14th Landsailing World Championship in Nevada - Overall
by Russ Foster 22 Jul 2014 03:46 AEST
12-19 July 2014
Sailors representing fifteen nations and four continents wrapped up six days of exciting sailing Saturday at the FISLY-NALSA 14th Landsailing World Championship at Smith Creek Playa, near Austin, Nevada.
During the week, Mother Nature treated the competitors to a full array of conditions, including no wind, light shifty wind, medium winds, strong winds with dust and, on Friday, hail and rain-caused mud.
In the first of two races on Saturday, the Manta Twin and Manta Single classes were challenged by major wind direction and velocity changes and huge reversals of fortune. The latter occurred when the Manta Twin leaders ran into a big hole at the leeward mark on the third lap and were caught by back runners and the leading Manta Singles.
Then the wind filled in slightly for the final weather leg to the finish line, only to drop again, leaving the majority of the fleet stranded about 100 meters and more from the finish line before finally limping across the line.
Final results
The final dinner, awards presentations and closing ceremony on Saturday evening were no less dramatic; they were held in the large event tent on the dry lake during winds clocked at up to 42 mph. The resulting dust storm inside the tent only added to the list of adversities experienced, and overcome with enthusiasm, by the intrepid sailors.
FISLY President Alan Watson (Ireland) closed the festivities by thanking NALSA and its many volunteers and community supporters for staging this major event in such a beautiful, but challengingly remote, location. Afterwards, the party went on for hours.
Organising authorities:
www.nalsa.org
www.fisly.org