Argentinean sailors lead Cadet Worlds

by Event media on 7 Aug 2007
Two Argentinian sailors have opened up a big gap at the top of the Cadet World Championships sailing in Pwllheli, with three British sailors in the chasing pack.

Defending world champion Francisco Cosentino, with crew Sancho Castro, has taken over the lead from compatriot Francisco Gojenola, with crew Agustin Romero, but only by a single point at the halfway stage of the championship.

There are three British boats in the top seven. Tye Wichard with Ben Thame, from Essex club Corinthian Otters, is the top British boat in fifth. While Katrina Brewer, with brother Christopher crewing, and Joanna Freeman, with Holly Francis, from the Parkstone Yacht Club on the south coast, are in sixth and seventh places respectively.

'The first race we just couldn't get going on the start and struggled from then on,' said the 17-year-old Wichard after finishing 21st, 8th and 6th in the three races. 'The next two starts were OK and we had great upwind speed. It wasn't that shifty but we felt fast in the waves.

'Downwind I felt we struggled a bit with our experimental spinnaker, so were fast on the reaches but slow on the runs. We are looking forward to the next six races I think we have to just keep hanging in there.'

Freeman fell away in the last race after fifth and fourth places in the first two races had lifted her into the top five. 'In the first two races we had great starts and good speed, always sailing in clean air to round both about tenth and pull through as the race went on,' she said. 'In the last race of the day we missed a few shifts after starting well, but probably at the wrong end of the line. Consequently we got to the windward mark in about 30th and started to pull back from there'.

However Cosentino and Gojenola have a commanding lead after another good day on the water off the Lleyn Peninsula and after six races of the 12 race series it looks as though the title will be going back to Argentina.

The two Argentinian boats are neck and neck on 11 and 12 points respectively, 34 points in front of the third placed boat. Cosentino won the first two races of the day and was fifth in the third.

'In the first two races we had really good speed and great starts, leading around the windward mark in both races,' he said. 'However by the third race where the wind increased a bit more to 15 knots we were just really tired and it showed! We just never got into the race as we had done in the first two, I guess we were just very tired but it was a great days sailing and we are very happy'

Gojenola started slowly, but got quicker as the day went on and the wind got stronger, finishing 12th, then 3rd, then 2nd. 'We are finding the conditions very like those that we have on the river Plate in Buenos Airies, apart from the water is not as brown as it is Argentina. We just got better as the day went on,' he said.

Cadet Worlds - Overall leading positions after 6 races, 1 discard

1 8087 ARG Francisco Cosentino Sancho Castro 2 6 2 1 1 5 11
2 8054 ARG Francisco Gojenola Agustin Romero 1 1 5 12 2 3 12
3 9354 POL Michal Tomaszewski Agata Tomaszewska 17 8 3 OCS75 11 2 41
4 9462 POL Mateusz Giemza Pawel Glowicki 15 2 9 7 29 12 45
5 9127 POL Pawel Wysocki Piotr Szlachcic 25 18 12 3 3 11 47
6 6994 GBR Tye Wichard Ben Thame 10 20 6 21 8 6 50
7 8997 GBR Katrina Brewer Christopher Brewer 30 9 1 14 20 7 51
8 9575 GBR Joanna Freeman Holly Francis 19 14 15 5 4 17 55
9 9488 POL Artur Ponieczynski Michal Rola-Janicki 9 32 18 4 13 13 57
10 8518 BEL Quinten Lauwers Nele de Munck 27 4 30 11 12 4 58
11 9520 AUS Elliott Noye Ellie Chesterman 28 10 10 20 7 15 62
12 5712 AUS Tom Ransley Sophie Chesterman 41 13 11 9 22 14 69
13 9472 ARG Candela Pineyrua Josefina Subias 39 16 29 2 5 22 74
14 8066 ARG Martin Travascio Santiago Romero 4 17 33 8 17 51 79
15 8570 GBR Charlie Matthews Christopher Sycamore 14 22 13 24 6 33 79
16 8043 ARG Gonzalo Cosentino Lucas Cabral 18 11 31 13 9 31 82
17 8520 GBR Amy Seabright Hannah Muskett 3 7 24 28 21 35 83
18 9554 HUN Vince Grafel Gergo Boisos 20 23 25 15 16 9 83
19 9085 ESP Rodrigo Abalo Joaquin Minones 47 39 28 6 14 1 88
20 9065 POL Lukasz Kawinski Damian Frank 11 26 22 19 30 10 88
21 735 GBR Joshua Pistol Jack Wilson 43 21 8 17 35 8 89
22 3502 ARG Juan Pablo Alvarez Galessio Maria Josefina Tonelli 8 25 23 43 10 28 94
23 6005 AUS Lucy Shepherd Lydia Newton 36 15 21 23 18 27 104
24 8060 ESP Marta Hernandez Maria Leon Lainez 6 46 14 18 BFD75 21 105
25 7335 GBR Peter Lawrance Ole Alcock 24 34 7 25 36 18 108
26 9489 POL Szymon Wierzbicki Krystian Dziubinski 16 3 50 16 41 40 116
27 9555 HUN Anna Balogh Tamas Galgoczy 23 19 BFD75 37 19 24 122
28 8008 ESP Julia Marfil Cristina Laucirica 5 12 36 46 46 30 129
29 9514 POL Pawel Cherubin Damian Zdancewicz 50 31 17 29 24 34 135
30 9528 AUS Joel Aulich Jarad Cavanah 38 5 19 35 54 41 138


Today (Tuesday) is a day off for the competitors with the final day of the Cadet World Championships on Friday.