Laser 4.7 Worlds - Final day

by Murillo Novaes amended by Sail-World.com on 1 Aug 2009 Jonathan Martinetti, from Ecuador, won the Laser 4.7 Worlds in Búzios, Brazil. The Female champion is Slovenian Urska Kosir. The rainy and windless day didn’t allow for the completion of races this Friday in Brazil. Yesterday's leaders celebrated the World title in Búzios Vela Clube.

The Laser 4.7 World Sailing Championship came to an end with no further battles on the water. After a week of competition, only for two days did Búzios live up to its reputation as one of the best sailing venues in the world. Today we had continuous rain with fog and cold.

After being on the water for over four hours with rain and fickle winds swinging from the southeast to southwest (from 130º to 205º) and only between two and six knots, the athletes, judges and technicians returned to the club, a touch frustrated, yet happy with another great sailing event. However for two sailors the day was perfect. The leaders from yesterday, Jonathan Martinetti (ECU) and Urska Kosir (SLO), celebrated after the Race Committee cancelled the races for the day.

'We tried to have at least one race today. We could set the course in the 200º heading, but the wind dropped a lot and when we were 20 minutes from the time limit of 3pm we called it off because it was very cold and uncomfortable for everyone. In the end, we had seven good races from the 12 scheduled and had a high-level competition that left everyone happy. Unfortunately the wind gods decided to take a vacation out of Búzios', said the Principal Race Officer Nelson Horn Ilha.

Jonathan Martinetti, who lives in Guayaquil and sails in Salinas, despite being only 17 years old, has, in his résumé, a South American Optimist Class title (2006), the U.S. Sunfish Class title (2008) and is the Ecuadorian champion of Laser 4.7 and Laser Radial (2009). He is also the national runner-up in the Laser Standard (2009), despite weighting only 62kg.

'I used to sail in weak winds in Salinas. With 8 to 10 knots I feel at home here in Búzios and the conditions were good for me', the young and modest World champion said. His parents, explained the secret of his success. 'He always watched his older brother sailing. The difference in age between them is great, as soon as he could get onto the water, Jonathan began to sail almost all the time. It is common to see him practicing alone on the waters of Salinas', they said.

The Slovenian Urska Kosir, also an ex-Optimist class sailor, celebrated her victory, 'I am proud to have reached it; I still cannot believe that I won with so many points advantage. This is the first time I have sailed in the Americas and to go home with the World title is very, very good', Urska said. She has been sailing for only two years in the Laser class and trained throughout the Slovenian winter for this championship.

Among the Brazilians the most prominent were the young people. In Girls, the best-placed Brazilian Claudia Mazzaferro ended in the 14th position overall and took the bronze in the category ‘under 16 years’. In the male fleet, the Brazilian who had the best result was João Pedro Oliveira, in 18th place overall and sixth among boys under 16 years. The award ceremony of the championship was held in the evening, at Chez Michou crêperie, on the famous Búzios ‘rocky road’. Despite the winter climate, all competitors expressed their joy in coming to Búzios and promised to return again to sail on its waters.

Official web site and full results at: http://www.laser47.org