2005 Optimist Worlds Day 1- Three races completed

by Richard Gladwell on 29 Jul 2005 The first day’s racing has been completed at the 2005 Optimist World Championships in Silvaplana, Switzerland. All races have been sailed in the thermal Majolawind and beautiful weather.




From the International Optimist Association website:

'there should be days like this . . . . '

Take one extrordinarily beautiful Alpine lake, bright sunshine, 14-18 knots of wind and 260 young people who have dreamed of this day for years. This is as good as it gets.

With first class race management three races were sailed in these perfect conditions on Day 1 of the IODA World Championship. NO general recalls, NO black flags and just a handful of protests (the jury are confident of attending tonight's IODA Party!)

The promised Majola wind blew straight down the lake. Winds at 1,800 metres have less weight than elsewhere so Race 1 was sailed in the equivalent of 12 knots and Races 2 & 3 in maybe 14kts. The fleet, divided into six divisions to give three successive starts, had to come to terms with thermal effects and subtle shifts but ocean sailors seemed to have had no difficulty in adapting.

To see the full results: www.kiwispy.com/KiwiCampaigns/2005OPResults.htm

Or, to watch the racing in real-time: www.sporttv.ch

The top three sailors in these first three races were:

Race 1:

Start 1
1. Elijah Simmons BER
2. Jianan Wu CHN
3. Evagelos Nikolopoulos GRE

Start 2
1. Anthony Alkins TRI
2. Wei Ni CHN
3. Nicklas Dackhammer SWE

Start 3
1. Affizie Muhammed Azrul MAS
2. Karin Alkstedt SWE
3. Rafael Lorieto URU

Race 2:

Start 1
1. Alex Zimmermann PER
2. Theofanis Kavvas GRE
3. Carl Evans NZL

Start 2
1. Antonio Minguez ESP
2. Tina Lutz GER
3. Paolo Cattaneo ITA

Start 3
1. Alexis Katsios GRE
2. Sean Bouchard BER
3. Kevin Peponnet FRA


Race 3:

Start 1
1. Enia Nincevic CRO
2. Jorge Martinez Doreste ESP
3. Matthew Schoener Scott TRI

Start 2
1. Tina Lutz GER
2. Luke Deegan NZL
3. Philipp Autenrieth GER

Start 3
1. Kacper Staniul POL
2. Jianan Wu CHN
3. Paul Snow-Hansen NZL

And this in from NZL Team Coach, Hamish Willcox, reflecting on the first day of racing

Hi,

Day 1 has just ended, protest time is not yet completed so I am here waiting, and the team is back to the backpackers for a well deserved shower. It is a long day with most of the team going afloat at 10.30 and arriving back ashore at 15.30.

Team Kiwi had a pretty good start to the event, actually about the same as last year’s world beating team!

Three of the sailors had races in the top three, Luke, Paul and Carl. Carl had the best day overall with something like a 12,3, 14, this should have him close to the top 10 overall. I heard some German girl had 3 races in the top 10!

Anyway the day was not so easy for most of the 248 competitors here. Good starts were essential and then making sure not to be extreme tactically was important. Carl minimised his risk keeping himself more in the middle of the course and being rewarded for consistently high results. Sailors too close into the lake shores were punished today.

Life for the coach is pretty different with all of us stuck on the shore trying not to get run down on the busy main road round the left side of the course!

More tomorrow, 12 races to go.....plus a day of teams racing in the middle, this to be staged right downtown St Moritz!

Thanks to the team product suppliers, Line 7, Ice breaker, and a very special thanks to the NZ Yachting Trust for their significant financial contribution - and of course NZ Optimist Assoc and the 100's of other supporters out there!

Thanks and regards Hamish (Willcox, Coach)