Nacra15 World Championship at La Grande Motte - Day 1
by Camille El Beze 1 Nov 2021 11:37 PDT
31 October - 5 November 2021
2021 Nacra 15 Worlds at La Grand Motte day 1 © Didier Hillaire
It was a day of extremes which challenged the 73 crews which started the Nacra 15 World Championships today off La Grande Motte. The French duo Gueslin Grimaud / Declef (FRA) and Barcelona's Rondeau / Garcia (ESP) won in their respective groups.
The initial wait was a long one before the wind came in but it was worth it. The teams were only finally able to leave the boat park around 14:45hrs. Firstly, that was because of the lack of wind, then because it blew in hard and suddenly and it took the race officers a little time to establish that it was settled and safe to go racing.
Finally, only one race could be started shortly before 4pm, setting off in a good north-west of around 20 knots. The 73 crews were divided into two groups, starts for 36 and 37 competitors set off 5 minutes apart.
And so it was a good opening for the young pairings who love the breeze, who are technically strong in the Nacra15 and to sail cleanly. These were qualities displayed by all winning teams of the day.
The race of the "yellow group" was marked by a change in the order on the second upwind, especially among the ten teams who were fighting it out at the front. In the top 5, we saw in turn the Swiss Guignard / Mazuay, Vitel / Winssinger, Grandjean / Fehlman, the Dutch Van der Veen / Van Rooijen, the GBR pair Williams / Clarke, the Italians Hirsch / Orsolini, the French Rigaud / Moutarde, Coville / Liot, Gueslin Grimaud / Declef. In the end, it was Grimaud / Declef who prevailed on the top of the final beat coming in from the left side.
In the "blue group" it was the Barcelona duo Rondeau / Garcia crew - the only Spanish competitors in the fleet - who led the race by a long way.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, the organization hopes to get more races in and get back on track. But the bay of Aigues Mortes is stuck in the middle of an area disturbed by two opposing weather systems regimes.
Quotes:
Manolo Gueslin Grimaud and Marion Declef (FRA): "We had to master the boat well, go fast, very fast, and be careful because the wind turned during the gusts. We came back into the game realizing that there was something worth using on left. We played this card hard and it was over. "
Max Rondeau and Mar Garcia (ESP): "The key points today were: get a good start and sail carefully, being careful of the gusts of wind. It's a great start for us. As we are a heavy crew, we are generally good in the breeze. It was a bit extreme at first because there were a lot of waves, but we managed to get out of it. We stayed in the lead throughout the round."
Results can be found here...