RS Aero World Championship at Calasetta, Sardinia, Italy - Day 2
by Elena Giolai 27 Jul 10:39 PDT
26-30 July 2023
A fantastic second day at the RS Aero Worlds organised in Calasetta by the Lega Navale del Sulcis: after Wednesday's strong mistral, today the wind intensity, again from the mistral, was perfect, staerting with 10-12 knots, reaching 16-18 in the third and final race of the day (the sixth in total).
Calasetta and Sardinia certainly make themselves loved by the 136 racers, among whom many come from the other side of the world, New Zealand and Australia in the lead: the conditions for a sailor so far have been wonderful, starting with yesterday's 20 knots that immediately presented one of the island's main characteristics and today's medium wind, which allowed everyone to recover from some of the difficulties encountered in the first races.
Although the conditions have completely changed, the leaders have not really changed in many categories: among the smaller RS Aero 5, the Englishman Mark Ripley is still in the lead, extending his lead over his rivals with 5 partial victories and a second (discarded); 7 points separate him from his compatriot Chloe George, first girl and second overall; the Estonian Ants Haarvel moves into third position, who, thanks to the discard, makes up for a disqualification at the start.
Even in the RS Aero 6 category there seems to be no history for the leader of the general classification, the Australian Rhett Gowans, who with five firsts and a sixth (discarded) is leading with 13 points ahead of the American Dieter Creitz, the first junior, who jumped onto the podium (today 2-5-6); the Briton Chris Hatton goes from second to third place overall. Ukrainian Naumenko (6-3-4 today) retains fourth place and first female. There are two Italians in the top ten: Giacomo Gatta from Romagna (CN Savio) and Andrea De Matteis from Gallura (Cala dei Sardi), who are in eighth and ninth place respectively, first and second in the youth category.
The RS Aero 7 ranking is very short, with a British trio in the lead: Jack Miller, today 1-3-1, goes first, just one point behind Peter Barton (6-1-3) who passed second; Noah Rees (2-5-4) maintains third position. First master the American Jay Renehan, excellent fourth overall. Local Filippo Vincis (LNI Sulcis), who started today with a third, but followed it up with a fourth and an eighth, which did not allow him to advance in the overall ranking, maintains sixth position. Also in the top ten was Roman Leopoldo Sirolli (Tognazzi Marine Village), eighth. First youth was Sweden's Erik Wahlberg, while first female was Germany's Barthel.
The RS Aero 9 category was the one that had the most change in the first positions: USA trio with Dan Falk taking the lead after discarding retirement and placing a second and two firsts today. In a tie was Madhavan Thirumalai (first master, 1-2-2), while Keith Hammer (4-3-4) followed in third place.
The races, which finished in the early afternoon, thus allowed the competitors to go and discover the beautiful beaches of Calasetta and Sant'Antioco, before the official Championship dinner scheduled for this evening, at which, the discovery of local peculiarities will continue for the competitors: after the Mistral, it will be the Sardinian culinary specialities that will make themselves known among Koreans, Australians, Canadians, Americans, New Zealanders and 14 other countries, thus leaving their mark on this World Championship, which is offering racers the opportunity not only to enjoy beautiful sailing races, but also to discover the envied beauty and goodness of Sardinia!
Regarding the racing on Friday, the start is scheduled for 12 noon, while the event will end on Sunday 30 July.
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