Allen RS Feva Worlds at Compagnia della Vela Grosseto - Day 2
by Tatiana Gammacurta/Golly Tucker 23 Jul 2013 13:32 PDT
21-26 July 2013
Finals start tomorrow with 9 Italian teams in the Gold fleet
Another great day's sailing at the RS Feva World Championship playing out in the waters off the Compagnia della vela Grosseto until Friday, July 26th. A very steady 260° wind that started off at 12 knots got up to 16 in the course of the afternoon. This meant the race committee had no problem starting all three scheduled races with the first off at around 12:30, bringing the qualifying phase of the event to a successful conclusion.
After yesterday being dominated by the British, today was very much the domain of Italian girls Margherita Porro and Francesca Andrea Dall'Ora. The two young Associazione Nautica Sebina sailors ended qualifying at the top of the overall standings on just 8 points thanks to two seconds and a one win. A fantastic result along with a momentous first position in the All Girls standings. On the same points as the Italians but less well-placed than them in the final race were this morning's leaders Brits Elliot Wells and Jake Todd (2,1,2), who finished second in the overall standings ahead of their fellow countrymen Hannah Bristow and Bobby Hewitt (1,1,8), who took the third step on the podium on just 12 points.
Daily prizes for Monday were given for late night helpers tidying, teenage translating services, an on the water response survey to find the friendliest nation (the Czechs!), and for being the washdown hose god!
From tomorrow, the 171 boats will be divided into three fleets of 57 crews (Gold, Silver and Bronze). Each team will be allotted points equivalent to their final position in qualifying (e.g. 1st position will have 1 point, 2nd 2 points, etc.) which cannot be discarded in the final phases. The first races are scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, July 24th, from 11:55.
The local advice has it that 2 days of good sea breeze has a slightly cooling effect on the land meaning that the 3rd day may have marginally less strong sea breeze – that’s the prediction then for the first day of the final series.
Provisional Standings:* (top five, 6 races)
1. ITA 2592 - Margherita Porro/Francesca Andrea Dall'Ora - Associazione Nautica Sebina - 2, 1, (4), 2, 2, 1, 8pts
2. GBR 4332 - Elliot Wells/Jake Todd - Hayling Island Sailing Club - 1, (2), 2, 2, 1, 2, 8pts
3. GBR 4610 - Hannah Bristow/Bobby Hewitt - Leigh and Lowton - 2, 2, 6, 1, 1, (8), 12pts
4. GBR 3424 - Courtney Bilbrough/Orla Mitchell - Docklands S&W Centre - 4, 1, (12), 7, 3, 3, 18pts
5. GBR 4883 - Jamie Smith/Piers Nichols - Hayling Island Sailing Club - 5, 5, 6, 3, (9), 2, 21pts
* protest hearings still underway at time of publication
Full results so far can be found here.
Quotes:
Margherita Porro, helmswoman ITA 2592: "We are absolutely delighted to have gone up from second to first. Today the course was difficult because of the waves. They were very short and so we had to do a lot of work with the sheet ".
Jop Dutilh, president RS Feva International Class: "A decisive day. The finals were up for grabs and all the teams were very tense this morning before going out on the water, particularly the ones still up in the air between one fleet and another. We'll be seeing a very different championship from tomorrow – the standard will be even higher. I'm very happy for the two Italian girls in first. It's important for the worlds to have lots of different nations high up in the standings".
Mario Dullia, deputy president of the RS Feva Italia Class: "A very positive day for all our guys during which all the forces started to line out. We're satisfied on a lot of levels which confirms the commitment of our athletes. Not least Porro-Dall'Ora who confirmed their successes earlier in the season were no fluke and who played hard ball with the British teams. Stocchero-Virgenti recovered very well after yesterday. Oppizzi-Frazzica are in line with expectations too. We're also very satisfied with the qualifiers delivered by our Junior team Codoghini-Zinetti and the other first-time teams competing in the Silver fleet".
Marco Borioni, president Compagnia della vela Grosseto: "Another very positive day with a few small emergencies which also included our Vibralcementi team but dealt with very ably thanks to the help of the Port Authority and all the other emergency forces who are essential to an event like this. The cherry on the cake in these first few days was definitely the fact that our team sponsored by Colle Massari qualifying for the Gold team ".
Claudia Tosi, FIV advisor representing the athletes: "A day with a bit more wind but it was still very steady which meant we staged all three races very quickly. We upped the assistance at sea because of the forecast. Good management did the rest ".
Photo gallery of the day available from this evening at communications.sailingandtravel.it/gallery/
rsfevaworlds.org