RS-X Worlds - A war of attrition ensues + Video

by Rory Ramsden on 27 Mar 2012 At the 2012 World Windsurfing Championships in Cadiz, the Gold Fleets were able to get out on the water and complete three races for the day whilst the Silver Fleet were unable to race. Wind speeds were solidly in the mid 20s and topping out over 30. This world championship is turning into a war of attrition. Attrition on the sailors. And attrition on the equipment.

Yesterday Toni Wilhelm went to flight school yesterday with the result that his sail cartwheeled across the bay and smacked another racer on the back. Alex Jones [BER] was taken off the water and to thehospital with broken bones in a foot. Today sailors who would not normally be taking rides over the handle bars were doing so.



They were certainly tired when they came ashore tonight and keen to rest because tomorrow it will be windy. That is certain. How windy remains to be seen. The forecast is for it to pick up.

Anyway, I digress, Julien Bontemps [FRA] posted a 3-1-1 to take over as overall leader. Nick Dempsey [GBR] scored 1-2-3 to bounce back upto silver medal position. JP Tobin [NZL] 2-4-2 is up from fifth to third.

Byron Kokalanis [GRE] dropped his sail on Dorian van Rijsselberghe[NED] and Przemyslaw Miarczynski [POL] at the start of race 9 and wound up swimming. He stormed back to finish third. In the very next race,Dorian was back in the wars.

This time powering off the line onstarboard in close company with JP Tobin [NZL] and the rest of the fleet going to the left hand side. Only to find that Pauline Perrin[FRA] racing in the women's fleet, at full speed on port having rounded mark 3 was threading her way through the men... misjudged the distance on Dorian who clipped. Dorian was back in the water and losing time.The jury settled that by giving him average points for races 5 to 9.

Over in the women's fleet, Alessandra Sensini was on fire. She blew past everyone on the day posting a 1-1-1 to lock in her bronze medal position by establishing a 21 point lead over Bryony Shaw [GBR] in fourth.

Lee Korzits [ISR] seemed to take her foot off the fast forward pedal today posting her worst result of the championship in race 8 finishing sixth. Luckily Zofia Klepacka [POL] mirrored the result in race 9 so the two are still four points apart.

Yesterday, we looked at the nations battling to qualify. Today, weare going to shine the light on the under 21 racers who are also racing for supremacy in their age division. Helene Noesmoen [FRA] - 122points - is fighting it out with Izzy Hamilton [GBR] - 129 points -and Agnieszka Bilska [POL] - 140 points - in the women's fleet.

Over in the men's fleet, Louis Giard [FRA] - 165 points - is just one point in front of his friend Thomas Goyard [FRA] - 166 points -These two have a clear lead over the 2011 RS:X Youth World WindsurfingChampion Pawel Tarnowski [POL].

Top Five Under 21 RS:X Men

FRA19 Louis Giard 165 Gold
FRA3 Thomas Goyard 166 Gold
POL182 Pawel Tarnowski 194 Gold
GBR17 Connor Bainbridge 204 Gold
GBR60 Sam Sills 229 Gold

Top Five Under 21 RS:X Women

FRA57 Helene Noesmoen 122 Gold
GBR30 Izzy Hamilton 129 Gold
POL09 Agnieszka Bilska 140 Gold
POL1279 Hanna Zembrzuska 172 Gold
ARG5 Jaszmin Lopez 59 Silver

Men Top Five

1. FRA6 Julien Bontemps 24.0
2. GBR1 Nick Dempsey 26.0
3. NZL151 JP Tobin 31.0
4. NED8 Dorian van Rijsselberge 31.6
5. GRE8 Byron Kokalanis 32.0

Women Top 5

1. ISR1111 Lee Korzits 17.0
2. POL8 Zofia Klepacka 21.0
3. ITA 25 Alessandra Sensini 27.0
4. GBR94 Brony Shaw 48.0
5. POL7 Maja Dziarnowska 55.0

RS:X Women: National Olympic Q Places
[Seven countries to qualify]

1 NED 200
2 USA 273
3 ARG 58
4 RUS 79
5 EST 85
6 THA 87
7 POR 101
8 BLR 109
9 MEX 116
10 DEN 122
11 CYP 127
12 SIN 145
13 SLO 178
14 SWE 181
15 AHO 203
16 INA 203

RS:X Men: National Olympic Q Places
[Nine countries to qualify]

1 BLR 260
2 CZE 345
3 COL 356
4 THA 366
5 BUL 380
6 VEN 98
7 EST 99
8 DEN 106
9 TPE 125
10 SVK 126
11 INA 159
12 EGY 173
13 LAT 184
14 SIN 196
15 SWE 203
16 SLO 210
17 BER 219
18 PER 228
19 CUB 262
20 MKD 305

RS:X Worlds website