Laser Radial World Championships - A breezy welcome to Largs

by Andi Robertson on 5 Jul 2010 Laser Radial World Championships 6-25th July, Largs, Scotland.

A full 18-25 knots of south westerly breeze Friday and Saturday gave the growing number of international athletes a challenging taste of the upper wind ranges, as well as the chilly Clyde waters as more and more Laser Radial sailors familiarise themselves with the race areas off Largs in preparation for the Laser Radial World Championships which start this week.

The stiff winds were accompanied by welcome sunshine and scudding clouds overhead, showing off the picturesque arena at its best. With more 120 Women and 120 Men due to compete from nearly 60 different nations and only about 20% of the competitors and coaches arrived in Largs, the Clyde coast seaside town is already buzzing.

'The atmosphere is certainly building up nicely. By Monday we expect the town to be jam packed and for sure there is hardly any accommodation left in Largs and the surrounding area. It looks like this breeze is going to continue for the next few days, so at least there will be plenty of wind for the competitors to get out and see what the race areas are like' reported David Kent, Development Officer of the Scottish Sailing Institute at Largs Sailing, hosts to the regatta, the first ever current Olympic class world championships to be held in Scotland.

'It is great, even if the water is pretty cold. It is going to be an awesome event on a great race area. We have been on the water now for four days and have seen everything from no wind to 25 knots of wind, so it has been very challenging. It is an awesome venue with plenty of open water which is important to get a fair race track' explains Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) the current Laser Radial Olympic champion, ' The scenery is just gorgeous, amazing. We have been out training with the rest of the US squad, a couple of Canadian girls, Mexican and one of the Kiwi girls today, just focussing on getting ourselves used to the conditions and boat speed. Later on in the week we will start to get into bigger group training.'

The Skandia GBR Team women, including Helensburgh, Scotland’s Charlotte Dobson (second in Laser Radial Europeans this season) have been training for most of last week and return to Largs on Sunday and Monday after a short break.

The Women’s Olympic class requires the strictest of one-design rules are applied. That means that the women are supplied with a Laser Radial dinghy for the duration of the pre-regatta training period and the event. The Men, for whom the Radial rig Laser is not an Olympic class, have the option of bringing their own boat. Competitors in the Olympic fleets are allowed only to use their own sails.

In total that has required the supply of 160 brand new, fresh-from-the-factory Laser Radial dinghies with a retail value of nearly £800,000. For the past 10 days, and several late nights, the boats have been made ready by representatives of LaserPerformance. Boats are drawn by competitors in a random lottery.

After this event the fleet will be supplemented by 93 more boats which will come from Turkey, where the ISAF Volvo Youth Sailing World Chmpionships take place, for the Men’s Open World Championships and the Laser Masters World Championships which take place in Hayling Island in September. The fleets are shipped between the British events by eight 40 foot curtainside trucks as well as two 40 foot containers of spares and workshops. Forty of these boats will also be used at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, the pre-Olympic event at Weymouth & Portland in August. The boats go on public sale in October.

Racing opens on Thursday 8th July with the official practice races and a traditional Scottish welcoming parade through the streets of Largs.

Racing Schedule

Laser Radial Women’s and Men’s World Championships

Pre charter period Monday 28th June to Monday 5th July
Registration and Measurement Tuesday sixth to Thursday 8th July
Practice Races and Opening Ceremony Thursday 8th July
Qualification Series Friday ninth to Sunday 11th July
Final Series Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th July
Prize Giving Wednesday 14th July

Laser Radial Women's Entries:

Cecilia Carranza Saroli ARG188759 ARG 
Laura Baldwin AUS196554 AUS 
Ashley Stoddart AUS197274 AUS 
Krystal Weir AUS180195 AUS 
Megan de Lange AUS196896 AUS 
Catherine Dapeci AUT184973 AUT 
Evi Van Acker BEL197514 BEL 
Tatiana Drozdovskaya BLR180336 BLR 
Odile Ginaid BRA189240 BRA 
Isabella Bertold CAN190278 CAN 
Chanel Cloutier Beaudoin CAN181111 CAN 
Olga Koubrak CAN180143 CAN 
Ingrid Merry CAN192023 CAN 
Rachael Merry CAN192885 CAN 
Erin Rafuse CAN187997 CAN 
Lisa Ross CAN182730 CAN 
Jennifer Spalding CAN187792 CAN 
Lijia Xu CHN177117 CHN 
Rubei Yuan CHN186321 CHN 
Dongshuang Zhang CHN171515 CHN 
Daiqing Zhou CHN171712 CHN 
Jiangyan Zhu CHN100003 CHN 
Tina Mihelic CRO194934 CRO 
Veronika Fenclova CZE192635 CZE 
Sarah Gunni DEN195531 DEN 
Cathrine Hall DEN192694 DEN 
Alberte Lindberg DEN192678 DEN 
Anne-marie Rindom DEN182249 DEN 
Maiken Schütt DEN192677 DEN 
Alicia Cebrian ESP182149 ESP 
Lucia Reyes ESP186960 ESP 
Fatima Reyes ESP186959 ESP 
Susana Romero Steensma ESP181402 ESP 
Anne-mari Luik EST196342 EST 
Sari Multala FIN190609 FIN 
Tuula Tenkanen FIN188375 FIN 
Charlotte Abadie FRA190562 FRA 
Sandy Fauthoux FRA193788 FRA 
Menaldo Marie FRA180302 FRA 
Sarah Steyaert FRA185350 FRA 
Mathilde de Kerangat FRA196544 FRA 
Sophie de Turckheim FRA196703 FRA 
Andrea Brewster GBR195221 GBR 
Charlotte Dobson GBR197660 GBR 
Chloe Martin GBR193028 GBR 
Kerry Morgan GBR196559 GBR 
Rheanna Pavey GBR195847 GBR 
Kate Sargent GBR193713 GBR 
Hannah Snellgrove GBR195123 GBR 
Alison Young GBR197658 GBR 
Sophie-marie Ertelt GER181619 GER 
Lisa Fasselt GER197182 GER 
Franziska Goltz GER194761 GER 
Anke Helbig GER181602 GER 
Lisa Rattemeyer GER194751 GER 
Paula Steiner GER185569 GER 
Anna Agrafioti GRE189252 GRE 
Maria Vlachou GRE182641 GRE 
Reka Kare HUN183532 HUN 
Rohini Rau IND185820 IND 
Mrinalini Santhanam IND194164 IND 
Tiffany Brien IRL192697 IRL 
Debbie Hanna IRL195100 IRL 
Annalise Murphy IRL190587 IRL 
Nufar Edelman ISR189296 ISR 
Francesca Clapcich ITA197327 ITA 
Laura Cosentino ITA194941 ITA 
Laura Marimon Giovannetti ITA197462 ITA 
Sayoko Harada JPN180151 JPN 
Satoko Hasegawa JPN187425 JPN 
Kanako Hiruta JPN196299 JPN 
Saki Matsunae JPN196469 JPN 
Kaori Takahashi JPN185358 JPN 
Anna Aile LAT192457 LAT 
Ausra Mileviciute LTU195203 LTU 
Saima Plerpaite LTU189538 LTU 
Gintare Sheidt LTU193185 LTU 
Tania Elias Calles Wolf MEX183137 MEX 
Maya Podesta MLT196213 MLT 
Claire Blom NED123456 NED 
Marit Bouwmeester NED123456 NED 
Debby Heerkens NED176869 NED 
Caren Niezen NED194883 NED 
Amy Righolt NED194693 NED 
Cathrine Gjerpen NOR197245 NOR 
Kristine Strandenes NOR186398 NOR 
Natcha Uthaug NOR181319 NOR 
Jessica Barrell NZL191617 NZL 
Rachel Basevi NZL185811 NZL 
Catherine Chimney NZL196875 NZL 
Miranda Powrie NZL195548 NZL 
Sara Winther NZL197278 NZL 
Paloma Schmidt PER182332 PER 
Ewa Makowska POL194841 POL 
Joanna Maksymiuk POL195305 POL 
Ewa Szyfter POL195304 POL 
Natalia Szymczyk POL192682 POL 
Anna Weinzieher POL194843 POL 
Sara Carmo POR192660 POR 
Victoria Chan SIN123456 SIN 
Elizabeth Yin SIN123456 SIN 
Milica Dukic SRB189438 SRB 
Nathalie Brugger SUI192812 SUI 
Erika Fredrikson SUI194302 SUI 
Manon Luther SUI196916 SUI 
Cecilia Jonsson SWE183967 SWE 
Fina Kuikka SWE189017 SWE 
Josefin Olsson SWE194931 SWE 
Sara Sigvardsdotter SWE192262 SWE 
Cagla Donertas TUR184907 TUR 
Pinar Kaynar TUR193816 TUR 
Claire Dennis USA182841 USA 
Sarah Lihan USA181272 USA 
Brooke Lyon USA189817 USA 
Callie Naughton USA186544 USA 
Paige Railey USA195127 USA 
Anna Tunnicliffe USA192050 USA 
Daniela Rivera VEN191954 VEN 

* Men's entry list is not available at time of publication

http://www.laserworlds2010.co.uk/laserworlds/