2023 29er World Championships at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy - Day 2
by International 29er Class 1 Aug 2023 14:43 AEST
27 July - 4 August 2023
'Pretty up and down, but that's what makes it fun!'
Day 2 of the 29er World Championship and the event organisers sprung into action packing in a full program start to finish in winds averaging 20 knots throughout.
With 7 races for the competitors, four for red and green fleets who didn't manage to race yesterday and three for yellow and blue fleets, all fleets are now even with four races each, with another four scheduled for tomorrow.
Youngest Competitor
Malena Reegge, 13, from Switzerland - the youngest competitor in the 205 boat fleet was very happy to win a surprise spot prize for being the youngest competitor having 'started sailing in the optimist when I was 7, I got too heavy at age 11 and last year at 12 started sailing 29ers'. On racing today she shared that 'the first two races were quite stable and good wind, easy to sail and then in the third race the wind went 10-20 degrees to the right' getting a little more tricky. Team-mate Liv Wicki added that it was always their dream from age 7 so sail together, 'for this year our goal is the youth worlds, which is going to be hard, and then 49er FX and hopefully our biggest goal is the Olympics one day' so we will watch this space!
Women's World Bronze Medallists
Lucia Cullen and Alana Twomey had a day of mixed results, 'the wind was tricky at times, we were pretty up and down as the day went on, but that's what makes it fun!'. When giving some top tips for the day, similar to yesterday, straight-line speed was a clear priority, 'speed is number one, speed is your friend and stay clear'.
With four races for all fleets planned tomorrow and a windy, but sailable forecast, many will be fighting for fleet positions in the final series to be decided at the end of the day. Day 4 will see the fleet split into Gold, Silver, Bronze and Emerald for the remainder of the regatta, so to be in with the chance of bringing home the World Championship trophy, getting into Gold fleet is a priority for tomorrow.
Find out more at 29erworlds.org