World Championship in Italy.

In the last World Championship the competition was played out among Poland, Australia, Great Britain, the Ukraine and Argentina. Let's see if the Australians can confirm their dominance against the British here at Riva del Garda.

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