420 World Championships 2011 wrap
by Tony Mapplebeck on 8 Jan 2011
Start - 420 World Championships 2011 Claudio Cambria
420 World Championships 2011, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The event that was held in South America has come to a successful conclusion. With 97 boats (56 Open and 41 Ladies), there were 194 sailors from eighteen countries, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Uruguay the US Virgin Islands and United States.
The racing conditions were challenging certainly, with the wind consistently higher than normally predicted on the Rio de la Plata, until the last day, when the competitors had to adjust their approach for lighter winds and the potentially greater impact of current.
Speaking before the start, Ricardo Navarro, Championship PRO (BRA), had anticipated sunny days [which they got until the last couple], a fresh afternoon breeze between 8 -15 knots, a challenging, but not so strong current....Of course, 'Rio de la Plata' has its secrets, sometimes you can face shifty wind conditions, or a strong current'. In the event, said experienced local sailor, Sofi Tedin, 'the wind has surprised us all! We did expect what we call the 'Virazon', which is when the wind shifts to the South East and increases in intensity; this happens often during the summer'.
During the Championship the winds were generally 15 - 20 knots, with greater gusts of wind, increasing through the afternoon to 20 - 25 knots. The level of breakage was substantial. In part at least the shallowness of the Rio de la Plata, together with short, strong waves, contributed to the many broken wires, masts and foils. However, on the last day, there was very little wind (three – four knots) in the morning, causing the Race Committee to keep the sailors on shore – for many a rather nervous lunch – before a final, 11th race of the Championship became possible at 15.00 hrs, with nine knots.
Perhaps the Jury best conveyed how it was. The President, Nelson Ilha of Brazil, said that 'the 420 class is showing a great show in the Buenos Aires waters! Most of the time with a very strong winds, flying over the waves. It is not easy, so some capsized, but next day they are ready to go again.'
The Argentinean International Judge, Flavio Naveira wrote: 'This is clearly an event for those seasoned in strong winds, also for those who adapted fast to the special wave patterns of this brown river and – finally - for those who've learnt to right up the boat fast after a capsize: there is a toll of around 30 broken masts after hitting the bottom of the river! From the 'on-the-water Jury' point of view, we took off our 'Jury Hats', and we put on our 'BayWatch Hats', since the Oscar Flag went up in all races...[well, that was written before the last day!]...Our rescue record: four hats, two sunscreen tubes, five competitors, two boats, 1 spinnaker pole, two power bars (one strawberry, one vanilla) - all of this delivered to the Club's office, of course'.
There was an exciting and hard-contested competition at the top of both Fleets. In each there were four teams who fought to the end and left the following pack more than 30 points in their wake.
For the Ladies’, Nadine Böhm and Monika Lindner (GER) and Annabel Vose and Megan Brickwood (GBR) both took the lead on early days, until the first discard kicked in, from when Maelenn Lemaitre and Aloise Retornaz (FRA) held the lead every day until the last, scoring no less than 7 bullets. The change of conditions probably had an affect, and the last race of the Championships was to determine the Championship, in the British team’s favour, with the German women second overall.
Local team, Luz Bonello and Sofia Tedin, 420 World Championship veterans, returning to the boat after an absence of several years, had a great event and finished fourth, being examples to the younger sailors of the spirit of 420 sailing and you can still hack it while following professional careers.
Annabel Vose explained about the last race: 'The lighter and north westerly winds were totally different conditions to what we had experienced during the other races, but, because we’d arrived at the venue quite early, we had seen it before and that really favoured us. When we crossed the line…we knew we’d done enough to get the Gold, but we thought there was another race. It wasn’t until our coaches told us that was it for the day that we could believe we really had won!'
Megan Brickwood said of their winning the Championship: 'It’s kind of unreal and words can’t really describe it at the moment. We’re so happy. We definitely weren’t expecting to win here. We were just coming here as a process regatta to work on goals and gather experience. And look what happened! We’re over the moon!' Some ‘process regatta!’
In the open Championship Fleet, there were always going to be four teams in close contention. All had tested the waters at the end of October, by competing in the Semana Buenos Aires, and studied the conditions in the Rio de la Plata with Juan de la Fuente, the Olympic 470 Bronze medalist, who had led an international Joint 420/470 Class Clinic in Buenos Aires. Edoardo Mancinelli Scotti was European Champion in 2007 and bronze medallist at the 2008 Worlds in Athens, finishing in third at the 2010 Worlds with Leonardo Cucchiara.
Jordi Xammar and Joan Herp are the reigning ISAF Youth World Champions. Benjamin Grez has competed at the Worlds since 2008 and Völker and Cunill Martinez since 2009. Although the best of friends on shore, this was to be a contest!
Edoardo Mancinelli Scotti and Leonardo Cucchiara (ITA) had to wait a couple of days to show up on the leader board, pending the first discard, but after that worked steadily to achieve the Silver. Benjamin Grez and Diego Gonzalez (CHI) and Jordi Xammar and Joan Herp (ESP) contended at the end for the Bronze, and the Chilean team eventual took it by four points. But the clear winners, by no less than 27 points were the Argentinians, Pablo Völker and Agustín Cunill Martinez. The lowest result that they could find to discard was a fifth, over 11 races!
Pablo, speaking the next day, said, 'I cannot believe what we have done, and in which way! Being at home made it very special for us. With Agustín, we sailed really, really good, we are both very happy. I still don't believe we dropped out a 5! Yesterday we were nervous, but we had a really good race (probably our best one) for finishing in the best way. All the effort done during the last years (and specially last months) gave its rewards!'
At the Prize Giving, in addition to the crowning of the World and Ladies World Champions 2011, Jordi Xammar & Joan Herp and Annabel Vose & Megan Brickwood were pronounced Junior World and Junior Ladies World Champions respectively, being presented with the John Merricks Trophies.
The awards for the highest placed team with both sailors 16 or under, the William Sanchez, was presented to Alexandros and Giorgos Kavas of Greece and to Sofia Grez and Maria Jose Poncell of Chile. The Kavas brothers were also awarded the Huck Scott Memorial Trophy as the youngest team in either Championship.
The Francis Mouvet Trophy, for the nation with highest placed three boats in the World Championships, was awarded to Great Britain
Ladies’ Fleet top fifteen:
1 Annabel Vose & Megan Brickwood (GBR) 36 pts
2 Nadine Böhm & Monika Lindner (GER) 42 pts
3 Maelenn Lemaitre & Aloise Retornaz (FRA) 48 points
4 Luz Bonello & Sofia Tedin (ARG) 58 pts
5 Nadja Horwitz & Sofia Middleton (CHI) 90 pts
6 Nikole Barnes & Agustina Barbuto (ISV) 95 pts
7 Cécile Gutierrez & Gwenaelle Berhault (FRA) 97 pts
8 Maria José Cucalón & Andrea Collin (ECU) 103 pts
9 Alessandra Moretto Wiel & Marcella Mamusa (ITA) 107 pts
10 Ann-Christin Goliaß & Anke Lukosch (GER) 109 pts
11 Linda Fahrni & Maja Siegenthaler (SUI) 123 pts
12 Greta & Anna Markfort (GER) 126 pts
13 Amy Seabright & Rosie Sibthorp (GBR) 127 pts
14 Paulina Rothlauf & Madlen Geisler (GER) 142 pts
15 Jeanne Courtois & Enora Roic (FRA) 143 pts
Open Championship Fleet top fifteen
1 Pablo Völker & Agustín Cunill Martinez (ARG) 19 points
2 Edoardo Mancinelli Scotti & Leonardo Cucchiara (ITA) 46 pts
3 Benjamin Grez & Diego Gonzalez (CHI) 54 pts
4 Jordi Xammar & Joan Herp (ESP) 58 pts
5 Mike Wood & Hermione Stanley (GBR) 95 pts
6 Tim Gratton & Ed Riley (GBR) 101 pts
7 Juan Manuel Garcia Rodriguez & Facundo Olezza (ARG) 128 pts
8 James Hayward & Tim Carter (GBR) 131 pts
9 Joanna Freeman & Ben Gratton (GBR) 133 pts
10 Julian Stückl & Adrian Hoesch (GER) 149 pts
11 Pedro Salzmann & Carlos Vergara (CHI) 150 pts
12 Etienne L'Her & Hugo Lauras (FRA) 154 pts
13 Yvann Thelier & Guillaume Holin (FRA) 160 pts
14 Matt Foskett & Adam Walker (GBR) 169 pts
15 Henrique Haddad & Nicolas Castro (BRA) 172 pts
Championship website
Class website
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