Brazilians lead Laser Radial Open after first day

by Event Media & Sail-World NZL on 5 Dec 2005 Brazilians dominated the first day of competition at the Radial Open, on Sunday, at Fortaleza, gaining the six top positions at the overall results after two races on each fleet. There are 165 competitors competing from 39 countries.

Eduardo Couto, from Rio de Janeiro, leads the championship, followed by Brazillians Daniel Jakobsson, Alexandre Tinoco, Tiago Rodrigues e Fábio Dutra. Peruvian Gonzalo Barclay. Russian Igor Lisovenko was the first foreign competitor after the six Brazilians.

In the Radial Women, France’s Sarah Steyart, leads the regatta from Australian Sarah Blanck and Italian Larissa Nevierov in third.

A proud President of the Central South American Laser Association, Carlos Fanucchi, commented ‘the Brazilians results show that we can win the title for the first time, and at home. We still have ten races to go, but our sailors have the technical conditioning to stay among the leaders’.

According to Fanucchi, the Brazilian performance can be repeated in stronger winds. At the first day of competition, the windspeed reached a maximum of 12 knots, below the average registered the week before. Because of the weather conditions, a great number of sailors held back and took a safe posture, avoiding too many risks at this stage of dispute.

In the Radial Women, Sarah Stayert, second on the European circuit this year, opened up a two point lead over her runners-up.

One of the favorites to win the title, USA’s Paige Railey finished fourth. Current world champion, Australian Krystal Weir was in for a poor day. She finished in 12th place. ‘In the second race I ended up going the wrong way around the second mark and couldn´t recover’, she said.

Fifth overall and best among the local athletes, Tiago Rodrigues said that the competition got a lot tougher because of the unstable wind – one mistake could take a sailor down several positions.

There will be two races this Monday, starting at noon. The qualifying phase ends on Tuesday, and the competition continues until Friday.

The Laser Worlds 2005 includes four world championships: Sênior (September 19th to 28th), Máster (September 30th to October 8th), Radial Open & Women (December 3rd to 9th) and Radial Youth (December 10th to 17th).

The events are organized by the International Laser Class Association, Brazilian Laser Class Association, Ceara State Sailing Federation, Brazilian Sailing Federation and Yacht Club of Fortaleza.

The sponsors are: Ceara State Government, thru the Sports and Youth Bureau, Marina Park Hotel and Hamburg Süd. The event also has the support of the Brazilian Navy, Banco do Nordeste do Brasil, Mayor of Fortaleza, Unilink, Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club and Pirata Bar.